NYC NOW - October 9, 2024: Midday News

Episode Date: October 9, 2024

group of 40 lawmakers is urging voters to reject five ballot measures proposed by Mayor Adams’ charter revision commission. WNYC’s Brigid Bergin reports. Meanwhile, new speed limits take effect this Wednesday under Sammy’s Law, which allows New York City to reduce limits to 20 mph on regular streets and 10 mph on streets undergoing safety redesigns. Plus, WNYC’s David Furst talks with Eater New York’s Robert Sietsema about his favorite Mexican food spots in the city.

Welcome to NYC Now. Your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Wednesday, October 9th. Here's the midday news from Michael Hill. A group of 40 lawmakers are speaking out today against ballot measures crafted by Mayor Adams' Charter Revision Commission. WNYC's Bridget Bergen says lawmakers are urging voters to reject the five proposals. The ballot initiatives were developed.

over seven weeks this summer by Mayor Adams' hand-picked Charter Revision Commission. He announced the group the same week the City Council introduced legislation that would give it more say in certain mayoral appointments. City Council Speaker Adrian Adams says these proposals are an attempt to give the mayor control of the council. That same city council, which is designed to be the independent legislative branch of the city charge to enact checks and balances on the mayoral administration. A spokesperson for the commission says the measures include input from 750 New Yorkers.

Starting today, there'll be new speed limits on some New York City streets. The recently approved Sammy's law grants the city authority to reduce speed limits to 20 miles an hour on streets and 10 miles an hour on streets undergoing safety-related redesigns. The first street with the new speed limit is Prospect Park West, where a driver's car killed 12-year-old Sammy Cohen-Extine in 2013. The Department of Transportation says it'll reduce speed limits at roughly 250 other locations by the end of next year. 65 with clouds right now, partly sunny and 66, very fall like the day. Mostly clear tonight and upper 40s, so it's going to be chilly and even chillier in outlying areas.

Then tomorrow's sunny and just 61 for a high. This is WNIC News. Stay close. There's more after the break. On WNYC, I'm David First. Our friends at Eder, New York have joined us to talk about pizza, fried chicken, bagels, burgers, roast beef sandwiches, and so much more. But the question I get more than any other is, but David, what you should really ask is, is there any good Mexican food in New York City? This is a question that quickly divides the room into two angry camps.

Those who defend the city and say New York does, in fact, have good Mexican food and tons of Mexican neighborhoods to prove it, and those who immediately attack the former group for being clueless and cite places like Texas and California as being better destinations. Here now, to perhaps settle this question, is Ida New York's senior critic, Robert Seitzima. Welcome back. Hey, David. How you doing? Well, Robert, I'm sure this is a question you've encountered many times before. Oh, God, yes.

Over 30 years, since probably 1990, when the first significant number of Mexicans began appearing, wonderful people from Puebla. There was a drought there that had lasted for 10 years, and they brought their cuisine, a cuisine that came from the southern part of Mexico, and was quite different than the Mexican food available in California. California and Texas. And you'll find that that angered group of complainers, they are from California and Texas. And you're touching on some of this here, but when we say Mexican food, that can mean a lot of different things to a lot of people. For the most part, we're probably talking about the very American

takes on Mexican food, right? So when you're confronted with this question, do you first have to sort out what people are looking for? I would definitely say that's the truth. But we have so many different kinds of regional Mexican food here in New York, beginning with the Pueblen, but we have food from Guerrero, we have food from Holisco, we have food from Morelos. Really, if you know much about Mexican food, you can go into a restaurant and tell where the food is from. So we have the richest catalog of Mexican food. We have people like Enrique Olvera, who came here as a celebrity chef and set up restaurants in New York. We have Mexico city kind of food now. We have food from Sonora. We have food from the northwest of Mexico,

from the Baja Peninsula. We have fish tacos. And then Tex-Mex is an entirely different school. And, you know, if you look around, you can find those kinds of food here, too. The problem is that most of the people that complain about our Mexican food, they don't want to put the footwork in that's necessary to track these things down, because we have, I would estimate, 5,000 Mexican restaurants, beginning with the humble bodega taqueria that began appearing around 1990 in Bushwick in places like that. Okay, so for the record, let me ask you the question, as it is often asked to me, does New York City have any good Mexican food?

We don't have any good Mexican food. We have great Mexican food. We have food that I am proud of, and if you will all just, you radio listeners, line up behind me right now. I will march you through the various neighborhoods, and I will give you samples of Mexican food from 20 different states. Okay, well, you can't give us all personal tours, but steer us in the right direction. Highlight a few of the best places. Well, I'll give you a couple of new places that are absolutely fantastic. There are different styles of taco now taking hold in New York. There's one at the corner of Avenue B and Third Street called Carnitas Ramirez,

and it takes carnitas, which are little pork tidbits cooked in lard. It takes them further than they've ever gone in New York before, and maybe further than they've gone in Halisco, where they originate. Carnitas Ramirez at the corner of Avenue B and 3rd Street, but be careful because it's only open Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Okay, good to know. It's the weekend right now. So there you go. What's next?

Well, that guy that I was mentioning, Enrique Overea, he has a new tachorea in Williamsburg, Essie taco. If you're accustomed to the usual carne enchilada, chicken, you know, the usual simple taco fillings. This is a new style of tacos straight from the capital called Gennara. So you get like a thin slice of steak with a certain special relish. They're very refined tacos and yet they're not much more expensive than the tacos at other places. So, and there's four different kinds. And this is such a treat to try these tacos, especially if you manage to go between these two tachoreas by way of the L train. It's really not very hard. And just,

just see the wealth and the perfection of tacos that are available in New York City. And, you know, I think that even California doesn't necessarily, although their Mexican food there is superb. Don't tell anyone I said that. Okay. S.A. Taco, Williamsburg, Brooklyn. And Robert, I know you've written a lot about this over the years. If people just do a search on Eder, New York, Robert Sitsima, Mexican food, they're going to find some stuff. You may get more than you bargained for.

Robert Sietzima with ITER, New York. Please direct all of your comments his way. Robert, thank you for joining us. Thanks so much, David. Thanks for listening. This is NYC now from WNYC. Check us out for updates every weekday, three times a day, for the latest news headlines and occasional deep times. And subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

We'll be back this evening.