Hizzoner unveiled his plan to open the first of five such taxpayer-funded stores – a cornerstone of his campaign last fall to slash food prices for lower-income residents – during a speech on Sunday marking his first 100 days in office. 

NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani celebrated his first 100 days as mayor on Sunday. James Keivom for NY Post

“I almost fell back when I saw the $30 million number,” Anthony Pena, president of the National Supermarket Association, told The Post. “Even a high end, gourmet store in the middle of Manhattan wouldn’t cost that much to build.”

Avi Kaner, the former owner of New York’s 17-store Morton Williams grocery chain, said “$30 million is an awful lot to spend to build one supermarket.” 

Kaner and Pena both said that a typical, 15,000-square-foot store without elevators or escalators costs under $10 million to build. 

But it was the location of the store that raised even greater concerns with some executives. The city-owned store will be built on an empty lot next to La Marqueta, a decades-old, city-owned marketplace located under the Metro North railroad tracks at the corner of East 115th Street and Park Avenue.

The problem: The new location is far from qualifying as a so-called “food desert” — a struggling neighborhood where supermarket closures have made groceries hard to come by.

Instead, there are already five grocery stores within a two-block radius of La Marqueta, including Fine Fare, City Fresh and Cherry Valley, according to NSA data. Fifteen stores are located within five blocks of the site.

NY Post Design

The first city-owned grocery store will open in E. Harlem at La Marqueta. Luiz C. Ribeiro for NY Post

It’s a “slap in the face” to the city’s struggling independent grocers and “those store owners are furious,” Pena said. He added that it’s hard to cut prices “when your property taxes are going up by 10%.”

Their numbers are dwindling – down to 400 from nearly 500 in 2021 – due to the high cost of doing business in the city and a persistent shoplifting problem, according to Pena.

The city did not disclose the size of the Harlem store. The $30 million represents the capital investment for the ground-up construction of the first store, according to the mayor’s office.

A Cherry Valley supermarket is located within 2 blocks of what will be the city’s first owned grocery store. Google Maps

Some 65,000 residents live within a 10-minute walk of La Marqueta and 40% of them are on public assistance, the mayor said in a in a video on X promoting the plan.

The operator of the store won’t pay rent or city property taxes.

“We believe it is fundamentally unfair to use tax dollars — collected from hardworking citizens and existing local businesses — to subsidize unproven, government-run endeavors,” said Carlos Collado, a Bronx supermarket owner who is vice president at the city’s Bodega and Small Business Group.

Mayor Mamdani has said that city-owned groceries will offer lower prices than traditional supermarkets. X/MorePerfectUS

“These funds would be better spent on infrastructure or direct assistance rather than competing against the private sector.”

Previously, the administration said that its investment in five city-owned grocery stores – one in each borough – would cost $70 million.

The mayor said in a statement, “When corporations control every part of the food supply chain, prices go up, wages stay flat, and workers and customers both lose. That is why we are advancing a public option — one rooted in the belief that our city can and must intervene where the market has failed.

“We cannot accept a status quo where even the most basic necessity — putting food on the table — feels out of reach.”

BSBG’s Collado countered that the mayor should instead focus on lowering costs for businesses and offering incentives for private grocers to expand into underserved areas.

A City Fresh supermarket is within a couple of blocks of the planned public grocery store in Harlem. Luiz C. Ribeiro for NY Post

“The administration claims these stores are a response to inflation, yet fails to realize that their own constant mandates, regulatory hurdles, and rising fees are significant drivers of the very inflation hurting shoppers today,” Collado said.

“By using public subsidies, the city creates an uneven playing field,” he added. “Local independent grocers, who have served these neighborhoods for decades, cannot compete with a government entity that doesn’t have to worry about the same bottom-line pressures or tax obligations.”

The post Mamdani’s $30M plan to open NYC-owned supermarket stuns grocery executives appeared first on Our Story Insight.

This past week, the Big Apple went to investors to sell billions of dollars in municipal debt.

With Mamdani doing his best imitation of Fidel Castro, the city sold $2.3 billion — $300 million less than it had targeted.

Mind you, I’ve been covering NYC bond deals for decades.

For the most part, they’ve been what you might call boring — in a good way.

Even back under Mayor David Dinkins, when the city was reeling from the aftershocks of the 1987 stock market crash — not to mention Dinkins’ own spending largesse — the city’s bond sales remained mostly strong.

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Once the fiscal crisis of the 1970s and our near-default subsided in the minds of investors, NYC bond issues have frequently been “oversubscribed,” which in Wall Street lingo means there are more buyers than bonds available at auction.

