CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) – New York City mayor Zohran Mandami made an announcement earlier this week about his proposed city-owned grocery stores.
They will offer groceries at a 30-percent discount. So eggs that normally cost 99-cents a dozen will be sold for 69-cents. A large box of corn flakes that retails for $5.99 will be offered at $4.20.
The announcement was remarkable. Grocery stores operate on very thin profit margins – about 5-percent. Meaning that the city run grocery stores will lose money on every sale. Taxpayers will make up the difference. Or, perhaps, suppliers will be squeezed to lower their prices. That’s why the shelves at city owned grocery stores will be filled with no-name items. Name brands won’t do business with them, since they have to be profitable.
Then came a juicy bit of irony. The mayor was asked, what will stop out-of-towners from shopping at the city owned grocery stores because the prices will be so much lower. I don’t think that will be much of an issue. Someone from Scarsdale isn’t going to drive to the Bronx for discount groceries.
But the mayor looked puzzled at the question. His response was juicy. The mayor said you may need to show an ID to prove you’re a New York City resident to shop there. He suggested a drivers license or perhaps the stores themselves would issue ID cards – like a library card, he said.
So… Mayor Mandami is vehemently opposed to having to show ID to vote. That, of course, would prove that you’re a U.S. citizen and are legally entitled to cast a ballot. But he’s in favor of showing ID to keep his city from being ripped off on the sale of bread and lunch meat.
Misplaced priorities? Absolutely. And shockingly ironic.
Chris Conley
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