Back to School Town Hall with the Department of Education
 

 
Back to School Town Hall (Virtual)
Tuesday, September 8th at 6pm

On Tuesday, September 8th at 6pm, my office will be hosting a Reopening Schools Virtual Town Hall, geared toward parents, caregivers, students and educators. Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney will join us as we hear from Department of Education Deputy Chancellor Adrienne Austin who will answer your questions on how to guarantee a safe reopening plan. 
 
You must RSVP to participate.

Video Conference: RSVP for your URL, create a free account at Zoom.us 
Teleconference: RSVP to receive the number and access code 
Facebook Live: Skip the RSVP and watch the stream at Facebook.com/BenKallos/live

Questions must be submitted with RSVP or by email to [email protected]
 
RSVP at BenKallos.com/events
 

Emergency Preparedness Presentation + Go-Bag Giveaway (Virtual)
 


Emergency Preparedness Presentation + Go Bag Giveaway (Virtual)
Monday, September 14th from 6 – 7pm 

With hurricane season well underway, it is imperative that New York City residents are able to equip themselves with proper emergency preparedness tools to use at their disposal should they need them. That's why my office partnered with the City's Department of Emergency Management and a host of local elected officials to offer a virtual safety presentation and distribute Go-Bags.

Residents must RSVP and attend the entire virtual presentation on September 14th from 6pm – 7pm to be eligible to receive a Go-bag at the distributions on September 15th and 21st. Please submit your prefered date for pick up in the question field with your registration.

Go-bags will be given on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Limit capacity, one bag per household.

Video Conference: RSVP for your URL, create a free account at Zoom.us 
Teleconference: RSVP to receive the number and access code 
Facebook Live: Skip the RSVP and watch the stream at Facebook.com/BenKallos/live

Questions must be submitted with RSVP or by email to [email protected]
 
RSVP at BenKallos.com/events


“The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated” — New York City



We’ve all read the headlines that New York City is dying, even dead, but nothing could be further from the truth. With the obituaries already written New York City finds itself in the same position as Mark Twain who once said, “The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.” I am tired of all the people rooting against New York City. Many of these narratives come from individuals with deep privilege both in race, class, and across so many levels, that do not reflect the views or the reality for a majority of New Yorkers. You can read the rest on Medium.

The piece on Medium concludes with: We have a once in a life-time, once in a century chance for change and to make things better for those who remain, those who will return, and those whose journey will soon lead to New York City, that remains an economic and cultural capital of the world.

We will need to rethink housing, commercial offices, retail, and how our tax structure must be changed to be more equitable to finally provide enough affordable housing. Schools must be integrated, expanded and retrofitted to provide safety through this and the next pandemic. Streets and parks will need to be redesigned around maximizing public space and transportation. Decades in disinvestment in hospitals will have to be reversed with more capacity for a possible surge and Medicare for all recognizing healthcare as a human right. Public safety will have to be rebuilt to start repairing a deeply fractured relationship between police and the communities they’ve sworn to protect. The existential threat of climate change means minimizing the carbon footprint for everything from buildings and vehicles to the waste we create along with making our city more resilient.

Where others see death. I see re-birth. The city wasn’t working perfectly long before the pandemic. It is time to stop kicking New York while it’s down. There is nowhere else like it.

I hope you’ll join me in cheering for our city and all those who make it the best place in the world to live.

Read the whole post on Medium (6 min read).