BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//InvisionCommunity Events 5.0.18//EN METHOD:PUBLISH CALSCALE:GREGORIAN REFRESH-INTERVAL:PT15M X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT15M X-WR-CALNAME:RMCommunityCalendar NAME:RMCommunityCalendar BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Europe/London TZURL:https://tzurl.org/zoneinfo/Europe/London X-LIC-LOCATION:Europe/London BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:+0000 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 TZNAME:BST DTSTART:20250330T020000Z RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=3;BYDAY=-1SU END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 TZOFFSETTO:+0000 TZNAME:GMT DTSTART:20251026T020000Z RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=10;BYDAY=-1SU END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Economic Corner 26 11/08/2025 DTSTAMP:20251108T220859Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:583-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n Economic Corner 26\n\n\n\n Mamdani's affordability plans\ n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n After the Two thousand and twenty five New York City ma yoral election\, I suggested one idea for Mamdani\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n My Pr eface\n\nI made a suggestion when Obama became president\, that he should had spent his time improving the efficiency of the federal bureaucracy\, a s president he could do that with no input from anyone else. PResidents ca n't control the economy of the world\, they can't protect peoples in state s\, they can't make laws that are everlasting. \n\nPresidents legal parame ters allow them to manipulate the executive branch bureaucracy\, and mold the war machine with no input from any other. \n\nThat didn't happen. Obam a meddled in finance and healthcare and made the bureaucracy worse and mad e the war machine worse.\n\nMy Idea for Mamdani\n\nThe mayor of NYC can't control or manipulate the price of food[private industry]. the cost of uti lities[private industry]. the global real estate industries interwoven sys tem[private industry]. the employers reaction to modern computing power[th at is private industry]\, get money to finance the city[that is the govern or]. The reality is the modern global fiscal capitalistic structure NYC wa s placed firmly in through decades of actions that can not be undone in fo ur years or eight years or twelve years. The mayor of NYC can improve the bureaucracy of NYC\, for example manipulating the NYPD into another organi zation. \n\nBut the mayor can also pass laws\, unlike the president who ha s been given legal powers by the congress. the mayor has the greater power in NYC\, and so to the affordability push\, I say make an affordability s cale law.\n\nWhat do I mean? \n\nButter cost eight dollars for four sticks . Which means two sticks cost four dollars. One stick costs two dollars. A half of a stick cost one dollar. \n\nBut most stores only sell packs of f our or two. So\, the affordability law is needed to get customers the abil ity to scale down what is sold to them. \n\nFor example\, for butter\, why can't customers have a half a stick of butter available for one dollar? L iterally have the stores\, the delis + supermarkets \, be within a legal r ight to sell goods when applicable in a more affordable way. \n\nThe mayor can't lower the cost of butter\, but in NYC with so many relying on EBT/S nap/Food pantries including federal workers who haven't been paid\, forcin g businesses to sell products more affordably i think is something he coul d had said he was going to do during the campaign. \n\nMaybe I am too seri ous or to honest\, but I have never comprehended why anyone in government in a post or applying for a post provides pie in the sky or hopes or possi bilities. All government post in human history have rules\, even kings or queens. The rules dictate what you can do. So\, just tell people with what you will be able to do in a position what you will do. \n\nWell that is i t\, my one idea to push. BAsed on Obama+AOC + Ohlan+.. Adams plus many oth ers\, the odds are mamdani's agenda will be nothing as I suggest. But\, I gave a functional idea. \n\n\n\n\n referral\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/e vents/event/578-nyc-election-day-2025/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Mamdani seems de termined to implement city owned stores\, after my thoughts are a series o f articles with information or other opinions concerning the topic.\n\n\n\ n  \n\n\n\n MY THOUGHTS\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n The problem Mamdani's plan has is the one the Soviet Union had. The Soviet Union tried to convince a hum anity that had spent four hundred and fifty years watching white europeans exit europe and dominate all other human beings with a system of fiscal c apitalism making haves and have nots everywhere\, including in europe that sharing wealth is good\, fiscal equality is safe. But human history has t aught quite the opposite. Greed is good\, fiscal inequality is safe. Most in humanity speak french or english or spanish or arabic or portuguese not because the empires of france/england/spain/portugal/caliph were sharing peoples going throughout humanity making they neighbor better. It is becau se said empires\, murdered/killed/eliminated/enslaved all others to leech off of them\, so that the few at the top of each empire in their european country could live a life of luxury and guarantee said luxury to their chi ldren. The American Continent is the culmination of the fiscal capitalism of said empires \, including the caliphates\, with the USA as the crown je wel. A country started on fiscal capitalistic crimes and generating fiscal capitalistic crimes and welcoming fiscal capitalistic criminals every yea r of its existence. Based on 2025\, mission accomplished. \n\n\n\n Govern ment owned stores Mamdani likes because it disallows private industries gr eed or market manipulations if they are not greedy but merely adhere to ma rket flows from influencing the cost of items in a store into being unaffo rdable\, which is what is happening right now. \n\n\n\n But\, when the go vernment competes with the private sector it always has insurmountable adv antages and fiscal capitalistic owners