Good Government

Lisette Camilo, commissioner of the Department of Citywide Administrative Services, which handles the deed restrictions, told the City Council Friday the administration is reviewing the process but refused to answer specific questions about the Rivington and Harlem deals.

The city has put all pending requests to lift deed restrictions on hold — halting 13 to 14 deals, she revealed.

“We put a stop to all of the deed modifications that have been in the pipe. We have put those on hold,” she said.

“The processes by which deed restrictions are valued, and restriction removals are authorized, are similarly under review and subject to overhaul,” Camilo said.

Councilman Ben Kallos, chair of the government operations committee, questioned why the city would “give a windfall to property owners.”

“How many more situations like Rivington and [St. Nicholas Ave., the Harlem site] are coming down the pike?” he said.

As Crain’s investigated an assertion by City Councilman Ben Kallos last week that Law Department reforms would save the city $430 million over the next four years, one thing became clear: There’s not a lot of love lost between Kallos and the de Blasio administration.

Kallos has been pestering and pressing the Law Department for two years about reducing the amount of money it pays out to people who sue the city, or threaten to.

When budget documents revealed the predicted savings, he claimed victory, issuing a press release attributing the $430 million to his advocacy and the administration’s grudging cooperation. He cited a decision to expand a Bronx pilot program in which one city lawyer handles a case from beginning to end, a policy known as “vertical case handling.”

“I’m actually working actively with colleagues,” Kallos said during a Friday press conference at City Hall to promote various ethics reforms. “We’re drafting legislation around disclosure and limits to what people can do with (c)4s and moving forward, and to the extent that anyone has (c)4s, making sure that they engage in voluntarily disclosure ahead of us engaging in our legislative advocacy and actually making it a legal requirement. Right now is a good time, if anyone has a (c)4, for it to cease and for folks to disclose. … We need to make sure that we lock down every single place that money and corruption can happen.”

Kallos said it would be inaccurate to describe the legislation as his, however. The councilman said he had discussed potential reform measures with others, but he would not name any potential sponsors. Still, he said he hoped legislation related to 501(c)4 nonprofits would come before the Government Operations Committee that he chairs.