New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani faces a stark reality check. Within months of taking office, the new mayor’s dreams of free buses, free child care and government-run grocery stores were stymied by the city’s massive budget deficit. But at least when it comes to government food stores, the mayor is going the extra mile.
The city currently faces a $5.4 billion budget shortfall, which Mamdani blames largely on former Mayor Eric Adams. In turn, Mamdani’s main proposal to close the gap is to either pressure Gov. Kathy Hochul and state lawmakers to raise taxes on the city’s wealthiest residents and businesses — the mayor’s preferred path — or impose a 9.5 percent property tax in New York.
Governor Hochul poured cold water on the path to taxing the wealthy, and an across-the-board property tax increase was, not surprisingly, met with strong opposition. The latter would also require the acquiescence of the New York City Council, but City Council Speaker Julie Menin has dismissed the idea as “impossible.”
Of course, there are other options to fix New York City’s budget mess besides raising taxes. That means the city could cut spending and implement fiscal austerity. But if spending cuts seem like a pipe dream for a democratic socialist mayor, one can at least look forward to a temporary moratorium on expensive spending new Expenditure items.
No such luck. Despite New York City’s poor financial condition, new york post Mamdani reportedly plans to allocate $70 million to his government’s core campaign proposal of operating grocery stores. Presumably, the money will go to the city’s Economic Development Corporation (EDC), which will be tasked with identifying sites for five proposed stores across Gotham City’s five boroughs and spearheading their construction.
The $70 million price tag is an upgrade from the mayor’s $60 million campaign trail projections, and it’s just the beginning. this postal It was confirmed to EDC that the reported $70 million does not even include the cost of a feasibility study for the new grocery store, the price of which remains unknown.
It also doesn’t include the ongoing costs of operating the store, such as building maintenance or paying government employees who may eventually staff the store (the mayor has so far not clarified operational details).
As critics across ideological spectrums have pointed out, government-run grocery stores are a particularly bad policy idea. For one, past efforts have been ineffective and cost the city money it will never get back.
There is also little evidence that they achieve their intended purpose of helping city residents.
New York City Deputy Mayor for Economic Justice Julie Su, who served as President Biden’s former acting labor secretary, said it is imperative to address New York City’s so-called “food deserts” to provide better healthy food options. But the study didn’t find much evidence that government-run stores help local residents develop healthier eating habits.
Government-run stores also inevitably inject more politics into the food supply. Food, like everything else, has become increasingly politicized in recent years, and putting governments in charge of stocking store shelves will only accelerate this trend.
As I’ve written before in these pages, what constitutes a “healthy” diet has been debated for decades. The federal government has wavered on the question of which food groups are good or bad in the form of dietary guidelines, embracing years of advice that may have contributed to rising obesity rates in the United States.
It would be equally foolhardy to expect New York City government to demonstrate nutritional insights into the foods displayed on government shelves. A final lesson can be learned from the experience of state-run liquor stores (still present in 13 states), which have shown that these government-run retailers are engines of corruption and political favoritism.
A government-run grocery store in Mamdani makes neither political nor economic sense. But despite a severe budget shortfall, the mayor has not hesitated in his efforts to raise grocery bills.
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