That’s because of the heavy city and state tax burden and how city debt provides significant yields that are triple tax-free, and not least, the protections provided by something called the Financial Emergency Act of 1975, the state law designed to make sure that what went down in the 1970s never happens again.

The fact that the city had to scale back the latest bond issue because of the weakened demand indicates a particular investor animus to what Mamdani is doing, according to well-placed investors.

One broker who deals with super-rich people looking for tax breaks in municipal debt says many of his clients are staying away from NYC debt — simply because they don’t trust Mamdani.

“I’ve had clients that are selling them and others who don’t want to own them,” he said.

“That’s ­unusual because taxes might be ­going up. I don’t think they’re going to default, but it’s been difficult to make the sale.”

You wouldn’t know any of this based on the spin from the city and its bond underwriters on Wall Street.

Given the trauma the Iran conflict has produced in global markets, particularly the bond market off of which NYC debt is priced, the sale went swimmingly, they claimed.

Signal of confidence?

The “steady demand for the City’s municipal bonds in the face of market volatility is a clear signal of confidence from investors who know that our credit is strong,” city Comptroller Mark Levine said in a statement, according to Bloomberg.

(A City Hall rep didn’t return a request for comment.)

Reality check: First, the city paid higher interest rates on those bonds than it did not too long ago, meaning it’s getting increasingly expensive to sell debt, when it used to be a cakewalk.

Recall that the state fiscal-crisis law, which provided significant safeguards for city bonds in good times and bad, was created when bankruptcy was looming and NYC couldn’t sell bonds for infrastructure; and cops were being laid off as were city workers.

The Emergency Act created a mechanism where investors wouldn’t be afraid to buy our debt because they received first dibs on city tax revenues.

That’s one reason Mamdani, for all his self-inflicted governing nuttiness, is still able to tap Wall Street when he needs to.

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If you believe the city will never default given the above, its bonds might seem like a good place to park money.

During times of fiscal distress when yields (their implied interest rates) rise and prices fall, you can make a few bucks rolling the dice on Mamdani.

But that gamble is growing increasingly dicey now that we have an avowed socialist for a mayor with plans to tax and spend the city into oblivion.

It’s also why rating agencies that grade city debt are increasingly worried that Mamdani’s budgeting won’t work.

Three agencies recently revised their outlook on the city’s debt to “negative” from “stable.”

And it’s why even the city comptroller is worried about Mamdani’s decision to raid rainy-day funds to try to get a balanced budget, which he must under the Financial Emergency Act.

If he ends the year with a deficit of just $100 million, Mamdani faces a state takeover of the city’s finances.

In other words, the city will be run out of Albany.

Mamdani wants to raise taxes, but a growing chorus of Dems, the governor included, know it’s like pushing on a string; people leave, as they have been doing, meaning there are fewer taxpayers to tax while the welfare rolls grow.

Then there’s the obvious incompetence coming from City Hall. It projected a 15% increase in Wall Street bonuses to pay for the mayor’s $127 billion budget but instead bonuses grew 9% from 2024.

With the likes of JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs doing more hiring in places like Texas (which has no income tax) and low-taxed Utah, you can see how even that healthy increase will decline in the budget cycles ahead.

Put it all together and you can say there were buyers of city debt, but the reality is they’re demanding more for their money because they’re getting nervous — which they have every right to be.

The post Mayor Mamdani’s budget mess is creating chaos in the NYC bond market appeared first on Our Story Insight.

The JPMorgan Chase CEO didn’t mention Mamdani by name in his Thursday remarks at a conference in Miami, but made several pointed references to the hard-left ideas espoused during his campaign. Those include free childcare and free buses — and pledges to soak the rich to foot the bill.

“This notion of somehow being anti-business is going to help average American citizens, even the lower paid,” he told an audience at the American Business Forum, a Saudi Arabia-backed summit in Miami. “I don’t agree with the concept.”

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon took a not-too-subtle swipe at hard-left NYC mayoral election winner Zohran Mamdani during an appearance at a Saudi-backed business forum in Miami, Florida. Getty Images for America Business Forum

The 69-year-old Wall Street titan likewise warned that “beating up business as a way to fix things” — whether it’s crime, education or the cost of living — could shrink the city’s tax base as financiers and corporations relocate to lower-tax states. The bank itself has just opened a swanky new Park Avenue HQ.

“Everyone has to compete,” Dimon said, citing how Florida and Texas were tempting Wall Street firms to move out of the Big Apple. “It’s competitive between countries, between states, and between cities. A bunch of these states that are driving business out — it will backfire.