react by deleting private owned sto res. But for the record the alternative some suggest will not work either. A walmart in a region in NYC will definitely kill the small grocers too. While fiscal capitalists are correct that government owned entities tax ad vantages or market exemptions are beyond most privately owned enterprises to handle\, said fiscal capitalist are incorrect to suggest a large public ly traded firm that owns a global chain of stores will not blow away small businesses. \n\n\n\n This is why I suggested a law. Get the deli/grocers /supermarkets to sell their goods in a leaner way. And you can use the six ty million as a tax balance for each store\, allowing the market time to a djust to the leaner way goods are sold in nyc to match the affordability n eeds. \n\n\n\n And part of Mamdani's support for his government owned sto res comes from the culture\, what is grown\, of socialism in New York City in modernity. Quietly in New York City you have a multiphenotypical \, mu ltiracial mulatto\, group of people who all look at socialism neutral to p ositive. And I comprehend the logic. Socialism says two things that the in dividualism in the places like NYC in the USA needs. One\, socialism says each individual is of equal value across all measures. Fiscal capitalism t reats each individual based on their wealth. Two\, socialism allows for id entity to be fluid\, the identity is human\, the religion of the state. Th e white european imperial heritage the usa and its european colonial prede cessors was founded on for all the legal changes from 1492 through 1776 to 2025 hasn't died and doesn't have space for the multiracial populace plac es like NYC in the USA has in it today. \n\n\n\n But Mamdani has to compr ehend a simple truth. \n\n\n\n While he had a huge multiracial voting mel ting pot of people under forty who embrace socialism\, he has to be very c areful how he implements it. Cause the USA is fully embedded into fiscal c apitalism\, not merely heritagewise\, what is carries\, but also in the la rger global financial context and NYC as the biggest city in the USA with any financial failure will be judged harshly by its peers in New York Stat e or elsewhere in NYC. \n\n\n\n I don't know whom he considers the best a nd the brightest\, cause anyone can fail anything \, even with a computers help\, but if he wants to do his stores\, and not a law which I suggested \, he has to figure out how to make a store compete while also boosting th e larger economy of stores? \n\n\n\n He has suggested his stores will not do lotto or liquor or other items and I think that is interesting. Basica lly he take the market that the stores are failing in and give them what t hey succeed in. Stores will have to get smaller and some will be eliminate d but not destroyed. It is rough but \, you only have four years and in tr uth\, only one year to do what you want so... \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Zohran Mamdani wants to build government supermarkets. America already has them\n \n By Nathaniel Meyersohn\, CNN\n\n Published 6:00 AM EDT\, Mon June 30\, 2025\n\n\n\n New York\nCNN\n — \nZohran Mamdani\, the favorite to become New York City’s next mayor after winning the Democratic primary\, has a contentious plan to create a network of city-owned grocery stores. But it ’s less radical than critics portray\, some food policy and grocery indu stry experts say.\n\nMamdani has proposed five municipally owned stores\, one in each New York City borough\, to offer groceries at lower prices to customers with limited access to supermarkets. In some New York City neigh borhoods\, more than 30% of people are food insecure.\n\nThe proposal has been blasted as a “‘Soviet’ style disaster-in-waiting\,” “fa rcical” and “economically delusional.” John Catsimatidis\, the owner of New York City-based supermarket chain Gristedes\, threatened to close stores if Mamdani is elected. (Catsimatidis is a two-time Republican candi date for mayor.)\n\nBut Mamdani is drawing on government-owned and subsidi zed models that already exist in the United States\, such as the Defense D epartment’s commissaries for military personnel\, public retail markets that lease space to farmers and chefs\, and city-owned stores in rural are as such as St. Paul\, Kansas. Atlanta is opening two municipal grocery sto res later this year after struggling to draw a private grocery chain. Madi son\, Wisconsin\, and rural Venice\, Illinois\, also plan to open municipa lly owned stores.\n\n“This is more common than people are aware of\,” said Nevin Cohen\, director of the City University of New York’s Urban F ood Policy Institute. “There’s a wide spectrum of food retail establis hments that could be created by or with the support of city government.” \n\nMamdani has not released all the details of his plan yet\, and it’s not clear what role New York City would play in the opening or operation o f grocery stores. Would it build stores? Lease them out to a private compa ny or a non-profit? Would the employees be on the city’s payroll?\n\nMam dani’s campaign did not respond to CNN’s requests for more details of the proposal.\n\nBut a government-owned supermarket “concept is sound” and can take a “variety of formats\,” Cohen said. “Rather than givi ng incentives to private supermarkets without the assurance of low prices\ , a city-focused program that puts affordability front and center is a bet ter approach.”\n\nYet municipal-owned stores have recently closed in sev eral towns\, such as in Baldwin\, Florida. Chicago also shifted its effort from building city-owned stores to a city-run public food market\, despit e a study showing stores were “necessary\, feasible and implementable. ” These cities’ struggles underscore the challenges of government step ping into the grocery business amid fierce resistance from the private sec tor.\n\nIndustry representatives say government-owned stores will compete with private businesses and unfairly disadvantage grocers\, local bodegas and other stores in New York. If government stores drive out other food re tailers\, it would also hurt the problem it’s trying to solve.\n\n“Thi s proposal seemingly could use taxes paid by business\, and use that money to compete against said business\, which is an alarming precedent to set\ ,” said Michael Durant\, the CEO of Food Industry Alliance\, a trade ass ociation.