NY Press Council Candidates Put Best Faces Forward by Beth Mellow

On a rainy Thursday night last week, three Democratic candidates vying for Jessica Lapin’s District 5 City Council Seat convened for a crowded forum at The East Side Democratic Club. They discussed their platforms and answered a variety of questions that touched on topics ranging from overdevelopment in the neighborhood to the Indian Point nuclear facility. 

Ben Kallos
Kallos. an attorney, has worked as Director of Policy for public advocate Mark Green and as Chief of Staff for former state Assembly Member Jonathan Bing. He also served as Executive Director of the New Roosevelt Itiative.
On the construction of the Marine Transfer Station at 91st Street:
“We’re in favor of responsible development — it means dump the dump.”
On the construction of Cornell-Technion on Roosevelt Island:
“I’m the only candidate to testify against Cornell-Technion. If you are going to develop it, development must be done responsibly.”
On transparency in city government:
“I worked to get all city council voting records online. I’d like to see all city council proceedings live streamed and archived as well and perhaps also have a dial-in so that people can listen into the process [by phone]. It’s important for people to see what’s going on.”
About Indian Point and whether it should be shut down:
“We get 25 percent of New York City’s energy from Indian Point. We shut it down and one borough goes dark. We need to look toward closing down Indian Point, but not until we have a local source of energy.”