NYC NOW - Evening Roundup: NYC Considers Extended Schoolyard Hours, Immigration Raid in Newark, Knicks Players Named to All-Star Team, NYC Houseboat Struggles, and Best Vegetarian Restaurants

Episode Date: January 24, 2025

New York City officials are considering a plan to keep schoolyards open longer on weekends and after school, but it could cost $49 million a year. Meanwhile, New Jersey officials are demanding answers after a federal immigration raid at a Newark business. Also, Knicks players Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns have been voted as starters for next month’s NBA All-Star Game, the first Knicks duo to start since 1975. Also, New Yorkers living on houseboats are struggling to find marinas to dock their homes. WNYC’s David Brand reports. Finally, Eater NY’s Melissa McCart shares her picks for the city’s top vegetarian and vegan restaurants.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. I'm Jared Marcel. There's a push to extend the hours of schoolyards across the city to give children more spaces to play. Hundreds of school yards could stay open on weekends and for three hours after school on weekdays. But a new report from the city's independent budget office puts the cost at $49 million annually in overtime charges. City Council member Gail Brewer of the Upper West Side requested the report. She's pushing legislation to require the city education department to extend playground hours. The idea also came up in Mayor Adams' latest state of the city address.

He proposed expanding hours for 11 schoolyards, saying the move would benefit 20,000 people. Newark Mayor Raz Baraka and other New Jersey officials are demanding answers after federal immigration officers raided their Newark business on Thursday. At a press conference, the mayor said the raid at a local seafood distributor was unconstitutional. We believe in democracy in Newark, New Jersey, and we're going to stand on democracy here, and we're going to fight for all of our residents in this city, no matter what that looks like for us. Baraka said at least three citizens and non-citizens were detained, including a veteran. ICE is not responding to requests for comment.

NJ.com is reporting that ICE acknowledged the raid occurred, but declined to comment on the ongoing investigation. Two Knicks players have been voted starters for next month's NBA All-Star game. Jalen Brunson and Carl Anthony Towns earned their spots through votes from fans, players, and media. The team says this marks the first time a Knicks duo has started in the All-Star game since Hall of Famers, Walt Clyde Frazier, and Earl of Pearl Monroe did so in 1975. Towns joined the Knicks this season after being traded for Minnesota during the offseason. The All-Star game is set for Sunday, February 16th, in San Francisco at the Golden State War home court.

Up next, New Yorkers living in houseboats are having a hard time finding marinas to dock their floating homes. That story after the break. New York City's housing shortage is fueled by rising rent and evictions. One form of housing that doesn't get a lot of attention are houseboats, which are scattered across the city's waterways. However, as WNYC's David Brand reports, even those living on the water are struggling. Barry Green is called the marina next to Brooklyn's Kings Plaza Mall home for the past 12 years. He salvaged his 47-foot-long houseboat from a cellar in New Jersey

and turned it into both a floating home and a workshop. It's not your typical houseboat. The hull is brimming with tools, fasteners, and intricate crafts in leather, wood, and steel. He taps his latest creation. This is part of a lock that I'm working on. You're making the lock? I'm making the lock. And this is the key.

Did you carve the key? I carved everything. He says a houseboat's an affordable way to live in Brooklyn, and he and his neighbors have formed a tight-knit community. We look out for each other. You know, if somebody gets sick, people check on them, and that's an important thing to have. But there are storms ahead.

Kings Plaza owns the marina. and mall executives want the houseboaters to shove off. The company filed to evict Green and his neighbors last year. People are looking for another marina, and it's hard to find one. And the ones that will take you, they're expensive. Linda White is a retired letter carrier. She moved into her two-story houseboat at the marina 14 years ago. It looked kind of exciting.

And the first time you live on it, you're like, oh, my God, because it's moving back and forth, and it's up and down. But you get used to it. There's no official tally of houseboats moored along New York's 520 miles a shoreline, and city agencies aren't keeping track. But houseboaters, historians, and experts say the number of marinas that allow live-a-boards is dwindling. We had houseboats in much of Long Island, a great deal of Brooklyn.

