Defending the Rights of Animal Care & Control Volunteers
September 1, 2010
Animal Care and Control of New York City (ACC) is the organization responsible for operating our city’s animal shelters. Many dedicated New Yorkers serve as volunteers at ACC facilities, giving their time to help care for homeless and neglected animals. Unfortunately, there have been reports from some volunteers of substandard conditions at ACC shelters, including allegations of animals wallowing in their own waste, cats and kittens going without food and water for extended periods of time, dogs not being properly socialized, ongoing killing of healthy animals, and failure to treat medical conditions.
I was deeply disturbed to learn that ACC has now instituted new volunteer policies apparently intended to silence such complaints. The new policies state, among other things, that volunteers may not “publicly criticiz[e]” or cast the agency “in a negative light.” These policies violate volunteers’ constitutional rights, and are clearly inconsistent with court decisions protecting whistleblowers and establishing that the opportunity to serve as a volunteer is a protected government privilege.
I am calling upon Mayor Bloomberg and New York City Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley, who effectively control ACC, to have this policy repealed immediately. I have also asked City Comptroller John Liu to meet with me to discuss what steps can be taken to provide additional oversight of ACC, to ensure that volunteers are being treated fairly and that allegations of substandard conditions at ACC shelters are handled properly.
Copies of my letters to Mayor Bloomberg, Dr. Farley, and Comptroller Liu are below.
Letter to Mayor Bloomberg re: Animal Care & Control
Letter to Comptroller Liu re: Animal Care & Control
Discussing Oreo’s Law on DogsinDanger radio show
August 25, 2010
Last Sunday I was interviewed by Alex Aliksanyan and Brenda Bush on the DogsInDanger radio show to discuss my bill, Oreo’s Law. I have blogged extensively about the tragic case of Oreo, an abused dog who was killed despite her rescue by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (APSCA). In response to Oreo’s death, I introduced legislation (A.9449) to close a loophole in our animal protection laws. My bill will allow qualified animal welfare organizations the right to request animals be given to their care when a shelter is planning to euthanize them. Click here to listen to the audio file of the interview, which aired on Sunday, August 22nd on AM970 the Apple NY.
Hailing An Accessible Tomorrow
August 17, 2010
As I have often discussed, I am a strong advocate for making New York City’s taxi fleet 100% accessible to people with disabilities. Now that the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission is deciding which vehicle to choose as the “Taxi of Tomorrow,” we have a great opportunity to ensure that our city’s next generation of taxicabs is accessible to all. Today, the New York Daily News published my op-ed in favor of seizing this chance to make New York the world capital of accessibility. You can read the op-ed below.
‘Taxi of Tomorrow’ needs to be accessible to all
Governor Honors Elle Vandenberghe, Signs Elle’s Law
August 16, 2010
I introduced Elle’s Law in honor of 3-year old Elle Vandenberghe, who was struck by a motorist while she was on her way to school on the Upper East Side in September 2009. After the incident, Elle lay in a coma for two weeks; she suffered a stroke and lost two-thirds of the left side of her brain. The driver who struck Elle was illegally backing through an intersection—against a red light—in search of a parking space. Although the motorist displayed a blatant disregard for pedestrian safety and consequently left Elle permanently disabled, he was issued only a minor traffic infraction, paid a small fine and was free to get back behind the wheel, subject to no further penalty. Elle remains in physical therapy.
Elle’s Law gets dangerous drivers off the road by creating new penalties for drivers who injure pedestrians while violating traffic laws. I am tremendously proud to announce that on Friday, Governor Paterson signed Elle’s Law into law.
What happened to Elle Vandenberghe was both a tragedy and an outrage. It was unbelievable that a reckless driver could do so much harm and yet still be free to get right back behind the wheel with nothing more than a slap on the wrist. Elle’s Law will make irresponsible drivers think twice before doing something dangerous.
Under Elle’s Law, any driver who causes serious physical injury to another person while committing a traffic violation will have his or her license suspended for a period of six months. Drivers who have been involved in any similar incidents within the previous five years will have their licenses suspended for a full year.
According to data from the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles, in 2008 nearly 5,000 New Yorkers were injured because of a driver’s violation of the state’s vehicle and traffic laws. Only 2% of these violations resulted in criminal charges, leaving thousands of New Yorkers and families with no legal recourse. Prosecutors are unable to charge drivers who seriously injure innocent pedestrians under the existing Vehicular Assault laws, even when the serious injury was the direct result of the driver’s moving violation, unless it can be proven that the driver was under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Because criminal charges are almost never possible, prior to Elle’s Law no effective sanction existed for drivers who injured pedestrians while violating traffic laws. Elle’s Law closes this loophole by creating a mechanism to punish these reckless drivers—suspending their licenses so that they cannot simply get back on the road.
