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We told you that New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani would be bad, and the democrat socialist has proven to be as terrible or perhaps even worse than we warned.
He’s continued his antisemitic rhetoric and demeaning of police, wants to tax the wealthy out of existence (or at least, out of the state), and is striving to make DEI great again — just what nobody needs.
On Sunday, he announced that the city’s first city-run grocery store will open in East Harlem, and it will cost $30 million to build and take over a year to complete.
Trump could probably build a dozen of these for $30 million. Why so much? Union wages play a part, but that doesn't explain it all, considering Mamdani had earlier promised five stores for a mere $70 million:
Even assuming New York City’s priciest union-driven construction costs, a standard-sized 25,000-square-foot grocery store should only be about $15 million to build, said Adam Lehodey, an expert at the Manhattan Institute.
“Thirty million dollars for one store is exceptionally high, considering land prices are a significant part of the capital costs of new construction, and the city has announced that rents will be waived,” he said.
The ghosts of the old Soviet Union leaders are beaming with pride
| Happy |
Now, does this sound fair to you? The store will be required to pay no taxes or rent, yet the neighboring competitors will face those high costs. That is not capitalism, folks.
The new grocery at the longstanding city-owned La Marqueta marketplace will run with a yet-to-be-picked operator reaping the benefits of a rent- and tax-free deal, City Hall officials told The Post on Monday.
Mamdani envisions that the low-cost deal — which he anounced during a Sunday celebration of his first 100 days in office -– will allow the grocery’s operator to pass on savings to hardscrabble New Yorkers reeling from foodstuff sticker shock, but neighboring grocer Abdul Shaher had doubts about its efficiency based on the exorbitant $30 million upfront cost.
“It’s gonna affect us real hard,” said Victor Vazquez, 33, manager at City Fresh Market. “It’s too near! Our prices might have to go up.”
Might have to?
The owner of Pamela’s Grocery Store bodega, meanwhile, 58-year-old Augustine Espinal, said it’s unquestionably going to hurt his bottom line. “The city has a much stronger business than I do,” he said. “It’ll be a loss in income."
MORE: Mamdani's 'Great Recession' Fearmongering: Only Answer Is to Tax the Pants Off the Rich
Zohran Mamdani Touts His 'Racial Equity Plan' for NYC — What Could Go Wrong?
Critics have long bashed Mamdani’s plans to put city-run grocery stores in all five boroughs of the Big Apple. John Catsimatidis, the billionaire owner of one of NY’s staple grocery chains, Gristedes, threatened in June 2025, before Mamdani won the election, that he might head to greener pastures. “If the city of New York is going socialist, I will definitely close, or sell, or move or franchise the Gristedes locations,” he warned.
Said Fernando Mateo of the United Bodegas of America, meanwhile: "These stores are going to get jam-packed, they're only four or five in the entire city of 8 million people."
"What do you expect is going to happen? You're going to have people rushing to these stores early in the morning to late at night, waiting on long lines. You know, it's going to be more turmoil than anything else. It's a great punch line for him and for the socialist movement."
"But New York is not a socialist city," he concluded.
Maybe it's not a socialist city yet, but with Zohran in charge, it's quickly on its way to becoming one.
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