Latest news with #mayoralcandidate
Fox News
4 days ago
- Politics
- Fox News
Unearthed video shows Mamdani promoting boycotts against Israel
NYC socialist mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani discussed his allegiance to sanctioning Israel through BDS as a lawmaker in a 2021 interview
CTV News
5 days ago
- CTV News
Former Saskatoon mayoral candidate pleads not guilty in motel armed robber case
Saskatoon News Former Saskatoon mayoral candidate pleads not guilty in motel armed robber case WATCH: A former Saskatoon mayoral candidate and owner of a legal services business is facing charges in connection with an armed robbery at a North Battleford m
Yahoo
19-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
NYC official warns businesses will flee 'in droves' if democratic socialist candidate wins mayoral race
New York City democratic socialist mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani is facing harsh criticism from business owners and local officials in the Big Apple, some of whom warn his progressive platform could drive companies and the middle class out of the city. Councilwoman Vickie Paladino sounded the alarm during an appearance on "America Reports" Friday, claiming Mamdani's proposals would cripple the city's economy and send businesses packing. "We will lose businesses in droves," Paladino argued. "You got NASDAQ, you got Wall Street. They could work anywhere. They could work in Jersey, they could work in Connecticut. They don't need to be in Lower Manhattan." Paladino, a Republican representing parts of Queens, argued that Mamdani's democratic socialist agenda would send businesses fleeing to states with lower costs, such as neighboring New Jersey. Mamdani's Failure To Walk Back These Positions Could Cause Reckoning In Democratic Party: 'Five-alarm Warning' One of Mamdani's most controversial proposals is a plan to launch government-run grocery stores in underserved neighborhoods. The 33-year-old state assemblyman, also from Queens, says the program would aim to combat food insecurity and bring down grocery prices. Read On The Fox News App "As mayor, Zohran will create a network of city-owned grocery stores focused on keeping prices low, not making a profit," his campaign website states. "Without having to pay rent or property taxes, they will reduce overhead and pass on savings to shoppers." Liz Peek: New York's Socialist Nightmare Is Just Beginning But There's Still A Way Out Supporters of Mamdani's proposal, often younger, more progressive Democrats, have pointed to the rising cost of groceries in the city. A study by SmartAsset, a financial advisory website, found that grocery prices in the New York metropolitan area increased by 3.3% between March 2024 and March 2025. This rise was among the highest in the nation, surpassed only by cities such as Honolulu, parts of Florida, and areas near San Diego, California. But not everyone is convinced this type of program could work in the nation's largest city. Gristedes Supermarkets CEO John Catsimatidis compared the plan to failed systems in communist regimes and threatened to close stores if Mamdani is elected. "You're going to end up like Havana," Catsimatidis told "America Reports" on Thursday. "I was there in Havana with Fidel Castro. The shelves were empty. He promised the world to the people. He says, 'Get rid of Batista, and things will be great.' Well, it was all one big lie." Fox News Digital reached out to the Mamdani campaign for comment on both criticisms. City-run Grocery Stores, Defunding Police, Safe Injection Sites: What To Know About Nyc's Next Potential Mayor Paladino had similar concerns. She noted that New York has long been a refuge for immigrants fleeing communism and warned that Mamdani's platform could potentially hurt the Middle Class, especially if small businesses are pushed out. "We lose small business, we lose it all," she said. "We're [going to] lose middle-class people." The concerns over Mamdani's views are something Paladino argues has been brewing in the Democratic Party for some time, starting in schools. "They have been training and indoctrinating," she said. "Now the chickens have come home to roost, and guess what? The Democratic Party cannot control them." David Marcus: Democrat Bus Heading Off The Cliff, As Nyc Socialists Hit Gas Pedal Mamdani's broader platform includes eliminating subway fares, offering free municipal housing and childcare, and ending all Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations in the city. He defeated former Gov. Andrew Cuomo last month in a stunning primary victory and secured the Democratic nomination. In November's general election, Mamdani could face Republican Curtis Sliwa, incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, and Cuomo, who remains on the ballot as an article source: NYC official warns businesses will flee 'in droves' if democratic socialist candidate wins mayoral race Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
19-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
The Choice Between Cheap Groceries and Everything Else