Sadly, no law can undo what happened to Elle Vandenberghe, but we can ensure that in the future our streets are safer by getting dangerous drivers off the road and stopping thousands of unnecessary tragedies like Elle’s before they happen. By signing Elle’s Law the Governor turned this little girl’s tragedy into a legacy: making it safer for every New Yorker to cross the street.
Bringing the East River Esplanade Back to Life
August 13, 2010
The East River Esplanade should be one of our community’s treasured public spaces, yet currently it is in appalling condition—in fact, the seawall is disintegrating into the river, causing sinkholes and cracks in the asphalt that expose the river below. These hazards are multiplying, making the esplanade an increasingly unsafe and unattractive place for pedestrians.
Clearly it is time for a comprehensive effort to fully revitalize the esplanade, rather than simply putting band-aids on individual problems.
To address the rapidly deteriorating state of the esplanade north of 63rd Street, I along with Council Member Jessica Lappin and Representative Carolyn Maloney recently formed an East River Esplanade Task Force. Last month, we met with the New York City Parks Department to discuss the current conditions of the esplanade, the areas that have the most urgent needs, and what cosmetic repairs can undertaken immediately to improve the area while longer-term structural work is being performed.
By coming together with the Parks Department and other stakeholders, and working to identify available funding at the Federal, State, and City levels, we are taking important steps to bring the esplanade into a state of good repair.
I look forward to working with the task force and the community to bring much needed improvements to the often overlooked Upper East Side waterfront, transforming it at last into the kind of valuable and well-maintained public space that East Siders deserve.
Video Shows TLC’s Failure to Require Accessibility for NYC Cabs
July 27, 2010
Recently, I posted about the hearing I held on July 14th focusing on the need for New York City’s taxi fleet to be completely accessible to people with disabilities.
Below is a video clip from the hearing, in which Taxi and Limousine Commissioner David Yassky discusses how the TLC’s Taxi of Tomorrow Request for Proposal (RFP) does not make accessibility a requirement in vehicle designs, only a goal. My bill (A.7842) would mandate a 100% accessible taxi fleet by requiring that after June 30, 2011, taxi owners may put only accessible cabs into service when replacing old vehicles.
You can access video footage of the entire hearing here.
Hearing Exposes Failure of TLC to Make Cabs Accessible
July 16, 2010
I have always been a strong proponent of making New York City’s taxi fleet 100% accessible to people with disabilities. In June of 2009, I released my report Stranded, which documented the failure of the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission’s central dispatch pilot program. My report Not For Hire exposed the failure of a TLC rule requiring for-hire vehicle (FHV) companies to offer equivalent service to customers using wheelchairs. I have blogged extensively about my work to make an accessible taxi fleet a reality.
On Wednesday I held a hearing with the Assembly Committee on Cities, Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions, Committee on Transportation, and the Assembly Task Force on People with Disabilities, focusing on the need to achieve a fully accessible taxi fleet, and on my legislation (A. 7842) to mandate that after June 30, 2011, taxi owners may put only accessible cabs into service when replacing old vehicles.
At the hearing, Taxi and Limousine Commissioner David Yassky admitted that the TLC’s central dispatch pilot program was a failure. Back in December 2007, I wrote an Op-Ed in the New York Post raising concerns about the program. Unfortunately, my predictions proved correct. Now that this two-year pilot program has ended, the TLC has no way of getting accessible taxis to the people who need them. Until there are more accessible taxis on the road, the nearly 60,000 people with disabilities in New York City will continue to be left stranded- and as it stands, the TLC still has no firm plans to provide equal service for customers with disabilities.
As the hearing highlighted, the Commission’s plans for a “Taxi of Tomorrow” fail to include any guarantee of accessibility. The TLC’s Taxi of Tomorrow Request for Proposals (RFP) only makes accessibility a goal, not a mandate. Without such a mandate, the door is left open for accessibility criteria to fall by the wayside when determining the vehicle chosen for the Taxi of Tomorrow initiative. Accessibility should be a requirement, not a goal.