\n\n‘Policy experimentation’\nPrivately owned grocery stores already run on slim 1% to 3% margins\, according to industry estimates. Go vernment stores would be able to offer low-cost groceries because they wou ld not have to pay rent or property taxes\, according to Mamdani.\n\n“Th ey will buy and sell at wholesale prices\, centralize warehousing and dist ribution\, and partner with local neighborhoods on products and sourcing\, ” the campaign said on its website. Many companies already buy from whol esalers\, have centralized warehouses and partner with local communities\, however.\n\nHis proposal would cost $60 million\, Mamdani said in an inte rview on the podcast “Plain English” released last week. Mamdani argue d his proposal would be cheaper than an existing city program that provide s tax breaks and subsidies for supermarkets to open in underserved areas\, but does not include any requirements for food to be below certain prices .\n\nIn many cities\, grocers and other retailers governments recruited ha ve closed in low-income areas after their tax incentives expired or they s truggled to make a profit.\n\n“This is a proposal of reasonable policy e xperimentation\,” Mamdani said. “If it is not effective at a pilot lev el\, it does not deserve to be scaled up. But I believe it can be effectiv e. I think that there’s far more efficiency to be had in our public sect or.”\n\nAdvocates for independent grocers and small chains say that stro nger antitrust enforcement would be a better solution to help lower food p rices and spur competition.\n\nBut Errol Schweizer\, a veteran of the groc ery industry who publishes the newsletter “The Checkout Grocery Update ” and has written in support of a public grocery sector\, said Mamdani ’s proposal would address a failing in the market. Government-owned groc ery stores would not compete directly with bodegas and convenience stores\ , which typically do not sell fresh produce and meat.\n\n“New York has a great grocery sector\,” he said. “It could be a backstop for cash-str apped New Yorkers.”\n\nOther experts\, however\, say that for government stores in New York City to be successful\, they must draw from customers with a wider range of incomes. This would help them maintain broader polit ical support and offset bigger losses from lower-performing stores.\n\n“ A network of stores can be really effective if you’re placing them in di fferent areas. You’re creating a chain of stores to support one anothe r\,” said Erion Malasi\, the Illinois director of policy and advocacy at the non-profit Economic Security Project. He is working with Venice\, Ill inois\, a historically Black community that received a $2.4 million grant from the state to open a municipally owned store.\n\nPublic option for gro ceries\nRural areas have often been the site of government-owned grocery s tores in the past. It’s harder for sparsely populated towns to draw a pr ivate chain\, find a distributor to service the store and labor to operate it\, and have a large enough customer base to sustain it.\n\nBut more cit ies are trying to open stores in neighborhoods with limited access. Cities can leverage their scale to buy from suppliers and city-owned land.\n\nAt lanta recently approved $8.2 million in incentives to a small grocer to op erate two stores on city land in low-income\, predominantly Black neighbor hoods. Azalea Market is set to open this year and also offer cooking demon strations\, nutrition workshops and other resources for families.\n\nAtlan ta Mayor Andre Dickens told CNN that the city created tax incentives and l ow-cost land to draw national chains\, but it couldn’t find a taker.\n \n“We said that if they’re not going to help us build it\, we’ll bui ld it ourselves\,” he said.\n\nDickens believes government taking a role in offering affordable groceries is similar to investing in other public goods\, such as housing\, education and health care.\n\n“We should be in vesting in the public good\, from the urban farmer all the way to the inde pendent grocer. People need to eat.”\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n referral\n\n h ttps://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2025/06/30/business/zohran-mamdani-grocery-stores?u tm_source=chatgpt.com\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Food Retail Expansion to Support Health (FRESH)\n\n\n\n The Department of City Planning is proposing to upd ate and expand the FRESH food stores program\, which supports convenient\, accessible grocery stores in underserved neighborhoods. The update would bring the FRESH program to more communities across the city\, among other changes to ensure FRESH stores are evenly distributed and financially viab le.\n\nUpdate: June 2025\nAs part of City of Yes for Families\, NYC is lau nching FRESH III\, an initiative to improve and expand the FRESH program t o bring fresh food to even more New Yorkers. If you are interested in lear ning more\, please contact FRESH_info@planning.nyc.gov\n\nOverview\nThe FR ESH food stores program supports convenient\, accessible grocery stores in underserved neighborhoods. FRESH has brought healthy food options within walking distance of 1.2 million New Yorkers and counting since the program launched in 2009.\n\nWhat is FRESH?\nThe Food Retail Expansion to Support Health Program (FRESH) was created in 2009 in response to a citywide stud y\, Going to Market. This study highlighted the lack of neighborhood groce ry stores providing fresh food options in several New York City communitie s. Its goal is to encourage stores in these communities that provide a ful l range of grocery products including fresh meat\, fruit and vegetables.\n \nGet FRESH facts and figures in our February 2023 report here\n\nThe FRES H zoning incentives program gives property owners the right to construct s lightly larger buildings in mixed residential and commercial districts if they include a FRESH supermarket.\n\nA separate FRESH tax benefits program is administered by the NYC Economic Development Corporation. Read more ab out FRESH tax benefits here.\n\nGet Involved\nFRESH encourages partnership s with organizations that want to provide fresh food to their communities\ , including traditional grocery stores\, food co-ops\, food hubs\, pantrie s\, and others.