The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. Can the city of New York sell groceries more cheaply than the private sector? The mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani thinks so. He wants to start five city-owned stores that will be 'focused on keeping prices low' rather than making a profit—what he calls a 'public option' for groceries. His proposal calls for opening stores on city land so that they can forgo paying rent or property taxes. Skeptics have focused on economic obstacles to the plan. Grocers have industry expertise that New York City lacks; they benefit from scale; and they run on thin profit margins, estimated at just 1 to 3 percent, leaving little room for additional savings. Less discussed, though no less formidable, is a political obstacle for Mamdani: The self-described democratic socialist's promise to lower grocery prices and, more generally, 'lower the cost of living for working class New Yorkers' will be undermined by other policies that he or his coalition favors that would raise costs. No one should trust that 'there's far more efficiency to be had in our public sector,' as he says of his grocery-store proposal, until he explains how he would resolve those conflicts. Mamdani's desire to reduce grocery prices for New Yorkers is undercut most glaringly by the labor policies that he champions. Labor is the largest fixed cost for grocery stores. Right now grocery-store chains with lots of New York locations, such as Stop & Shop and Key Food, advertise entry-level positions at or near the city's minimum wage of $16.50 an hour. Mamdani has proposed to almost double the minimum wage in New York City to $30 an hour by 2030; after that, additional increases would be indexed to inflation or productivity growth, whichever is higher. Perhaps existing grocery workers are underpaid; perhaps workers at city-run stores should make $30 an hour too. Yet a wage increase would all but guarantee more expensive groceries. Voters deserve to know whether he'll prioritize cheaper groceries or better-paid workers. (I wrote to Mamdani's campaign about this trade-off, and others noted below, but got no reply.) [Read: New York is hungry for a big grocery experiment] In the New York State assembly, Mamdani has co-sponsored legislation to expand family-leave benefits so that they extend to workers who have an abortion, a miscarriage, or a stillbirth. The official platform of the Democratic Socialists of America, which endorsed Mamdani, calls for 'a four-day, 32-hour work week with no reduction in wages or benefits' for all workers. Unions, another source of Mamdani support, regularly lobby for more generous worker benefits. Extending such benefits to grocery-store employees would raise costs that, again, usually get passed on to consumers. Perhaps Mamdani intends to break with his own past stances and members of his coalition, in keeping with his goal of focusing on low prices. But if that's a path that he intends to take, he hasn't said so. City-run grocery stores would purchase massive amounts of food and other consumer goods from wholesalers. New York City already prioritizes goals other than cost-cutting when it procures food for municipal purposes; it signed a pledge in 2021 to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions associated with food that it serves, and Mayor Eric Adams signed executive orders in 2022 that committed the city to considering 'local economies, environmental sustainability, valued workforce, animal welfare, and nutrition' in its food procurement. Such initiatives inevitably raise costs. Mamdani could favor exempting city-run groceries from these kinds of obligations. But would he? Batul Hassan, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America steering committee and a supporter of Mamdani, co-authored an article arguing that city-run stores should procure food from vendors that prioritize a whole host of goods: 'worker dignity and safety, animal welfare, community economic benefit and local sourcing, impacts to the environment, and health and nutrition, including emphasizing culturally appropriate, well-balanced and plant-based diets,' in addition to 'suppliers from marginalized backgrounds and non-corporate supply chains, including small, diversified family farms, immigrants and people of color, new and emerging consumer brands, and farmer and employee owned cooperatives.' If one milk brand is cheaper but has much bigger environmental externalities or is owned by a large corporation, will a city-run store carry it or a pricier but greener, smaller brand? Mamdani has said in the past that he supports the BDS (boycott, divestment, sanctions) movement, which advocates for boycotting products from Israel. That probably wouldn't raise costs much by itself. And Mamdani told Politico in April that BDS wouldn't be his focus as mayor. But a general practice of avoiding goods because of their national origin, or a labor dispute between a supplier and its workers, or any number of other controversies, could raise costs. When asked about BDS in the Politico interview, Mamdani also said, 'We have to use every tool that is at people's disposal to ensure that equality is not simply a hope, but a reality.' Would Mamdani prioritize low prices in all cases or sometimes prioritize the power