NYC NOW - Evening Roundup: George Santos Gets a Seven Year Prison Sentence, NYC Comptroller Candidate Pitches Universal Child Care, Mayor Adams’ Trash Revolution and West Village Eats for Any Budget

Episode Date: April 25, 2025

Former New York Congressmember George Santos will be spending at least seven years in federal prison. Plus, comptroller candidate, Justin Brannan, has a plan to re-invest a $500 million piece of the city's multibillion-dollar pension funds and use it to pay for universal child care. Also, a report on the future of containerizing New York City’s garbage. And finally, a food critic shares a few good eats in the West Village neighborhood.

Disgraced former congressman George Santos is headed to prison. A candidate for New York City Comptroller pitches universal childcare, Mayor Adams' trash revolution, and West Village eats for any budget. From WMYC, this is NYC now. I'm Jene Pierre. Former U.S. Representative George Santos will spend the next seven years of his life in federal prison. The disgraced Republican who briefly represented parts of Queen's, in Long Island pleaded guilty last year to federal charges of wire fraud and aggravated identity

theft related to what prosecutors said was a scheme to dupe political donors and supporters. John Durham is the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York. He says Santos is finally facing justice. Today's sentence demonstrates that this egregious conduct will not and never will be tolerated. Lawyers for Santos had sought a lighter sentence of two years. Santos will also have to pay restitution to those he defrauded. New York City Comptroller candidate Justin Brannon has a plan to reinvest a $500 million piece of the city's

multi-billion dollar pension funds and use it to pay for universal child care. WMYC's Bridget Bergen joined him at a struggling child care center in Williamsburg to learn more. Sitting on a dark blue rug, a group of two-year-olds stacked blocks into small towers. Just 10 kids are lucky enough to be in this cozy bilingual classroom, where letters and words in English and Spanish hang on the walls. And what did you say was the wait list for this particular? For this two-year-old program, we have 114 children waiting. Ingrid Matias Chungada is the executive director here at Neustros Ninos.

The 50-year-old site is a neighborhood touchstone. Generations of families send their kids here. But it's been caught in an ongoing exesuitable. existential fight with the city over funding and contracts. Fights that city controller candidate Justin Brannon says are hurting the city. Look, the bottom line is the city needs to pay its damn bills on time. But more than that, Brandon says that if he's elected, the city would get more creative about how it funds child care. His latest pitch to voters.

Invest pension funds in the durability of the early childhood education system and the child care system. Because it's good for the economy. It's good for the workforce. It's good for the city. And it's good for retirees. It would be a great return on investment. Tools of the city controller's office have been used before to finance investment in affordable housing. Economist James Parrott says this is the first time he's aware that similar tools could be used for child care infrastructure.

While it may not deliver double-digit pension fund returns, it's a pretty safe and responsible investment. Brandon's leading opponent in the Democratic primary for city controller is Manhattan Borough president Mark Levine. Levine's campaign declined to comment on Brandon's proposal. New York City Mayor Eric Adams ran his previous campaign on trash. No, literally. He promised a trash revolution. After the break, we'll check in to see how that's working out. Stay close.

Mayor Eric Adams has promised a trash revolution for New York City. The goal? Get all the city's trash bags. off the sidewalks and into bins. He's made progress so far, but as he faces an uphill battle for re-election, the largely popular policy remains in limbo. WMYC's Liam Quigley reports

on the future of containerizing the city's garbage. Residents of West 150 Second Street have some new neighbors in the form of eight large gray plastic bins. They're about the size of half a car and they're labeled for compost and others for recycling and trash. The sanitation department is calling them

Empire Bins. They're the latest weapon in the city's war on rats. Building Super Cliff Dickens is a fan. This is better right here. This is better. It's less rats and you know, it's more, it's more convenience for the Super. The bins are part of a pilot program to get all the bags of trash out of this part of Manhattan. It's scheduled to start on June 1st and continue through the fall of 2026. Any building with 31 or more units will be required to use one of these Empire Bins. Building, with ten or more units can opt into the program. But the Empire bins may set off a bigger fight. They'll take up around 3% of the city's parking spots.