\n\nCommunity advocates\, property owners\, supermarket ope rators\, and anyone interested in food equity can get in touch with FRESH_ Info@planning.nyc.gov to learn more about the FRESH zoning incentive progr am. For more information on the FRESH tax benefits program please complete this form.\n\n2021 FRESH Expansion\nFRESH eligibility expanded in Decembe r 2021 to encourage supermarkets in even more areas of New York City that are still underserved. Encouraging the development of full-sized supermark ets empowers consumers\, increases access\, and may provide additional foo d options through increased competition.\n\nSince 2009\, the FRESH zoning program has applied to:\n\nBronx Community Districts 1 through 7\nBrooklyn Community Districts 3\, 4\, 5\, 8\, 9\, 16 and 17\nManhattan Community Di stricts 9 through 12\nQueens Community Districts 12\nIn 2021 FRESH expande d to:\n\nBronx Community Districts 8 and 9\nBrooklyn Community Districts 1 \, 2\, 12 and 13\nQueens Community Districts 1\, 3\, 4 and 14\nStaten Isla nd Community District 1\n\nIMAGE LINKED BELOW\n\nThe expansion areas are b ased on City Planning’s Supermarket Needs Index\, which shows neighborho ods that are still underserved by high-quality grocery stores.\n\nNote: Th ese expansion areas applied only to the FRESH zoning incentives program. T he tax benefits program did not expand to the areas indicated above.\n\nPr event Clustering of FRESH Supermarkets\n\nSome communities have seen clust ering of FRESH supermarket applications\, which may exceed the intent of F RESH to fill gaps in the local grocery environment. This may make it diffi cult for stores to prosper. The FRESH update adds specific criteria an app licant must follow to create a new FRESH store near an existing location. These new criteria would limit the potential for oversaturation.\n\nChange s to Window Installation Requirements\n\nCurrently\, FRESH food stores are required to have windows on half of any wall that faces the street. This requirement\, however\, has proven to be impractical and difficult for exi sting buildings that are trying to renovate to be a FRESH supermarket.\n\n Therefore\, for renovations to an existing building to construct a FRESH s upermarket\, building owners will no longer have to replace existing walls with windows – removing a potentially expensive step in the process.\n\ nChanges to Parking Rules\n\nSince the FRESH update proposes to expand the program into more lower density residential zoning districts\, it is impo rtant to propose new rules that are appropriate for the characteristics of these neighborhoods.\n\nThe FRESH update provides a waiver from required parking for up to 10\,000 square feet of FRESH retail area in lower densit y residential districts.\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n referral\n\n https://www.nyc .gov/content/planning/pages/our-work/plans/citywide/food-retail-expansion- support-health-fresh\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Foo d Retail Expansion to Support Health (FRESH)\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Access to affordable\, quality food is critical to building strong neighborhoods. Th e Food Retail Expansion to Support Health (FRESH) program brings healthy a nd affordable food options to communities by lowering the costs of owning\ , leasing\, developing\, and renovating supermarket retail space.\n\nSince launching in 2009\, 32 projects have received FRESH tax incentives across five boroughs. 30 projects have completed construction and are open to th e public. These supermarkets represent over 1.1 million square feet of new or renovated space\, an investment of $177 million private capital into N ew York City's economy\, and have created over 1\,400 new jobs\, and retai ned more than 600 jobs.\n\nTax Benefits\n32\nProjects received benefits to date\n\nFRESH provides tax breaks for supermarket operators and developer s seeking to build or renovate new retail space to be owned or leased by a full-line supermarket operator. \n\nBuilding Taxes: May be stabilized at pre-improvement real estate tax amounts for up to 25 years (with benefits phasing out at not more than 20 percent per year\, starting in year 21). \ nLand Taxes: May be fully abated for up to 25 years (with benefits phasing out at not more than 20 percent per year\, starting in year 21). \nSales Taxes: City and state sales taxes may be waived on materials used to const ruct\, renovate\, or equip facilities. \nMortgage Recording Taxes: May be reduced from 2.8 percent to 0.3 percent for project mortgages. \n\nApplic ation Considerations\n1.1M\nSquare feet of new or renovated space expected to be provided by these supermarkets\n\nAll benefits\, including FRESH\, are discretionary. NYCIDA will assess the need for financial assistance an d the economic impact of the proposed project. From application deadline u ntil benefit closing\, expected timeline is 6 months. Stores that benefit from the program must be located in an eligible area (see below map) and p rovide: \n\nA minimum of 5\,000 square feet of retail space for a general line of food and nonfood grocery products intended for home preparation\, consumption\, and utilization. \nA minimum of 30 percent of retail space d edicated to perishable goods that may include dairy\, fresh produce\, fres h meats\, poultry\, fish\, and frozen foods. \nAt least 500 square feet of retail space for fresh produce. \n\n2\,049\nJobs retained or created thro ugh FRESH\n\nAdditional factors considered by NYCIDA include (without limi tation): \n\nSize of capital investment. \nJobs retained and/or created\, average wages and benefits. \nNeighborhood. \nOverall financial picture of applicant(s). \nFor developer projects\, tenanting strategy and timeline. \nEnvironmental review.\n\n$177M\nThe amount of private capital invested into NYC's economy through FRESH\n\nThe FRESH program tax incentive progra m is administered by the New York City Industrial Development Agency (NYCI DA) and the FRESH zoning benefit program is administered by the New York C ity Department of City Planning (DCP). All NYCIDA benefits are discretiona ry and companies must request NYCIDA assistance prior to entering into any property lease\, acquisition\, or renovation contract unless such contrac ts are contingent upon NYCIDA assistance.