of boycotts or related pressure tactics to effect social change? Again, he should clarify how he would resolve such trade-offs. Finally, shoplifting has surged in New York in recent years. Many privately owned grocery stores hire security guards, use video surveillance, call police on shoplifters, and urge that shoplifters be prosecuted. Democratic socialists generally favor less policing and surveilling. If the security strategy that's best for the bottom line comes into conflict with progressive values, what will Mamdani prioritize? [Read: Shoplifters gone wild] This problem isn't unique to Mamdani. Officials in progressive jurisdictions across the country have added to the cost of public-sector initiatives by imposing what The New York Times's Ezra Klein has characterized as an 'avalanche of well-meaning rules and standards.' For example, many progressives say they want to fund affordable housing, but rather than focus on minimizing costs per unit to house as many people as possible, they mandate other goals, such as giving locals a lengthy process for comment, prioritizing bids from small or minority-owned businesses, requiring union labor, and instituting project reviews to meet the needs of people with disabilities. Each extra step relates to a real good. But once you add them up, affordability is no longer possible, and fewer people end up housed. Policies that raise costs are not necessarily morally or practically inferior to policies that lower costs; low prices are one good among many. But if the whole point of city-owned grocery stores is to offer lower prices, Mamdani will likely need to jettison other goods that he and his supporters value, and be willing to withstand political pressure from allies. Voters deserve to know how Mamdani will resolve the conflicts that will inevitably arise. So far, he isn't saying. Article originally published at The Atlantic Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
19-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
WATCH: Socialist NYC mayoral candidate Mamdani on abolishing prisons: ‘What purpose do they serve?'
New York City's leading mayoral candidate, Zohran Mamdani, a self-proclaimed socialist, is raising eyebrows once again for appearing to suggest prisons are not important in a recently resurfaced video. Mamdani, a New York state assemblyman and the Democratic nominee for mayor, made the comments in a 2020 interview while running for state office. Asked whether he thought prisons were obsolete, Mamdani responded, "I think that frankly – I mean – what purpose do they serve? I think that we have to ask ourselves that." Mamdani Sparks Firestorm With Resurfaced Comment On Abolishing Private Property: 'He's A Communist' The Democratic mayoral candidate added, "I think a lot of people who defend the carceral state, they defend the idea of it and the way it makes them feel. They're not defending the reality of it and the practices that are part and parcel of it. "Because if you actually break it down and ask people how many people come out of the prison system better than they went into the prison system, how much harm is actually being prevented versus created, I think when you ask these kinds of questions, people don't always have clear answers." Read On The Fox News App Mamdani added that, when discussing the prison system, "What they always want to pivot to is, 'What are you going to do about murderers? What are you going to do about rapists?' Democrats Hit Rock Bottom As Party Plummets To All-time Low: Poll "Sometimes you have to ask them, 'What are you doing about them right now?'" he added. "We need a system of justice that will repair the harm that has been caused and address it in a serious way because right now we don't have it, and it makes everyone more unsafe." Mamdani also claimed "the power of the executive is almost limitless here in New York State" and criticized then-New York Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo for refusing to "let people out and letting people go home." Mamdani, who has promised to overhaul New York City and launch massive new government programs, has been endorsed by progressive politicians like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. New York Leaders Reportedly Hesitant To Endorse Zohran Mamdani For Mayor As the Democratic nominee in heavily blue New York City, Mamdani is the likely frontrunner to unseat the current mayor of New York City, Eric Adams, who is running for re-election as an independent. Mamdani is also facing off against Cuomo, who is running as an independent, and activist Curtis Sliwa, who is the Republican Party nominee. Mamdani is seen by many as a controversial candidate, partially due to his socialist policy proposals and heavy criticism of the state of Israel. He has declined to say whether Israel has the right to exist as a Jewish state and initially refused to condemn the phrase "globalize the intifada." However, he recently began distancing himself from the phrase. Fox News Digital reached out to the Mamdani campaign but did not receive a article source: WATCH: Socialist NYC mayoral candidate Mamdani on abolishing prisons: 'What purpose do they serve?' Solve the daily Crossword
