New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani held up a bunch of plantains at a press conference on Monday and promised that New York City shoppers would pay 30 percent less than "typical retail prices" when the city opens five government-run grocery stores at a cost to taxpayers of $70 million.
"How are you going to keep people from taking advantage of that deal?" one reporter asked the mayor. "Is there going to be a limit on the number of items that someone can take?"
"Our RFP [Request for Proposals] makes very clear that this is a program for New Yorkers to be able to put food on the table, not a program for people to be able to make a quick buck through reselling," the mayor responded, before turning it over to Jeanny Pak, the interim president of the New York City Economic Development Corporation. She said the city was looking into a "library card-esque" system that would allow the city to "manage who's buying," with a focus on "everyday New Yorkers."
The city's plan rests on the assumption that it can control who buys subsidized goods. Yet Venezuela's experience with government-run grocery stores suggests that assumption deserves scrutiny.
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