“A lot of those cities do things in the name of good, which create bad,” he added. “All of these bad policies, in my view, usually hurt the lower-paid people more.”

Dimon reportedly tried to reach Mamdani by phone on Wednesday but was unable to connect. The Post has approached a JPMorgan spokesman for comment.

The Queens native previously called Mamdani a “Marxist” this past summer, but recently offered to advise the 34-year-old mayor-elect on the challenges that come with the role of managing the city’s $115 billion budget.

Dimon said Democrat-led cities such as New York should reduce what he called “blue tape” — excessive regulations that stifle growth and hurt workers and consumers alike.

During a conference in Dublin, Ireland, earlier this summer, Dimon had labelled Mamdani as a “Marxist” but has since offered to help the inexperienced failed rapper as he takes on one of the biggest political jobs in the United States ZUMAPRESS.com

“We’d better start fixing these things. Because in 30 years, if we don’t, we are going the way of Europe,” he said, pointing to the continent’s ever-shrinking share of global GDP.

On Wednesday, Dimon told CNN Mamdani should consult with outgoing Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, who has been credited with reviving his city after bankruptcy. Dimon cited Duggan’s execution and practical governance, noting that enthusiasm alone does not guarantee success.

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Big Apple power broker Kathryn Wylde, the CEO of Partnership of New York, told The Post that the assemblyman “has demonstrated that he is a good listener and he is willing to accept that there are other ways to achieve his goals besides actions that hurt the economy.”

“What he has said to our members, he is going to pursue his goal of reducing costs, whether it’s rent, groceries, or childcare, and he won’t compromise on them,” she added. “But Mamdani is wide open on how to get there, to the extent that he is willing to accept advice from the business community.”

JPMorgan’s Dimon told CNN on Wednesday that Zohran Mamdani should reach out to Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, who has turned around Motor City’s economic fortunes since taking up the job in 2014. Getty Images

Dimon, who earned $39 million last year according to filings, has become increasingly vocal on political issues ranging from U.S. support for Ukraine to global competition with China.

The Post’s Charlie Gasparino reported in June that Dimon has not yet fully closed the door on a possible run for the White House. Sources close to the JPMorgan CEO have always downplayed his chances of winning a Democratic primary, but never ruled out a tilt at America’s top job.

He has hinted at retirement within the next few years. Potential successors include Marianne Lake, CEO of consumer and community banking; Troy Rohrbaugh, co-head of commercial and investment banking; and Mary Erdoes, CEO of asset and wealth management.

In 2021, the JPMorgan board granted Dimon a special award of 1.5 million stock options that vest in 2026, giving him an incentive to stay on through that year.

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The mayoral candidate has been joining dozens of Zooms in an effort to court the people who will actually have to pay for his proposed $10 billion yearly increase in spending.

Kathy Wylde, head of the Partnership for New York City, a nonprofit made up of hundreds of CEOs focused on strengthening the business climate, has hosted several Zooms with Mamdani over the last few weeks. The calls have been primarily for executives who cancelled their meetings with him over the summer but have since gotten realistic about his odds of winning.

“Since the primary there has been some nuance added to his policy ideas,” Wylde told me. “At least he is listening to questions like ‘how do you freeze rents without freezing costs’.”

Zohran Mamdani has been joining dozens of Zooms in an effort to court the people who will actually have to pay for his proposed $10 billion yearly increase in spending. Paul Martinka

One source who joined a Zoom was quick to note that the flurry of meetings between Mamdani and business executives does not mean anyone is shifting allegiances.

“We’ve known Cuomo for 30 years … Mamdani has been on the scene for two minutes — it doesn’t mean we like him,” a native New Yorker and CEO with decades of experience told me.

On some of the Zooms, Mamdani has also tried to assure these people about his support for police commissioner Jessica Tisch — a topic he is often asked about in these meetings.

“Since the primary there has been some nuance added to his policy ideas,” Kathy Wylde, head of the Partnership for New York City nonprofit, told NYNext. Bloomberg via Getty Images

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How that might play out beyond these private conversations remains to be seen. Mamdani’s press office did not respond to a request for comment.

And while Mamdani is trying to charm the wealthy people he’s criticized — he needs their money to fund his policies — many of them are skeptical and hopeful he won’t actually be able to push through his agenda.

“He’s never run anything before… I’m doubtful he can do this now,” the CEO source said. 

Some of the recent meetings suggest Mamdani may be more flexible than he’s seemed on the campaign trail when it comes to actually implementing his agenda.

“He’s been clear about his goals of affordability and said he’s open to how we achieve them,” Wylde told me. “The question is who will he appoint and will they be people who can run the city?”

