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Zohran Mamdani

theprestige said:
My hypothesis all along is that Mamdani meant cease and desist letters, but called them orders because he (a) never really stopped to think about what the process actually is, and (b) likes the sound of ordering businesses to do what he wants. Not a grave sin at all, in the grand scheme of things, but he is developing a track record of claiming or promising things that are outside of his remit.
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I think you're just confused about two similar sounding terms of art. A cease and desist letter typically refers to communication issued by a private party (or their attorney). It isn't binding on its recipients--it serves as a warning of imminent legal action if its demands aren't met.

A cease and desist order is issued by a court or regulatory body. It is legally binding--failure to comply will result in fines, contempt charges, etc.
 
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Seems like local neighborhood markets (colloquially "bodegas") are concerned that the Mamdani-marts will out-compete them, with wildly discounted prices and taxpayers subsidizing their losses.


I mean, look: The man is promising eggs at 30% below market prices. If there were a 30% margin on eggs, someone would already be selling eggs at 10% below, and crushing the competition.

The market for groceries is completely commoditized. Everyone has access to the same technology and infrastructure. Everyone is dealing with the same basic operating costs and the same economic conditions. Everyone is already employing all the efficiency gains currently available. Prices are already as low as they can go. The only way a food bank competes on cost is by giving away product at a loss, and finding someone to cover the shortfall.
 
theprestige said:
The market for groceries is completely commoditized. Everyone has access to the same technology and infrastructure. Everyone is dealing with the same basic operating costs and the same economic conditions. Everyone is already employing all the efficiency gains currently available. Prices are already as low as they can go. The only way a food bank competes on cost is by giving away product at a loss, and finding someone to cover the shortfall.
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Kind of. Margins are low at the retail level, but behind the scenes you have a mess of anti-competitive practices. Famously, dominant buyers make demands on suppliers and wholesalers that smaller chains or independent stores can't. New York State is currently in the process of trying end this kind of price discrimination...I guess we'll see how that goes.

Chinatown markets in NYC have notably lower prices for basic produce than other markets in the city, and it seems they've done so by developing their own supply chains and by having relatively no-frills storefronts. I'm skeptical that city-owned groceries will be able to develop the necessary relationships to replicate that kind of success in the short term, but maybe as they gain some institutional knowledge that will happen.
 
mumblethrax said:
Chinatown markets in NYC have notably lower prices for basic produce than other markets in the city, and it seems they've done so by developing their own supply chains and by having relatively no-frills storefronts. I'm skeptical that city-owned groceries will be able to develop the necessary relationships to replicate that kind of success in the short term, but maybe as they gain some institutional knowledge that will happen.
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I'd be more sanguine about this possibility if it were being presented honestly by the mayor as "we know it can be done, but we don't know how to do it, and we're begging the taxpayer's indulgence, while we try to figure it out as we go along". Perhaps with a garnish, "and to do this we've engaged some of the best people in the business, who have already figured out most of it, to help us close the remaining gap in our expertise".

Rather than being presented as "we've figured it out and it's obvious and somehow all our predecessors were idiots but trust us we know what we're doing and we know this will work".
 
theprestige said:
I'd be more sanguine about this possibility if it were being presented honestly by the mayor as "we know it can be done, but we don't know how to do it, and we're begging the taxpayer's indulgence, while we try to figure it out as we go along". Perhaps with a garnish, "and to do this we've engaged some of the best people in the business, who have already figured out most of it, to help us close the remaining gap in our expertise".
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Consultants for the grocery plan include Errol Schweizer and Michael Malmberg, who both seem eminently qualified.

theprestige said:
Rather than being presented as "we've figured it out and it's obvious and somehow all our predecessors were idiots but trust us we know what we're doing and we know this will work".
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I don't see how anyone could get this impression.
 
Oh and apparently Mamdani is saying that at least one of the Mamdani-marts will be built from scratch on an empty lot owned by the city. Which, good for the city for not letting one of its most valuable assets lie fallow.

But also, why not just least the plot to a supermarket chain, if having a supermarket is what solves the problem for that neighborhood. I understand being from the government and here to help, but surely no one actually wants city governments to be in the grocery business, if it can be at all avoided. Right? Right?

If there's a private business that just needs a lower barrier to entry, to fill a market gap, why not let the specialists specialize in their specialty?
 
theprestige said:
But also, why not just least the plot to a supermarket chain, if having a supermarket is what solves the problem for that neighborhood. I understand being from the government and here to help, but surely no one actually wants city governments to be in the grocery business, if it can be at all avoided. Right? Right?
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I dunno. DSA seems to want it, along with the nationalization of a whole bunch of other industries. And open borders, no minimum sentencing regardless of the crime, and an entire host of communist ideas. If I didn't know better, I'd say they all read Orwell and Rand and just really sympathized with the villains.
 
theprestige said:
Oh and apparently Mamdani is saying that at least one of the Mamdani-marts will be built from scratch on an empty lot owned by the city. Which, good for the city for not letting one of its most valuable assets lie fallow.
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That'll be the vacant lot in La Marqueta, in East Harlem. It is very far from one of the city's most valuable assets, but it's an obvious choice, as it solves the long-standing problem of what to do with it.

theprestige said:
But also, why not just least the plot to a supermarket chain, if having a supermarket is what solves the problem for that neighborhood.
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Well, one reason is that there haven't been many takers. The available stalls in the developed parts of La Marqueta have a high-vacancy rate.

theprestige said:
I understand being from the government and here to help, but surely no one actually wants city governments to be in the grocery business, if it can be at all avoided. Right? Right?
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You know the mayor's a socialist, right?

But in general the city-owned grocery store plan enjoys high levels of support in NYC.

theprestige said:
If there's a private business that just needs a lower barrier to entry, to fill a market gap, why not let the specialists specialize in their specialty?
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Because that approach hasn't worked particularly well to fulfill the city's aims.
 
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