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Good Government

As founder of WikiLaw.org, I believe that the Government and its body of law should be transparent for the people it governs. As founder of VoterSearch.org, I believe that protecting your right to vote is essential to an accountable government. As former Co-Chair of Community Board 8's Communication Committee, I worked to open the community board by announcingcommunity board membership applications and ensuring they were widely available at meetings. I have continued my work with Community Board 8's Communication Committee and we have made its television show "Community Board 8 Speaks" available online.

As your City Council member I will continue the work of making City Hall transparent by making its business available online through the web, PDF, podcast, and YouTube like videos. I will openCity Hall by creating NYC.OpenLegislation.org, a local version of OpenCongress.org, where anyone will be able to share their views on all business, in support of the mission of theParticipatory Politics Foundation. City Hall will become accountable to you the people as NYC.OpenLegislation.org, will let you track business before City Hall and how your representative voted on issues of importance to you.

New York City Shines New Light on Public Cotnracts and Hearing with Dramatic Expansion of Public Records

“The City Record is the most important newsletter you've never read. City contracts, public meetings and notices of major changes to our city's structure are routinely published in a hard edition, but not in a machine-readable format online -- until now. I am proud to have passed legislation unlocking searchable public information -- a treasure trove for those who want to better understand the city or simply need access to current information that affects them,” said Council Member Ben Kallos. “Thanks to the Mayor for recognizing the essential importance of the City Record and BetaNYC and other civic partners for working to make this legislation into a reality. New Yorkers must be able to find the updates that affect them in a format that they use."

NBC News 4 New York I-Team: Banks Ignore Millions in New York City Environmental Fines by Chris Glorioso

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/investigations/Zombie-Homes-Banks-Ignore-Money-Million...

Banks and related financial companies have accumulated more than $3 million in unpaid fines for failing to clean up dirty properties around New York City, the I-Team has found.

Many of the properties are foreclosed homes that spiraled into disrepair after the housing crisis of 2007 and 2008.

Helene Van Clief lives across the street from one of the derelict buildings. The property at 637 East 182nd Street in the Bronx is a boarded up multifamily building with broken glass and empty liquor bottles in the front yard.

Since HSBC foreclosed on the property last year, the New York City Environmental Control Board has issued the bank seven tickets for violations, including dirty sidewalks and a rodent infestation.

According to city records, HSBC has yet to pay those fines -- and more than $787,000 owed for violations related to garbage, debris and unsafe conditions at other buildings.

HSBC told the I-Team it is not the landlord of most of those properties but rather a "trustee" for the real owners, investors who bought mortgage bonds associated with the buildings, and is therefore not responsible for addressing the violations in those cases.

...

Council Member Ben Kallos, an Upper East Side Democrat, has sponsored four bills to give the Department of Finance more tools to help collect environmental fines.

"The reality is, if you're a bank and you own a property you have to maintain it,” Kallos said.

Kallos blames a sort of corporate shell game for difficulties collecting on violations issued to financial institutions. Although banks may have central offices with well-known Manhattan addresses, when they act as trustees, they often list the addresses of each foreclosed property on city filings.

Issue: 
Good Government

New York Times New York Food Stamp Bill by Joel Berg

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/28/opinion/new-york-food-stamp-bill.html

“Navigating a Bureaucratic Maze to Renew Food Stamp Benefits” (news article, July 24) vividly demonstrates that it is still far too difficult for many struggling New Yorkers to get federal SNAP benefits (the new name for food stamps) to which they are entitled. That’s why we strongly support thebill proposed by City Councilman Ben Kallos that would ease the burden.

Issue: 
Good Government