\n\nFRESH Focus AreasEmpty headin g\nCertain neighborhoods around the city can benefit even more from invest ment in supermarket construction and renovation. The areas listed below ar e most in need of food retail investment\, based on how much currently exi sts and the surrounding population.\n\nThe BronxEmpty heading\nCo-Op City/ Wakefield\nGrand Concourse\nHunts Point\nVan Cortlandt Village\nBrooklynEm pty heading\nBorough Park/Bensonhurst\nBrownsville\nConey Island\nFlatbush \nManhattanEmpty heading\nInwood\nWashington Heights\nQueensEmpty heading\ nAstoria/LIC\nFar Rockaway\nJamaica\nStaten IslandEmpty heading\nStapleton \n\n\n\n\n\n\n https://edc.nyc/program/food-retail-expansion-support-healt h-fresh\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Zohran Mamdani is pushing for New Yo rk City-run grocery stores. Here's what he envisions.\n\n Story by Jeff Ca pellini \n\n\n\n Zohran Mamdani championed the idea of New York City-run grocery stores throughout his successful campaign for mayor. He has said h e views it as an opportunity to address affordability and to give the publ ic a choice.\n\nBut in a city where capitalism reigns supreme\, Mamdani's proposal has faced significant opposition. The democratic socialist's road to having it adopted will hinge on a variety of factors\, including City Council and state support.\n\nMamdani has said his plan \"is part of a vis ion of a public option for produce\, an understanding that for far too man y New Yorkers\, groceries are out of reach\, and the importance in city go vernment of reasonable policy experimentation.\"\n\nMamdani's city-run gro cery store plan\nThe initiative\, which Mamdani says will cost $60 million \, would put at least one city-run store in each borough\, focusing on foo d deserts\, or areas with limited access to full-service supermarkets\, an d is not about making a profit. It counts on the city covering rent and pr operty taxes to pass savings to consumers.\n\n\"The job of city government is not to tinker around the edges while 1 in 4 children across our city g o hungry\,\" Mamdani said.\n\nAs outlined on his campaign website\, Mamdan i says the city would buy and sell goods at wholesale prices\, centralize warehousing and distribution\, and collaborate with local neighborhoods on product selection and sourcing.\n\nAs for how he would pay for the progra m\, New York City already subsidizes private grocery store owners to the t une of millions of dollars per year. Mamdani has said he would redirect th at money to stores the city controls.\n\nMamdani has also stated that furt her funding of the plan\, along with his other democratic socialist polici es\, would be generated by increasing the corporate tax rate to 11.5% and instituting a flat 2% tax rate for individuals earning $1 million or more. \n\nPotential roadblocks\nMamdani will almost certainly need to use the po wer and influence of his office to help the city-run grocery stores plan g ain traction\, but that likely won't be enough to get it across the finish line. Political expert J.C. Polanco\, a professor at the University of Mo unt Saint Vincent in the Bronx\, says convincing members of the City Counc il to go along with it could prove to be difficult.\n\n\"The problem will be here is that you have supermarkets\, delis and bodegas that are part of the fabric of the community. In order for a city councilmember to vote fo r this to happen\, they would have to look at their deli\, bodega and supe rmarket in their districts and say I know this store will compete with you and it doesn't need to worry about profits\, but I'm going to vote for it anyway\,\" Polanco said.\n\nPolanco said the odds of having City Council support for city-run grocery stores is \"very little\, considering that th ese city councilmembers have dozens of bodegas in their districts.\"\n\nSo me owners of private grocery stores have spoken out against Mamdani's prop osal. Billionaire supermarket magnate John Catsimatidis\, for example\, ha s said it is incompatible with New York City's market economy.\n\n\"New Yo rk City is a capitalist city -- look what happened in Kansas City?\" Catsi matidis said\, referring to the recent closure of that city's government-o wned grocery store. \"These types of grocery stores just don't work.\"\n\n Mamdani has turned some opponents into allies\nMamdani was asked back in A ugust if he's concerned about the hefty criticism his plan has generated. He said he is in no way trying to trample on private supermarket\, delicat essen and bodega owners.\n\n\"I am interested in working with each and eve ry New Yorker\, and I've actually spoken with a number of grocery store ow ners and made clear to them that I both recognize and I appreciate the wor k that they have done. The fact is that they are a critical part of our co mmunities\,\" Mamdani replied.\n\nIt's important to note that some members of the opposition have changed their tune about Mamdani\, if not his groc ery stores proposal. Just a few months before the election\, the United Bo degas of America blasted his plan\, calling the idea foolish and saying it will be harmful to private businesses.\n\nHowever\, less than a week befo re Mamdani won the election\, the president of the group stood behind the then-Democratic nominee\, saying he wants to make the city affordable for everyone.\n\n\"We are proud to stand by Zohran Mamdani\, a candidate who u nderstands the struggle of everyday New Yorkers\,\" UBA President Radahmes Rodriguez said.\n\nIn addition\, Gov. Kathy Hochul\, who has often spoken out about free enterprise\, did end up endorsing Mamdani for mayor\, whic h opens the door to her perhaps being amenable to the idea of city-run gro cery stores down the road.\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n referral\n\n https://www.m sn.com/en-us/news/us/zohran-mamdani-is-pushing-for-new-york-city-run-groce ry-stores-here-s-what-he-envisions/ar-AA1PXbbi\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Economis t torches Mamdani's city-run grocery plan as doomed experiment that will c ost taxpayers\n\n Story by Kristine Parks \n\n\n\n As New Yorkers head to the polls\, one economist is raising the alrarm about Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani's plan for city-run groceries\, calling it a feel-g ood fix that flouts basic economics.