NYC NOW - November 27, 2024: Evening Roundup

Episode Date: November 27, 2024

A federal judge has found New York City in contempt for failing to address dangerous conditions at Rikers Island jail complex despite a nine-year-old legal agreement. Meanwhile, a city employee faces charges of assault, reckless endangerment, and fleeing the scene after allegedly hitting three cars and dragging someone in Bed-Stuy Tuesday evening. Plus, WNYC’s David Furst talks with Nick Layton, co-host of Were You Raised by Wolves, about handling out-of-town relatives who trash talk the Big Apple over the holidays. Finally, WNYC invites New Yorkers to share the stories behind their favorite family recipes. Meet Kelly Jean Fitzsimmons from Astoria, Queens.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. I'm Jared Marcel. A federal judge says New York City failed to improve dangerous conditions at Rikers Island Jail, despite a legal agreement made nine years ago. Judge Laura Taylor Swin found the city in contempt, citing 18 areas where it fell short, including rising rates of abusive force by staff and inmate deaths in custody. So far this year, at least five people have died. at Rikers Island, according to the Vera Institute of Justice.

In September, the judge warned city officials to prepare for a federal takeover of the jail. Now, she's asking all sides to come up with solutions in the next few weeks. A city employee is facing charges of assault, reckless endangerment, and fleeing the scene after police say she hit three cars and dragged someone in bedstay Tuesday evening. The 40-year-old NYCHA worker allegedly collided with another car around 6 p.m. at Gates Avenue and Marcus Garvey Boulevard. When the driver of that car tried to catch her, officials say she drove away,

dragging that person several feet before hitting another car with a pregnant woman inside. Police say the driver then hit a third empty car. She was arrested shortly after. No one was seriously hurt. Information for the driver's lawyer is not yet available. Up next, for those of us visiting family outside the Big Apple or hosting out-of-town relatives this Thanksgiving,

there's a chance you might face some. unsolicited trash talk about life in New York City. How to handle those conversations after the break. You're listening to NYC now. Thanksgiving dinners can get tense, especially when out-of-town relatives start criticizing New York City. From the high cost of living to its tiny apartments, WNYC's David First spoke with etiquette expert, Nicolaitan, co-host of the podcast, where you raised by wolves, about how to navigate these critiques while keeping the day. Senate Table Civil. Your Gothamist article this week is about how to deal with friends and family

trashing the city. Is this topic a little personal for you? Maybe, yes. I am in a New Yorker. I've been here for, you know, since I was 18, but I do have a hometown. And I do go back to that hometown. And I do hear things about New York City. And I don't love it. You hear things. Okay, what kinds of things do you consider rude? Well, you know, there's a lot of people I think if you don't live in New York City, you just don't know. You don't get it. You know, even visiting New York is a very different experience than living here. And it's really hard to articulate why we want to live here. So it is very common to hear from relatives like, oh, why do you live in New York City? It would be so much better in insert place name here. And, you know, if you don't know, you don't get it. I mean, what do you say to that? What are the most typical things you hear? price cost yes you know everything in new york city is more expensive and i don't discuss price with my family back home of anything i mean if they knew what a cocktail cost in new york city would blow

their mind so so we just can't discuss what things cost but yeah i think the cost of living in new york city yeah it is high and the people who don't live here and if they visit they are shocked another things people talk about is that new york city is not a great place to raise your kids and i think it's a real cool place to raise kids because just just think of all the experiences that you can offer. But you cannot argue with people on that point. So I think to that you just have to say, like, fair enough. And we're going to change the subject.

And one of the things that actually drives me bonkers is when people say that New Yorkers are rude. And that's just not true. I think New Yorkers are actually some of the friendliest and nicest people who will jump in and help at a moment's notice. But we also do a great job of just mining our business. And so I think if you're not from New York, you're not used to that sort of dichotomy.

And I think if you came to New York, you may not realize that we have different etiquette. You know, all etiquette is local. You know, you might have gotten yelled at by somebody if you held open a restaurant door in the middle of winter and you just let all this cold air in. Or you stepped up to the front of a deli counter and you weren't ready to order. Or you were walking three by three on a narrow sidewalk at the Bush Village and you were blocking everybody. Like, yeah, some New Yorker's probably going to say something a little direct to you about getting out of the way. What makes it so grating to you to hear some of these comments? Well, it's judgmental because basically what you're saying is like you have bad judgment for deciding to live in New York City because, you know, you can have a washer dryer in your house. Imagine, you know, but you have decided to use bad judgment and therefore you have to go to the basement to do your laundry or send it out.

