Zohran Mamdani\u2019s \u201ccity-run groceries\u201d gambit was always mostly symbolic \u2014 even he doesn\u2019t pretend one-store-per-borough will be more than proof of concept \u2014 but it\u2019s fast becoming a symbol and sign of how hollow his whole mayoralty could prove.<\/p>\n
Last week he at long last unveiled the plan for the first store: He says it will cost $30 million and take nearly three years to build<\/a>.<\/p>\n That\u2019s 40% of what the mayor had said five groceries would cost \u2014 and many times what the private sector spends to build a grocery store in just a few months.<\/p>\n As Anthony Pena, president of the National Supermarket Association, told The Post: \u201cEven a high end, gourmet store in the middle of Manhattan wouldn\u2019t cost that much to build.\u201d<\/p>\n (It\u2019ll get worse, too: New York public projects never cost less or finish faster than the initial estimate \u2014 they\u2019re almost always over-budget and long-delayed: Don\u2019t bet the store opens before Mamdani\u2019s running for re-election in 2029<\/a>.)<\/p>\n Worse yet, Mamdani\u2019s already tossed the main point of the exercise \u2014 offering food at affordable prices \u2014 into the dumpster: Only a core basket of goods<\/a> will be particularly cheap.<\/p>\n \t\t\tMore From\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPost Editorial Board<\/p>\n Actually, two main points: Rather than boost food access in under-served areas, this stores going up in a \u2019hood with at least five others.<\/p>\n A \u201cPotemkin village\u201d is a fake-front display slapped over a grim reality; the grocery debacle suggests Mamdani is offering his fans Potemkin socialism.<\/p>\n That is: \u201cAchievements\u201d posed for TikTok or Instagram so the mayor can wow his affluent, transplant-heavy voter base \u2014 while completely failing to make good on his inaugural-speech vow<\/a> to deliver \u201csafety, affordability, and abundance.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s already a pattern:<\/p>\n His tax-the-rich vows of income- and corporate-tax hikes have dwindled down to a surtax on pieds-a-terre<\/a> \u2014 a loser for the city overall, but also not the mass-redistribution of a proper socialist.<\/p>\n His Department of Community Safety will no longer displace the NYPD<\/a> on many calls; it\u2019s just handing high-paying jobs to a couple of comrades.<\/p>\n Even his rent freeze will disappoint his base, since it covers only rent-stabilized units \u2014 and will likely push up market-rate rents.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\tGet opinions and commentary from our columnists\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSubscribe to our daily Post Opinion newsletter!\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n He\u2019s even cut public-library funding as a bargaining chip in budget negotiations<\/a>.<\/p>\n Yes, we\u2019re pleased by some of this, especially his retreats from undermining public safety \u2014 but Mamdani didn\u2019t run for mayor to make the New York Post happy.<\/p>\n Maybe it\u2019ll work for him, even if his old Democratic Socialist buddies decide he\u2019s a sellout<\/a>.<\/p>\n And don\u2019t get us wrong: We see his policies doing vast damage, from his corrosive DEI push<\/a> to his endless tax-hike crusade<\/a> to his undermining of the NYPD<\/a>.<\/p>\n But he\u2019s doing nothing to meaningfully better New Yorkers\u2019 lives, nor to ensure that the city he pretends to love has a future.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n