City Owned Grocery Stores

Last Friday I posted the plan from NYC mayor to open city owned grocery stores to try and help struggling people get the food they need.

This is the post to which I refer….

Those City-Owned Grocery Stores

Of course there are those among us that think this is a good idea (I am one of those people) and there are those that want to crap on the idea by saying big box stores will kill the idea or they just do not want cities trying to solve a problem that the national government helped create.

I say good for those that will try to find a solution or part of one….

First thoughts from a magazine that caters to the food industry….although it is not as condemning as I had thought it would be….

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani took to Instagram to reaffirm his commitment to opening five city-owned grocery stores, one in each borough. Intended to “take on the affordability crisis” as grocery prices soar, this campaign promise is moving closer to reality: La Marqueta in East Harlem was announced as the first site for the municipal grocery store model and is expected to open in 2029. (Other to-be-announced sites will open before La Marqueta, as soon as next year.)

What does it mean for the local government to own a grocery store, and what’s it actually like to shop at a municipal supermarket? This isn’t the first time a city has opened its own grocery store, and similar models — along with Mamdani’s proposed plans — offer a clearer sense of what to expect.

https://www.foodandwine.com/how-government-run-grocery-stores-work-11975917

Those that criticize this plan do not understand how this concept works….they are shooting from the hip because some MORON has called in socialism.

Contrary to the public outcry from critics, city-owned grocery stores are not a novel or radical idea in the United States. The United States military already operates a network of publicly owned grocery stores; rural communities in Kansas have successfully experimented with municipally owned supermarkets; and big cities are exploring their potential and charting plans.

City-owned grocery stores are a promising solution for communities who suffer from the hunger and food insecurity that comes from living in food deserts, urban or rural neighborhoods with limited access to healthy and affordable groceries.

Food deserts exist in part because of misaligned profit motives for private sector grocery companies. Large corporate retailers like Kroger and Whole Foods do not bother to invest in certain communities because, despite demand, low-income neighborhoods lack the infrastructure and purchasing power to sustain their for-profit business. Instead, retailers concentrate or relocate their grocery stores to areas where they can expect a higher rate of return, like wealthier suburban neighborhoods.

That profit incentive creates a harmful cycle that perpetuates a phenomenon known as “supermarket redlining” that leaves thousands of communities underserved.

New York City is home to more than two dozen neighborhoods that are classified as food deserts. These localities are predominantly Black and Hispanic and rely on both bodegas and dollar stores for their grocery needs, creating “food swamps” where unhealthy food options vastly outnumber nutritious ones.

How City-Owned Grocery Stores Can Tackle Food Insecurity

Personal opinion….this idea should be in place already….with the idiots in DC passing judgement on the poor and corporation slobbering over the profits being made on screwing the public….it is time for some real programs to come to the light.

I Read, I Write, You KNow

“lego ergo scribo”

A Personal TomDispatch Farewell (of Sorts)

There are many of us that are critics of the Donny bunch that read TomDispatch….op-eds written for those of us that still think for ourselves….

There is some sad news….Tom Englehardt is stepping down as editor-in-chief….

 

https://original.antiwar.com/engelhardt/2026/06/07/a-personal-tomdispatch-farewell-of-sorts/

 

I for one will miss his insights….these are big shoes to fill and I wish Nick Turse good luck with the new gig.

I Read, I Write, You KNow

“lego ergo scribo”

NYC Does It Again

I recently wrote about a policy that the new mayor of NYC will pursue…..city owned grocery store….personally I think it is a great idea and more cities should be so concerned.

The mayor has yet another plan for the city….this time it will help city employees with child care….

Tucked in New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s sprawling universal childcare plan is a little-talked-about milestone: In September, the city will open what appears to be the first free daycare for municipal workers in the country.

The center, called The Little Apple, is a pilot program that could prove to be a model for cities across the country that are childcare curious, but not ready to take the big universal swing.

Housed in a renovated space on the first floor of the David N. Dinkins Municipal Building in Manhattan, home base for more than 2,000 city workers, the Little Apple will offer free care to the kids of full-time staff. All workers in the Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS), a city government support agency, can also take advantage of it regardless of their work location.

The center will be small — just 40 seats for children ages six weeks to 3 years old. To pay for it, the city budgeted about $1.5 million, or $35,000 per child.

“This is what Wall Street could call a good investment,” Mamdani said in a press conference announcing the new center. “We know that after housing, the cost of childcare is what is pushing working families out of this city.”

DCAS Commissioner Yume Kitasei told The 19th said the solution came about as a retention strategy, responding to the needs workers shared. In surveys, workers enthusiastically embraced the idea. One worker described access to free childcare as “life-changing.”

https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/under-mamdani-new-york-will-be-first-to-open-free-childcare-center-for-city-workers/

So far this man has done just about everything he said he wanted to do….he has my vote of mayor of the year.

Right after the first of the year the mayor first major proposal was a tax plan….

A number of new taxes have been proposed this winter and spring to address the City’s structural budget gap. They range from a surcharge on high-income Personal Income Tax filers, to a partial recapture of the federal tax benefits accruing to Pass-Through Entity Tax filers, to higher rates for the City’s business income taxes, to higher real property transaction taxes on luxury properties at time of sale. One of the most likely, and possibly only, new tax revenue to be included in the FY 2027 State budget is a tax on pied-à-terre properties in New York City.

To date, details on the proposed tax have been hard to find, but Governor Hochul announced a revenue estimate of $500 million from 13,000 “second homes” with market value of at least $5 million.  The lack of further information has spurred wide-ranging conjectures regarding which properties might be subject to the tax and how much they might pay.

In this Fiscal Note we use previous pied-à-terre tax proposals to estimate potential revenues and highlight areas of uncertainty. Based on the parameters chosen for the analysis, tax revenues are critically dependent on the share of targeted properties that are rented and on the behavioral responses to the tax. We find that, before adjusting for these factors, our choice of tax rates and brackets could raise almost exactly $500 million from a little over 11,200 properties. However, revenues could be reduced to between roughly $340 million and $380 million based on assumptions on exclusions for rented units and behavioral changes following the imposition of the tax.

The Pied-à-Terre Tax and Its Potential Revenues

Another policy that meets with my acceptance….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”