Koch Lauds Kellner as Reformer
June 23, 2010
I was proud to be one of the first elected officials to sign the three reform pledges sponsored by Mayor Ed Koch’s New York Uprising. The pledges are aimed at changing the culture of Albany and reforming our state’s government.
I am passionate about cleaning up Albany. I have introduced important new reform legislation–toughening anti-corruption laws, cracking down on government waste, making government more transparent, and opening up policy debates to the public. The New York Uprising pledges represent precisely the kind of change I am working to bring about.
“I applaud Assembly Member Micah Kellner as a “Hero of Reform” for signing the three New York Uprising pledges. This year voters are counting on candidates to commit to specific reforms in advance, as Assembly Member Kellner has done. I look forward to working with him to see them swiftly implemented should he be reelected.” — Mayor Koch
The pledges include the following:
Ethics Reform: As a signer, I pledge to support the creation of a state ethics commission, a comprehensive annual financial disclosure form for state officials, and an end to “pay-to-play” campaign contributions;
Redistricting Reform: I pledge to support the creation of an independent, nonpartisan redistricting commission in order to end gerrymandering and take politics out of the redistricting process; and
Responsible Budgeting: I pledge to support the adoption of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) to prepare and manage the state’s budget, as well as the creation of an Independent Budget Office, and other reforms to the state’s budget process.
Raising Awareness of Gastric Cancer
June 17, 2010
Assembly Member Kellner (r) with Lynn DeGregorio, Foundation Board Member Jennifer Carlson, and members of the DeGregorio family.
Yesterday the Assembly passed my resolution calling on Governor Paterson to declare today Gastric and Esophageal Cancer Awareness Day.
Upper Gastrointestinal Malignancies - including cancers of the stomach, esophagus, and the gastroesaphogeal junction - are responsible for over one million new cancer diagnoses worldwide, and are the second most common cause of global, cancer-related deaths.
I introduced the resolution after coming to know of the work of the DeGragorio Family Foundation, which was created by Lynn DeGregorio. Lynn lost 10 members of her family to gastric cancer. After she herself tested negative for the genetic mutation associated with the cancers, Lynn decided she was spared for a reason, and she dedicated herself to helping others – working toward containment and treatment of these cancers.
Lynn founded the DeGregorio Family Foundation to carry on this mission. In the short time since, she has almost single-handedly raised $1 million to fight Gastric and Esophageal Cancer. She has also worked with Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center to create gastric cancer registries in the United States, Germany, Korea, and Nigeria. The registries will provide a database of the individuals at highest risk for gastric cancer. They will also include tissue and blood samples for future studies, to help researchers and physicians manage and treat these cancers.
I commend the DeGregorio Foundation for their enormously important work in fighting Gastric and Esophageal Cancer. I hope that by declaring June 17 Gastric and Esophageal Cancer Awareness Day we will help raise awareness and inspire action on the part of the public and private sectors to find effective treatments and eventually a cure.
A Victory for Tenants: Kellner Submetering Bill Passes Assembly
June 10, 2010
When the management at the Eastwood housing complex on Roosevelt Island attempted to impose a potentially disastrous plan to directly charge tenants for their electricity use — a practice called submetering, which would have resulted in a massive de facto rent increase — I successfully worked with the building’s tenants to stop the scheme in its tracks. But the victory at Eastwood demonstrated the need to enshrine strong tenant protections into law, to ensure that residents of Eastwood and buildings across the state are never faced with this threat again.
The submetering plan at Eastwood presented a host of problems for tenants. The building’s poor insulation and clunky electric heat would have meant that under submetering, tenants would be paying enormous electric bills just to keep warm in the winter. And the electric charges would be deemed as rent in tenant’s leases–meaning that tenants could be taken to housing court and potentially evicted for nonpayment of their electric bills. Tenants faced the prospect of having to choose between paying the rent and heating their homes.
I am proud to report that, yesterday, the Assembly passed a critical tenant protection bill which I introduced in response to this threat. The bill (A. 7353-A) prohibits landlords from deeming electrical charges as rent. This legislation means that tenants will no longer be faced with the possibility of eviction in the event that they are unable to pay their electric bill. It will also help guarantee that tenants are able to exercise their rights as energy consumers, and if necessary, get assistance in paying their bills.
I will continue working to ensure that all the necessary protections are put into place to eliminate the threat of electrical submetering once and for all.
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My community office is here to help you.
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New York, NY 10065
Tel 212-860-4906
Fax 917-432-2983
Email KellnerM@assembly.state.ny.us
