It is no secret that many Americans are worried about inflation and the high cost of groceries, and those concerns were a driving factor in Donald J. Trump’s victory.
Now a Democratic candidate for mayor of New York City is seizing on that anxiety and proposing that the city open its own grocery stores to bring down costs.
The idea has gained momentum in other cities as a way to address so-called food deserts, where supermarkets are scarce. Chicago and Atlanta are moving forward with proposals, and there are already city-owned grocery stores in Kansas and Wisconsin.
Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist state lawmaker who is running for mayor of New York City, will announce a plan on Thursday to build five municipal grocery stores — one in each borough.
“Everywhere I go, I hear New Yorkers talking about the outrageous prices of groceries,” he said in an interview. “This is a bold and workable plan.”
Mr. Mamdani released a video last month, which went viral, featuring voters in working-class neighborhoods who supported Mr. Trump. Many expressed concerns about the cost of living, reflecting a feeling that is evident across the nation.
Municipal grocery stores could lower costs by using city land or buildings, buying food wholesale and being exempt from property taxes, supporters say. The approach is part of a broader push by progressive groups to offer public options for banking, broadband and housing.
In New York, the Democrats who are running against Mayor Eric Adams in the June primary have released a flurry of proposals to distinguish themselves in a crowded field and address affordability.
Jessica Ramos, a state senator from Queens, has focused on universal child care and raising the minimum wage. Zellnor Myrie, a state senator from Brooklyn, released a plan to build one million homes and supports free universal after-school programs.
Brad Lander, the city comptroller, has called for more affordable housing, based on a plan he supported in the Gowanus neighborhood. Jim Walden, a former prosecutor, will release a housing plan next week that calls for utilizing 30,000 low-income and rent-stabilized units that are not currently available.
Roughly 43 percent of New York voters named cost of living as their top concern for state lawmakers — more than crime or immigration, according to a Siena College poll this week.
Mr. Adams, who is running for a second term while facing a federal corruption trial in April, has focused on affordability as a re-election campaign theme. He recently rolled out a series of proposals and announcements designed to make living in the city more manageable, including a proposed tax cut for low-wage earners.
Mr. Mamdani said that his grocery store plan was in line with his other proposals to make buses free and to halt rent increases on rent-stabilized apartments. He said that he was not surprised that voters had drifted to the Republican Party because Democrats had not provided a compelling alternative.
“If we want to bring these New Yorkers back to the Democratic Party, then we have to show them that we’re serious about making their life more affordable,” he said.
Andrew Lamas, an urban studies professor at the University of Pennsylvania, said that Mr. Mamdani’s proposal was laudable, but that the logistics of running grocery stores were complicated and the city should examine different models like cooperatives.
“The city can play a very important role in catalyzing the development of supermarkets, but it has a lot of options about how to do that, and some pose more risks and challenges,” he said.
In Chicago, Mayor Brandon Johnson, a progressive Democrat, is finalizing a plan for city-owned grocery stores. A 105-page feasibility study found that the idea was “necessary, feasible and implementable.”
The city could provide subsidies to a store through discounted rent, free utility bills and direct funding to cover shortfalls, according to the study. The upfront costs to create three stores in Chicago could be about $26 million.
S. Mayumi Grigsby, Chicago’s chief policy officer, said in an interview that neighborhoods on the city’s south and west sides needed more options because many grocery stores had closed in recent years.
In Madison, Wis., the first grocery store is opening in the first floor of a mixed-use affordable housing building owned by the city. There is a city-owned supermarket in St. Paul, Kan., a city with 600 residents, where full-time supermarket workers received city-funded benefits.
In Atlanta, Mayor Andre Dickens plans to open the city’s first municipally subsidized grocery store next year. He has expressed frustration that larger chains were not interested in helping the city address food deserts.
“We’ve reached out to grocery chains and even offered incentives — no takers,” Mr. Dickens said on social media earlier this year. “So we will make it happen for the people directly!”
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