The post Inside Mamdani’s Zooms with business leaders appeared first on Our Story Insight.

The billionaire entrepreneur and former Dallas Mavericks owner criticized the New York City mayoral candidate, saying that his campaign promises appear too good to be true. 

“We’re cutting rents, right? We’re changing grocery stores. None of that s–t has a chance. Doesn’t matter,” Cuban told the “Pod Save America” podcast on Sunday, referring to Mamdani’s campaign pledges.  

Mark Cuban weighed in on the New York City mayoral race and Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani’s platform. YouTube/Pod Save America

The 33-year-old democratic socialist has vowed to freeze rent on all stabilized apartments and stock city-owned grocery stores that would not pay rent or property taxes. His campaign website says the savings would be passed on to shoppers. 

“This guy is walking in telling me he’s going to walk on water. He’s going to make me more money, he’s going to save me money, he’s going to make my life better,” Cuban continued. 

The former “Shark Tank” investor likened Mamdani to President Donald Trump, adding that both men appealed to voters with sweeping promises regardless of whether those proposed policies were plausible. 

“That tactic is Trump 101. Is it true? Does it matter?” Cuban said. 

In a separate statement to Business Insider, Cuban elaborated on his skepticism.  

“Until we see actual process and plans to actually implement a promise, I look at his, and all campaign promises, as nothing more than promises,” he said.  

Cuban compared Mamdani’s rhetoric to Trump’s campaign claim that Mexico would pay for a border wall.

“We are going to do X, and someone else will pay for it. That seems to be the path of least resistance to getting votes for any office,” the tech billionaire said. 

Cuban also said he does not plan to endorse any candidate in the race because he is not a New York City resident.  

The billionaire entrepreneur and former Dallas Mavericks owner criticized the New York City mayoral candidate, saying that his campaign promises appear too good to be true.  Luiz C. Ribeiro for New York Post

Mamdani’s rise has unsettled the business community — including several high-profile billionaires and corporate leaders who have openly criticized him, funded his opponents or threatened to withdraw business from the city altogether. 

Hedge fund mogul Bill Ackman, CEO of Pershing Square, has been among Mamdani’s most vocal critics, questioning the legitimacy of his primary victory and decrying what he characterizes as the candidate’s “socialist” agenda.  

Ackman has warned that low voter turnout in primaries is enabling radical policy proposals to gain traction, often using social media to amplify his concerns. 

“We’re cutting rents, right? We’re changing grocery stores. None of that s–t has a chance,” Cuban said on Sunday. YouTube/Pod Save America

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, has joined the chorus of critics, publicly expressing concern about Mamdani’s policy direction after his win.  

David Sacks, venture capitalist and president of Craft Ventures, has also spoken out, criticizing Mamdani’s anti-billionaire messaging on social media. He suggested that such rhetoric could spur an exodus of capital and business leaders from the city. 

Billionaire grocer and real estate investor John Catsimatidis has gone further, threatening to halt investment or move his Gristedes supermarket chain out of New York if Mamdani is elected.  

Hedge fund mogul Bill Ackman, CEO of Pershing Square, has been among Mamdani’s most vocal critics. REUTERS

Catsimatidis has warned that Mamdani’s proposals — including city-run stores and higher taxes — would render New York inhospitable to business. 

Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, described Mamdani as “more of a Marxist than a socialist” and has urged voters to reject his wealth tax proposals.  

Dimon has appeared at public events denouncing Mamdani’s economic agenda and has warned of negative consequences for New York’s financial ecosystem. 

Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, described Mamdani as “more of a Marxist than a socialist.” via REUTERS

Real estate leaders are also pushing back. Marc Holliday, CEO of SL Green Realty, hosted a fundraiser for Mamdani’s opponent in an effort to unify elite resistance.  

Kenneth and Maria Fishel, prominent developers, co-hosted anti-Mamdani fundraisers, while investor Jared Epstein helped organize additional events to support alternative candidates. 

While Mamdani has stated that billionaires should not exist, he has also said he looks forward to working with “everyone, including billionaires, to make a city that is fairer.”  

That message has done little to quell the wave of opposition from New York’s business elite. Numerous Wall Street and corporate leaders have funneled money into political action committees and other efforts aimed at derailing Mamdani’s campaign. 

The Post has sought comment from Cuban, Mamdani and the White House. 

The post Mark Cuban rips Zohran Mamdani’s promise to freeze rent appeared first on Our Story Insight.