City Island had them. And Eurichel had quite a lot of them. And for some reason, they decided that they simply didn't want to keep houseboats anymore. Robert Johnson's a nautical historian. He's been living on his boat in the Bronx's Westchester Creek for the past 40 years. So you're seeing the number of marinas where you can dock year around have diminished, I guess? I would say almost disappeared. WNYC called 16 marinas in all five boroughs in Jersey City.

Everyone who answered said they now prohibit people from living on houseboats. One said the cost of insurance was too high. Others say the city started banning houseboats at its marinas more than a decade ago. Barbara Delensick is the vice president of the Historical Society in City Island, which has a rich maritime history. When we moved here, there were plenty of people on boats, but now I don't believe that there's anybody living aboard. The eviction case of the Kings Plaza Marina is still moving through Brooklyn's civil court.

The mall's general manager referred our questions to Kings Plaza's parent company, Macerich, a retail real estate behemoth with at least 40 shopping centers nationwide. A spokesperson for the company declined to comment on the eviction proceedings. White, the retired letter carrier, says the city's missing an important source of affordable housing for hardy New Yorkers with a taste for the unconventional. The thing that's a shame is that these are affordable. I don't see why you can't live on them. She says she and her neighbors will keep looking for a new place to dock their homes.

That's WNYC reporter, David Brand. Eater, New York has recently published their list of the best vegetarian and vegan restaurants in New York City. To learn more about these tasty, meatless offerings, my colleague David first spoke with Eden, New York editor, Melissa McCart. Melissa, when you look at the landscape of food across the country, where does New York City stand when it comes to interesting and satisfying vegetarian dining in 2025? I think that vegetarian dining in New York is extremely. dynamic from a burgeoning collection of veggie burger places to more sophisticated temples of fine dining. But I do think that as restaurants struggle a bit more, as they have this past year, potentially this coming year, vegetarian restaurants are a little bit more taxed than other

places because they're speaking to a specific dining public as opposed to a more general dining public. Have you ever tried to stick to a vegetarian diet or lean vegetarian in your dining? I have embraced what Mark Bittman called vegan before six, basically stocking the breakfast and lunch options with vegetarian or vegan and then having a smaller portion of meats in the evening. Sounds great. Let's get to your new list. What should we try? On the higher end, there's Clementi Bar, The new bar within 11 Madison Park. 11 Madison Park is a vegan restaurant now, and it's, you know, one of the most highly ranked restaurants in the city from Daniel Hume. Lamenti Bar essentially has two options.

One is a cocktail option in the studio that lets you have vegetarian snacks. And the other is a tasting menu of sorts that is also vegan, but is not as much of a financial commitment as, a full-blown 11 Madison Park. And as far as what you should get, I would look online beforehand because that menu is always changing. What are some of the favorites you've had there? I like the super umami soba options or little fritters, stuff with squash and things like that. So I'm egalitarian when it comes to whatever Daniel Holmes staff is going to put in front

of me. Whatever is on the menu is okay with you. Exactly. Exactly. Okay. That's Clementi Bar at 11 Madison Avenue in Manhattan. What's next? Moon Burger, and that's at 126 Bedford Avenue.

It's a new-ish veggie burger place, and it's coming from a drive-thru in Kingston, New York. It also has seasonal shake flavors made with oat milk. I feel like Moonburger is just a fun place to get a veggie burger. And, you know, you can't really go wrong in terms of veggie burgers. I think that people, there's a lot of competition regarding veggie burgers in New York, and people are doing interesting things with them. Moonberger, 126 Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn. We have time for one more option?

I think that there are a lot of cultures that are vegetarian, South Indian, for example. And a place like Temple Canteen at 143.09 Holly Avenue in Queens is, is a super economical and delicious option as far as vegetarian. You can get chats, you can get rice dishes, you can get tiffins with like small versions of signature dishes. That's a really fun Saturday activity to do. Okay, South Indian vegetarian food temple canteen. Where is that located again? It's located in Flushing at 14309 Holly Avenue.

That's Eder, New York editor, Melissa McCart, in conversation with my colleague, David First. Thanks for listening to NYC now from WNYC. Catch us every weekday three times a day. I'm Jared Marcel. Have a great weekend. See you on Monday.