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www.newsindiatimes.com – that’s all you need to know Dr. Sudhir M. Parikh Founder, Chairman & Publisher Ilayas Quraishi Chief Operating Officer Ela Dutt Editor Archana Adalja Contributing Editor T. Vishnudatta Jayaraman Advisor Arun Shah Ahmedabad Bureau Chief Peter Ferreira, Deval Parikh, Freelance Photographers Bhailal M. Patel Executive Vice President Jim Gallentine Business Development Manager - U.S. Shahnaz Sheikh Senior Manager Advertising & Marketing Sonia Lalwani Advertising Manager Shailu Desai Advertising New York Muslima Shethwala Syed Sheeraz Mahmood Advertising Chicago Digant Sompura Consultant for Business Development Ahmedabad, India Hervender Singh Circulation Manager Main Office Editorial & Corporate Headquarters 1655 Oak Tree Toad, Suite 155 Edison, NJ 08820-2843 Tel. (212) 675-7515 Fax. 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Postmaster: Send address change to News India Times, 1655 Oak Tree Toad, Suite 155 Edison, NJ 08820-2843 Annual Subscription: United States: $28 Disclaimer: Parikh Worldwide Media assumes no liability for claims/ assumptions made in advertisements and advertorials. Disclaimer:The views and opinions expressed on this page are those of the authors and Parikh Worldwide Media does not officially endorse, and is not responsible or liable for them. Opinion News India Times (April 25, 2026 - May 1, 2026) May 1, 2026 3 T he seductive appeal of New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s “affordability” agenda was on full display in East Harlem this month, as he promised to open the first of five city-owned supermar- kets. “We’re going to make it easier for NewYorkers to put food on the table,” Mamdani said at the rally, adding: “At our stores, eggs will be cheaper. Bread will be cheaper.” Perhaps so. But fulfilling this campaign promise poses a major risk to the success of Mamdani’s mayor- alty and the brand of socialism he promotes. Successfully establishing a well- run, well-stocked and inexpensive grocery store is no easy task, and Mamdani is asking for $30 million simply to fund the construction of his project. The operating costs are another matter. Supermarkets are a notoriously low- margin business with complex supply chains, and the city has no experience managing them. Phil Lempert, an industry analyst known as the “super- market guru,” has noted that supermar- kets are “a very complicated business that runs on volume and has an average of 1.5 percent to 2 percent net profit. It’s about efficiencies and operations, not something that local governments understand.” East Harlem knows that reality too well, as the site of Mamdani’s project has recently struggled to sustain retail busi- nesses. In 2023, Target cited “organized retail crime” and employee safety issues as reasons for closing a neighborhood location. “We know that our stores serve an important role in their communities, but we can only be successful if the working and shopping environment is safe for all,” Target said at the time. Mamdani’s “La Marqueta” will prob- ably face a similar fate unless it contracts costly security funded either by higher grocery prices or by cuts to other tax- funded city services. The recent record of a similar experi- ment also provides little reason for op- timism. Kansas City, Missouri, invested $17 million over 10 years in the city- owned Sun Fresh Market. Notwithstand- ing the lower expenses of a govern- ment-owned storefront (the Mamdani market would similarly be exempt from property taxes), shoppers stayed away because of crime. As revenue waned, the council had to invest more to restock the shelves. The market closed its doors last year. That’s one possible fate for the planned East Harlemmarket. But anyone rooting for the mayor to suc- ceed should also worry that this project distracts from an agenda that shows some promise. Mamdani is promoting what he calls “sewer socialism,” a reference to the early 20th-century socialist mayors in Milwaukee to whom the term was origi- nally applied. “We have showcased a new kind of approach to governing in our city - pot- hole politics,” he said as he joined street crews working to fix potholes. “Deliver- ing public goods coupled with public excellence.” A close reading of the record of sewer socialist mayors would be worth Mamdani’s time. The term was coined to celebrate Milwaukee’s modern sewer system. But unlike Mamdani’s super- market, the sewer socialists did not try to compete with the private sector. Instead, they focused on public infrastructure such as parks, schools, safe bridges and public health - the core functions of local govern- ment. For unpopular Democratic mayors plagued by the toxic combination of high taxes and poor services, the sewer socialism approach could be a positive one. But it can succeed only if attention and resources are not diverted to ideologi- cal glamour projects like a city-owned supermarket. The NewYork City Council will have to approve Mamdani’s $30 million request - and its speaker, Julie Menin, seems skeptical. She has said she would review the plan and examine the impact on “consumers and local small busi- nesses, including bodegas.” There are more pragmatic ways for Mamdani to address the problem of ac- cess to fresh food in poor neighborhoods like East Harlem. Instead of building a new supermar- ket, he could work with established stores such asWalmart to subsidize food delivery via apps like DoorDash, bring- ing fresh food right to people’s homes, even in East Harlem. That would bring down costs and avoid the uncertain investment of a brick-and-mortar loca- tion. The money that would have gone to the grocery store’s operating costs could pay for a lot of deliveries. Public housing projects could even set up central delivery points for residents, many of whom already order groceries with their smartphones. Of course, police protection will be paramount - but that, too, should be part of sewer socialism. Perhaps just call it good government. Howard Husock is a senior fellow at the American Enter- prise Institute. -Special to TheWashington Post By Howard Husock Mamdani’S Grocery Stores Undermine His Broader Agenda PHOTO:American Enterprise Institute PHOTO:CREATIVE COMMONS ATTRIBUTION 2.0/ BILLIE GRACEWARD Affordable housing in Prospect Heights, New York, New York