\n\n\"It sounds very good on paper – ‘free’ always does\,\" Dr. Anne Rathbone Bradley\, an economics p rofessor and vice president of academic affairs at The Fund for American S tudies\, said in an interview with Fox News Digital.\n\nMamdani\, a self-d escribed Democratic socialist who is the frontrunner in Tuesday's mayoral race\, argues these stores are needed to address food deserts and give wor king-class New Yorkers more access to affordable groceries. The pilot prog ram\, which would launch five stores in the city – one in each borough – is a key part of his progressive platform to lower costs for New York ers\, that also includes freezing the rent and higher corporate taxes.\n\n Bradley predicts that Mamdani’s plan\, while well-intentioned\, won't wo rk because it replaces market signals\, like prices\, property rights and profit motive\, with \"bureaucratic decision-making.\"\n\nMAMDANI APPEALS TO NON-DEMOCRATS WITH GENERAL ELECTION PUSH\, VOWS GOVERNMENT CAN MEET VOT ERS' 'MATERIAL NEEDS'\n\n\"The problem is believing that the economy is an engineering project\,\" she explained. \"That when we put smart\, well-in tentioned people in charge of that project\, we can kind of redirect thing s in certain ways and get the outcomes that we want.\"\n\nThe results of t his plan\, she says\, have already been seen in other U.S. cities who've t ried it. Similar programs in Kansas City\, Missouri\, and Florida collapse d\, despite millions in taxpayer funding.\n\n\"These stores have failed to remain open\,\" she said\, referring to a Kansas City store that closed i ts doors in August after struggling with empty shelves and crime.\n\nAccor ding to Bradley\, the issue is built into the system itself: if stores sel l their products at below market prices\, customers rush to buy everything and stores can't keep shelves stocked.\n\n\"So you might be able to stock it and open it on day one\, but these stores have failed to remain open\, \" she argued. \"Not only that\, but they're plagued by theft because the grocery stores don't have the same incentives that a Walmart has for loss prevention.\"\n\nBradley said history offers even starker warnings. Centra l planners who tried to control prices and supply in the collapsed Soviet Union and Venezuela resulted in people waiting in long lines and empty she lves.\n\n\"All these types of problems are a feature of this type of syste m. It's not a bug\, right? It's baked in\,\" she said.\n\nThe economist pr aised the candidate for trying to address the huge problem of high costs o f living for New Yorkers. She said there are better ways to lower food cos ts\, suggesting one way would be allowing a big box store like Walmart to open in New York City\, which would provide more access to cheaper groceri es.\n\nMamdani's campaign says the stores will not pay rent or property ta x\, and he will redirect some of the $140 million in private grocery store tax breaks to finance the pilot program.\n\n\"Food prices are out of cont rol. Nearly 9 in 10 New Yorkers say the cost of groceries is rising faster than their income. Only the very wealthiest aren’t feeling squeezed at the register\,\" his campaign website states. \"With New York City already spending millions of dollars to subsidize private grocery store operators (which are not even required to take SNAP/WIC!)\, we should redirect publ ic money to a real 'public option.'\"\n\nMamdani defended the plan when co nfronted about the failed Kansas City experiment in a September interview. \n\n\"[W]e have to prove not only the efficacy but the excellence of this idea\,\" he told CNN. \"Because for every one example that you can point t o\, there’s another of another municipality today considering opening a city-run grocery store. But to me\, the most important thing is the outcom e. This is something I believe will work. We will bring the best and the b rightest to deliver it\, and it will be five stores at the cost of $60 mil lion\, which is less than half the city’s already spending on subsidizin g corporate supermarkets.\"\n\nBradley countered that the proposal is stil l a costly experiment that could burden taxpayers and divert funds from mo re effective projects.\n\nThe economist noted the candidate's rise in popu larity comes at a time when younger Americans have more favorable attitude s towards socialism than previous generations. She believes that economic realities need to be taught to Americans early on.\n\n\"We're not doing a great job of teaching economics\,\" she said. \"We need to do a better job of that\, of at early ages\, showing people that economics in some ways p resents laws that are just as real as the laws of physics. So I could say I don't like gravity\, I don't believe in gravity\, but gravity is my real ity. And economics presents us with realities that are just as important t o obey.\"\n\n\"There's no such thing as a free lunch\,\" she said. \"We ne ed to advocate for policies that make things more accessible and more affo rdable. I think what economics shows is that markets do a really good job [at that]\,\" she said\, pointing to the array and volume of goods offered in the average grocery store in the U.S.\n\nUltimately\, Bradley said\, a ffordability comes not from government control but from more competition i n the marketplace.\n\n\"What we want people to be able to do is just stret ch their budgets further\, she added. \"And I think the way we do that is more competition in the market for groceries rather than less.\"\n\nMamdan i's campaign did not respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.\n\ nFox Business' Amanda Macias contributed to this report.