All right, washer and dryer. That doesn't sound too cutting. You know, what's the worst one? What stands out above all others? Well, I think one that I think is probably a little true is that our airports are hard to get to and are chaotic and horrible. I mean, LaGuardia actually has gotten much better, but it's still hard to get to. There's no, you know, air trade to LaGuardia. But I think it's the apartments are small. I think that's the one that really grates on me because to me, New York City is my living room. New York City is my kitchen. And my apartment is just sort of where I sleep and where I keep my stuff. And so I think it's not important for me to have this enormous big mansion, 20 bedrooms, two-story atrium, foyer's, horse paddock out back. Lake, you know, it's fine to have a small apartment. Well, that's a great way to put it. Now, we all need to chill out a little bit over the holidays. So what is your biggest advice to anyone who knows they're going to get grief for just living in New York City?

Well, you got to pick your battles. Is this the hell you want to die on? And so often it's just better to keep it light, keep it polite. And I guess realize, like, if you're a true New Yorker, we don't really care what other people think about New York City. Like, we don't really care. It's fine. Not caring is the ultimate revenge.

Yes, I mean, don't move here. What's great about New York is that, for the most part, only people who want to be here are here. And if you don't want to be here, you're just going to leave. And so that's fine. That's kind of how it's always been. There are plenty of other people who will be happy to take your place. And so I say, at these Thanksgiving dinner, when somebody criticizes New York, just let it go, smile, nod, and just be thankful that this is just once a year. All right.

And dare I ask, what about the other side of this discussion? and all of those New York City guests and hosts who say they simply can't imagine living anywhere else, even when the table is packed with guests from out of town. Oh, that's fair game. Because I mean, New York City, greatest city of the world. So I think we're allowed to be proud. Yeah, go for it. And if you're on our turf, if you're in New York City, then yes, home rule advantage.

That's Nick Leighton, co-host of the podcast, where you raised by wolves in conversation with my colleague, David First. Tis the season for food, family, and friends. WNYC's Community and Partnership Desk is asking New Yorkers to share stories behind their favorite family recipes and the memories they bring to life. Kelly Jean Fitzsimmons lives in Astoria Queens. We talked with her as part of a collaboration with the Queens Memory Project. My name is Kelly Jean Fitzsimmons. I'm 47 years old and I live in Astoria Queens. Even though my last name is Fitzsimmons, my mother is Cecilia.

I grew up much more with the Italian culture and traditions. And I always think of what my mom calls vinylade, which I don't know the proper spelling of, but it's these little tiny dough balls. So you would make a big mound of dough and then roll them out into little almost like worm-like shapes and cut them up to little nuggets and kind of fry them up and then pile them all in a plate and you cover them with honey and then bits of chocolate. and bits of nuts and little tiny rainbow sprinkles. And I both loved it because I love the process,

but I also thought they were kind of gross. It just would stick together and get, you know, really hard to pull them apart. But it's something I always associated with Christmas, just the activity of making them. And my mom used to always kind of slap my hand away because I just wanted to eat the toppings instead of, you know, putting them on top. What made me think of the Venulati is, I think, think it's more important kind of the preparation or bringing people together with the food

than the product itself. I mean, those are the ones that are always the most important to me. There was something about it, even though it was never my favorite thing to eat, it just, it took all of us to make. And so that was kind of a way to bring the family together and to do something together. My parents are older, so they have a harder time, you know, kind of joining in and all of that. And I think a lot of times we imagine that if you can't do all of it, you shouldn't do any of it. I was thinking how the really hard, laborious part was making the dough and cutting them into the pieces. And if we did all that and brought it over, that my parents might have fun doing the toppings.

And it might be a way to, you know, find that middle ground so you don't have to let go of everything, every family tradition, even though Christmas this year isn't going to be like any of the other years. It makes me feel like I'm able to give them back a little bit of the past. Thanks for listening to NYC now from WNYC. Just a heads up for Thanksgiving Day and Friday will release just one episode. I'm Jared Marcel. Enjoy your holiday.