Rosalind Batiste lives around the corner from some of the new bins and says parking has been a challenge for a while. But she's on board with the rollout. Well, it's been more cars since COVID been around. But if it's going to eliminate the rats, yeah, I'm in. The program will remain a pilot unless the city council approves a bigger rollout. out. Councilmember Crystal Hudson says she's confident that'll happen. Everyone else is in the 21st century when it comes to trash receptacles and sanitation services

and all of that and we're still stuck in the 20th century. Trash containerization has been a signature issue for Mayor Eric Adams, but taking the plans forward will also fall to the next mayoral administration. And nearly every candidate running to replace him has said they would expand it to the rest of the city. The one exception is Andrew Cuomo. He was the only candidate who did not reply when asked if he supported it. That's WMYC's Liam Quigley. The West Village is a popular destination for tourists and New Yorkers alike. But a couple centuries ago, before it was filled with fancy boutiques and pricey places to eat, it was an actual village. Food critic Robert Seitzima described it as very

countryified. There were farms here, monasteries, there were all sorts of like, quirky things, and the very layout of the streets suggests a village. I mean, it's not an accident that when tourists dare to come here, they just instantly get lost. The streets are going off in every which way, and it's not like on the grid. As the 20th century dawned, the West Village became a destination for poets, writers, painters, and musicians. That was before the well- started buying up two or three townhouses in a row and turning them into mega mansions. But now, the West Village is one of the most expensive areas in New York City. And enjoying a nice restaurant there can put a hole in your wallet.

But this food critic says the West Village is a great dining destination for any budget. There are places like the corner bistro. Now, of course, bistro suggests like hang on to your wallet these days. but bistro just used to mean any kind of neighborhood gathering place. And this is like an old Irish bar with sawdust on the floor. And during the chow hound era of a couple decades ago, this was considered the best hamburger in the city. It underwent a fallow period for a while,

and now the burger is back, and it'll cost you less than $20 with French fries, a good thick half-pound burger. And it's cooked in a little closet off of the bar. which is very picturesque. He says there's another spot on Greenwich Avenue called Assault and Battery. It's meant to be a pun.

It's a salt A and then salt S-A-L-T. It's a fish-and-chips spot. It has real English fish and chips. You have a choice of several different kinds of fish, and they don't stint on the fish, and the fries are good, and it's like, well, less than $20 for sure. Now, if you're willing to double it up

and spend about $40 on a meal, Robert recommends a place called Cowgirl. Which used to be called Cowgirl Hall of Fame, once connected to a famous Fort Worth Cowgirl Museum. It has any kind of food from Texas or the Southwest. They have great barbecued ribs. They have corn dogs cooked to order, which means they dip them in the batter like you were at the state fair.

And it's absolutely great. They have Tex-Mex kind of San Antonio-style enchiladas. They have an amazing black bean dip, which is sometimes known as Texas caviar, which you eat with freshly fried chips. Plenty of vegetarian stuff on the menu and plenty of stuff to amuse children. He says little ones are most amused by the restaurant's decor, which is originally from the Fort Worth Cowgirl Museum. Now, if money ain't a thing for your West Village restaurant experience, then Robert says check out the clam. It's down on Hudson across the street from James Walker Park. Kind of in the southern part of the West Village.

This place is the only restaurant I know of in the city that specializes in clams. And, of course, you can get famous little necks eaten raw. You can get them in all sorts of like clams casino formats. They also have chowders that are the kind of like Yankee style chowders that are absolutely delicious. And they have all sorts of other seafood in the unlikely event that you hate clam. That's Food Critic Robert Sietzima. A quick note before we go. Over the last few weeks, we've taken an in-depth look at the political turmoil

that's engulfed Mayor Eric Adams and his administration. This Saturday, we're wrapping up our series with a look ahead at what's next for Adams with the mayoral election just a few months away. Look out for the drop in your feed this Saturday. And if you miss the previous episodes, scroll through our feed and listen to the episodes from previous Saturdays. Thanks for listening to NYC Now from WMYC. I'm Jene Pierre.

Enjoy the weekend.