\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\ n\n referral\n\n https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/economist-torches-m amdanis-city-run-grocery-plan-as-doomed-experiment-that-will-cost-taxpayer s/ar-AA1PNLDj\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Forum post\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/t opic/12031-economiccorner26/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Prior Corner\n\n\n\n https ://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/569-economic-corner-25/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n PO ST URL\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12031-economiccorner26/\n\n\n\n PRIOR EDITION\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/569-economic-corne r-25-10272025/\n\n\n\n NEXT EDITION\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/ev ent/586-economic-corner-27/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n COMMENTARIES\n\n\n\n COMMEN TS\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  @Pioneer1\n\n\n\n I notice one thing in your comme nt\, one great absence\, a positive suggestion. Your comment is full of co mplaint and judgement\, but lacks any ideas to solve anything\, now the re ason is one of two things. \n\n\n\n You don't have one\, for whatever rea son. \n\n\n\n You can't share one\, for whatever reason. \n\n\n\n The on ly thing I dislike in your comment is the lack of positive suggestion. Not unexpected but still I dislike it.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Now\, to your comme nt...\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n I thought my writing was clear\, unfortunate that it engendered such a poor reading from you or that you misread it so poor ly.\n\n\n\n \n On 11/9/2025 at 8:16 AM\, Pioneer1 said:\n \n\n \n \n F irst of all Richard\, is that Mamdani's plan....or YOUR plan?\n\n The th read in the link seems to suggest it is YOUR plan that you PROPOSED to him .\n \n \n\n\n\n To aid in clarity\,\n\n\n\n My suggestion is a law that a llows stores to sell food in more affordable quantities . \n\n\n\n Mamdan i's plan is government owned stores to sell food affordably. \n\n\n\n \n On 11/9/2025 at 8:16 AM\, Pioneer1 said:\n \n\n \n \n You remove the c heap ghetto food and replace it with healthy fresh food that is more expen sive and a lot of people will have problems with THAT.\n \n \n\n\n\n Your right\, people without money don't care for expensive food. If all you ha ve is fifty cents\, i imagine two dollar foods will be problematic to acqu ire\, unless of course one is able to steal but then of course\, some peop le in this forum COUGH Pioneer1 talk so much about the existence of those who break the law\, i guess the people who can't afford food can't break t he law to get it\, so I guess\, they should starve\, I mean who would have a problem with starving.\n\n\n\n \n On 11/9/2025 at 8:16 AM\, Pioneer1 s aid:\n \n\n \n \n So will those grocery stores actually be OWNED by the City of New York\, or will they be private stores SUBSIDIZED by the City of New York?\n\n Because like Section 8....why should the government pic k and choose who THEY decide to subsidize and make rich?\n\n They are pi cking CERTAIN stores and giving them millions of dollars to feed the peopl e mean while OTHER stores don't get that same benefit\, which means it's a ctually TARGETED VAMPIRE CAPITALISM. \n \n \n\n\n\n Please learn to read better\, the articles in the post clearly state in Mamdani's plan they wi ll be government owned stores\, not subsidized. \n\n\n\n \n On 11/9/2025 at 8:16 AM\, Pioneer1 said:\n \n\n \n \n And even if NYC actually OWNS these grocery stores\, will the managers and employees be city workers?\n \n \n\n\n\n Your first question that wasn't answered in the economic cor ner post. Well done\,  I don't know\, if I was in mamdani's inner circle I would know. But Mamdani is still fleshing out this idea. As the Economic Corner stated\, his plan has many detractors of various types for various reasons. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n On 11/9/2025 at 8:16 AM\, Pioneer1 said :\n \n\n \n \n Will NYC ensure that there is no discrimination in who g ets to manage and run these stores?\n \n \n\n\n\n I will assume no merely because ensuring no discrimination exists has never happened anywhere in the entire usa\, your asking NYC to do what has never happened in the USA before in its circa 250 year history or before in the european colonial er a. \n\n\n\n \n On 11/9/2025 at 8:16 AM\, Pioneer1 said:\n \n\n \n \n The Mayor Elect is of Indian descent.\n\n We know that Indians own a di sproportionate number of 7-11s\, corner stores\, and even bodegas around t he nation.....so this is bound to benefit them.\n \n \n\n\n\n Well in NYC is a different demographic makeup in terms of business ownership. NYC is more complex. remember\, NYC is the only city in the usa with a populace f rom every government. I have seen so many mixed couples: jew/muslim \; sou th american/african\; chinese/mexican and their various mixed babies\, NYC is going through a mulattozation.  I have never seen a 7-11 in this part of the city. And around here\, corner stores are owned by a variance: afr icans/arabs/latinos for the most part. What may surprise you is around her e\, most of the non corporate eating entities are owned by black folk: DOS /cAribbean/Continental combined. And around here\, black folk have been in terbreeding longer than elsewhere in the USA\, meaning you see alot of Bla ck couples that are mixes from within a black perspective. Corporate eater y is defined as Mcdonlads and the like.  Indians aren't the biggest popul ace in this part of NYC \, when you see them they tend to work in stores. I don't think I have been to a store an indian owns around here\, in this section of harlem for a long while. I recall one 99 cent store but the loc ation became closed and has been closed ever since. The property owner pro bably wants to much and so it isn't worth it. NYC is really a hard place f or a corner store.  People like you assume alot of habits that at least i n nyc aren't the truth. Most people go to the supermarket or have their fo od shipped. Fresh direct is making a killing. The people who have money ju st get the grocery to them and the rest of us shop at the supermarket. The local store... got it rough. I argue if it wasn't for the larger real est ate market\, not wanting nyc to have a huge mound of vacant areas\, the lo cal stores in NYC would be mostly gone. PEople shop at the supermarket. Th e only real money local stores get is kids\, who want their candies\, and the late shift people\, when the supermarket is closed and they may want s omething and after a long day of work too tired for home cooking. But even then the local store is not the option most get\, the place that gets the most late night money is a franchise \, owned by a black woman \, from th e islands\, she does make some lovely beef stew. but she is open all day. i have seen lines