Yes, it led to the dreaded fiscal crisis of the mid- to late 1970s, near bankruptcy and a deep city recession that hit hard at the working class in the five boroughs and even the suburbs, including my own family in Westchester.

How the city fell into this fiscal abyss, which actually lasted a few years into the next decade, and climbed out is all laid out in gruesome detail in the extremely readable prose by Rich Farley, a lawyer who works on financial transactions.

He’s the author of “Drop Dead; How a Coterie of Corrupt Politicians, Bankers, Lawyers, Spin­meisters, and Mobsters Bankrupted New York, Got Bailed Out, Blamed the President and went back to Business as Usual (And it Might Be Happening Again),” released in April.

The title is a mouthful and it’s not 100% accurate.

New York City never declared bankruptcy.

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There’s a debate that it even technically defaulted on its debt when the trigger for the crisis — investors losing confidence in the city’s financial condition — boycotted buying city bonds.

But those are mere quibbles as I dive into this trenchant historical account of how Gotham — with all its wealth and commerce on Wall Street and real estate and then a lot more — was brought to the brink, a near Detroit-style fiscal meltdown.

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In reading Farley’s work, it does dawn on me that for all the grease and grime of those years, the city was immensely savable.

The financial crisis did come to an end, but not until after a surge in crime because we couldn’t afford cops, arson (The Bronx was literally burning), and unemployment (people like my dad, who lost his construction job because of a halt to city infrastructure spending).

It was fixed, at least for decades, after the political leadership did re-establish itself as a stabilizing force.

The saviors

The saviors were people like Hugh Carey, the governor, who instituted reforms that repaired the confidence of investors and businesses.

And Mario Cuomo (yes, that Mario Cuomo), who would succeed Carey and keep a close eye on his hometown for three terms during what’s best described as a mini renaissance.

And an upstart US congressman named Ed Koch, who inspired confidence that the city must and could survive.

He ran for mayor on the slogan “How Am I Doin’?” and won three terms.

Don’t forget that federal prosecutor named Rudy Giuliani, who took on the mob and municipal corruption with equal zeal, set the stage for becoming mayor and ushered in a real rebirth in Gotham of low crime and a booming business community.

Here’s the latest on NYC mayoral candidate, Zohran Mamdani 

There was also an engaged business community — people like investment banker Felix Rohatyn — that wasn’t afraid to step up and say enough of the nonsense.

And here’s why I would love to turn back the clock, as crazy as that might sound.

None of the gumption shown by those civic and political leaders is evident anymore, as a more serious existential threat looms — worse than “Fat Tony” Salerno of Geno­vese fame, Tammany’s Carmine De­Sapio and graft in the Parking Violations Bureau.

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All of their lawlessness was snuffed out as the establishment re-established order.

The fiscal Armageddon I fear comes in the form of a smiling socialist named Zohran Mamdani, who just won the city’s Democratic mayoral primary over the son of the great Mario Cuomo.

Mamdani outhustled Andrew Cuomo at every turn.

Based on what we know, Mamdani seems like an honest fellow, which is good — and very, very bad.

Bad because he’s a noxious breed of politician who isn’t afraid to promote his weird behavior and sell it as gold to an uninformed electorate.

Even worse, no one in our political class or the business elite has ­really stepped up to call him out.

He wants to tax to death those businesses and wealth producers that remain and employ our working class.

He wants to give stuff out for free like bus rides.

He wants to socialize grocery stores.

He wants to defund the police, a sure recipe for more business flight.

He has not disavowed the phrase “globalize the intifada,” which many New Yorkers can reasonably interpret (as it was during those vile campus protests) as a form of antisemitism.

There are more than 1 million Jews living in the Big Apple, but how much did Cuomo make of Mamdani’s acquiescence to this sick rhetoric?

Very little.

NYC is still the epicenter of finance, the nation’s largest bank run by Jamie Dimon.

He has his headquarters and home here.

But not a word from America’s banker.

In this city and state led by Dems, seasoned politicians — people like Chuck Schumer, a Brooklyn assemblyman and later congressman who is now US Senate minority leader — have been quiet as a mouse, except for congratulating Mamdani on his victory.

Cuomo and Schumer should ask themselves if their precious political futures are worth not calling out this nonsense and angering the AOC wing of the party.

Business leaders need to ask themselves if the price of doing business here is worth allowing a lefty loon to run the epicenter of capitalism.

Our budget is in better shape from the morass of the 1970s.

If you look at the numbers as I do, NYC is always a recession away from trouble.

Couple that with rank socialist policies like defunding the police, and you see how things can and will go sideways if Mamdani wins — and you will miss the mess of the 1970s.

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