It’s not certain, but a definite idea of Zohran Mamdani, the New York City Mayor, to provide cheaper if not free groceries at limited locations for local citizens is said to be nearing completion in its preliminary planning stages.
It’s essentially the state of affairs in a City that has pelted its incumbents with the fruit and veg of public opinion as much as rocked the vote in recent years.
The progress of any idea is not easy there, particularly considering “90% of it is b-ll”, so said a former City worker to me, tired of his career, even after twenty years out “and firmly retired”. He had the impression that old ideas were the best ones, in particular because they stayed around for long enough to still be considered.
Anything ‘new’ has a to cut it first to then find a place later. Such may be Mamdani’s fate. He seeks to ‘pop up’ stores in quick time – to roll out a policy for the poorer or more disadvantaged locally before it gets buried in bureaucracy.
It’s a tough ask. The local groceries business is brutal. Just ask the Jewish business owners, who say the City authority has not been in contact with them a single time since some of them opened.