of the late shift outside her stores. \n\n\n\n And \, i repeat\, Mamdani didn't get the asian vote as a block\, many indians didn 't vote for him. He did only get 50% of the cities vote. It wasn't by acci dent. When he was in the ny state assembly he never had one law that truly aided indians https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/363-zohran-mamdani-legis lation/   as you suggest this will. and to be blunt\, repeating what is in the economic corner post\,  the business owning community in nyc is i n majority against this plan of Mamdani's. And as I said in the post I com prehend why Mamdani is going this way. After Obama+ AOC \, Mamdani knows t o be successful he cant' court his community\, which Obama showed is vital in seats like Mayor. But\,Mamdani also knows that Obama + OAC have many d etractors in their own community who feel they didn't do or haven't done e nough for \"their people\" even though the Obama type candidates don't vie w themselves as part of a hyphenated group in the usa\, they view themselv es as Frederick Douglass stated in the 1800s\, as part of a composite nati on of individuals\, overcoming heritage based rigidities\, while culturall y fluid. Emphasizing individualism bound in the idea of individual rights+ freedoms alongside others under the law. Mamdani \, taking Obama's stylism \, doesn't want to be the mayor of the indians or asians in NYC but the ma yor of the city. But Mamdani needs results so he is being more forceful th an obama or fellow obamite elected officials in trying to get something do ne. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n comment referral\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/top ic/12031-economiccorner26/#findComment-77503\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Posted ju st now\n\n\n\n @Pioneer1\n\n\n\n   9 hours ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\ n However what law is STOPPING them from doing this already?\n\n\n\n \n\n If a supermarket wants to only sell ONE stick of butter or even HALF a sti ck of butter at a time\, as long as it's properly handled and packaged...a re they not allowed to?\n\n\n\n Pioneer\, where are you from? You do reali ze that supermarket chain owners sign contracts with stipulations? Legal a greements are sometimes signed for certain food items with stipulations on how to care. Let alone that city/state/federal laws may state what can or can not happen? The FDA doesn't allow the interstate sale of butter so... what other laws are there. Where are you from? Do you own a business? \n \n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   9 hours ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n It's not a ma tter of better READING because I didn't bother reading the entire thing in the first place....lol.\n\n\n\n so that is why you ask questions answered  in the post\, well thank you\, i now fully comprehend the quality of you r statements in the forum. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   9 hours ago\, Pionee r1 said:\n\n\n\n \n\n -Will suppliers get their contracts through bidding with the city\, like construction contractors do?\n\n \n\n -We know there are Black farmers.\n\n Who will ensure THEY get their fair share of the c ontracts as suppliers?\n\n \n\n -Again\, who ensures that AfroAmericans ge t our fair share of jobs....including management positions....in these sto res?\n\n\n\n Expand  \n\n\n\n Mamdani hasn't even got his plan accepted.   and like before all you offer is judgement\, no ideas\, no positive qua lity. You are like one of those rush limbaugh style podcasters just throug h text. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n comment referral\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc /topic/12031-economiccorner26/#findComment-77523\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n COMMEN T\n\n\n\n  @Pioneer1\n\n\n\n \n On 11/10/2025 at 2:23 PM\, Pioneer1 said :\n \n\n \n \n People have other things to do\, besides come on here an d read a whole 6 page THESIS on something that can be summed up in 3 parag raphs.\n \n \n\n\n\n this made me laugh\, even enough. I will only add th e following... so often online humans chime in on affairs of governance or complex communal human relation \, but\, the lack of effort in the detail s \, in the wordy thesis \, only supports the internets overall poor quali ty in discourse.\n\n\n\n \n On 11/10/2025 at 2:23 PM\, Pioneer1 said:\n \ n\n \n \n So besides having a funny-ass name\, what makes HIM any diffe rent than the other characters who occupied that seat?\n \n \n\n\n\n I wa s taught that each individual in humanity is unique and you can only know what one will do when they do it. But\, to your question\, he is no differ ent than AOC\, the one from the central park five representing harlem in t he city council\, the brooklyn or queens borough presidents\, a bunch of p eople who got elected on platforms of bloated promises who are gambling th e voting population will be willing to support their continual bids. I arg ue\, Deblasio + Adams were the end of an era for mayor of NYC. from Lindse y to Adams NYC mayors overall have been variations of centrism. trying to be a kind of middle\, each favoring different things so a tilt but overall central. \n\n\n\n Mamdani in my gamble to the future will legally/functi onally be a centrist but his rhetoric will be left. Although a key part to Mamdani is the governor and president\, what either of them do has a huge role to play. Hochul is a centrist. She doesn't hate expanded government welfare but she wants to keep the fiscal capitalistic dream alive\, the id ea that fiscal capitalism can work even in a usa unlike at any time before \, where the populace has the most universal rights\, even the native amer ican has rights\, where the populace has the most variance of fiscal wealt h\, more non whites or more non males or more non christians have money\, significant sums than any time before in New York State. So fiscal capital ism in the usa has never had to deal with the environment it has now. So I think Mamdani is different in important ways but will not act different l argely because his superiros\, governor+president will not let him.\n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251108 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR