Democratic socialist and mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani apparently wants to pay for his city-run grocery stores by using taxpayer funds that don’t actually exist.
The Queens assemblyman — who handily won the Democratic primary over ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo — has implied that he could pull from $140 million in city subsidies directed at “corporate grocery stores” for his proposal.
But that pot of money is actually what private businesses have invested thanks to the program, called City FRESH, over a 12-year span, according to the city’s website.
In a campaign video, Mamdani said his administration would “redirect city funds from corporate supermarkets to city-owned grocery stores whose mission is lower prices, not price gouging.”…