Mamdani: $60 Million Dollars for Five Municipal Groceries Are Still Cheaper than Subsidizing Corporate Supermarkets

EXCERPT:

MAMDANI: “Freezing the rent for more than 2 million rent-stabilized tenants is something that the mayor can do through the rent guidelines board. The previous administration did it three times. Municipal grocery stores, I proposed a pilot, one in each borough, that’s five in total, at a total cost of $60 million, less than half of what the city has already set to spend on subsidizing corporate supermarkets at a cost of $140 million. Then, when it comes to the need of working with Albany, that’s for free busses, that’s for universal childcare. Free busses costs about $700 million a year. Universal childcare around let’s say $6 billion. Significant amounts of money. But the point that I am also making here is that universal child care is a priority of Governor Hochul.”