Transcript: Mayor Mamdani Announces the Peninsula in the Bronx as the Second Site for City’s Public Grocery Stores
Zohran Mamdani on NYC Mayor's Office transcripts.
Passages
Good morning, everybody. How we doing BX? Is labor in the house? It is such a pleasure to start the day here in the BX with so many friends and partners. And I wanna first say thank you to Jeanny Pak, our interim president and CEO of EDC. I want to acknowledge a number of our administrative leaders that we have here with us, including our deputy mayor, Helen Arteaga. We have our director, Kate MacKenzie [from] the Mayor's Office of Food Policy. We have, soon to come out here, [the] borough president of the Bronx, Vanessa Gibson. If we can also give her a shout-out for another great event-packed Bronx week that we had here. We wanna thank Maria Torres, the Hunts Point CEO. We wanna thank Victoria Melendez, a resident at Peninsula Building 1A. We wanna thank Ademola Oyefeso, the VP of UFCW; David Kramer, the president of Hudson Companies; James Patchett, the CEO of Gilbane; members of Bronx CB2 [and] The POINT Community Development Corporation. And I know that Jeanny has already gone union by union, but if we can have a loud round of applause for organized labor here in the building. We are here in Hunts Point through which so much of the food that nourishes New Yorkers travels before it arrives on a restaurant plate or lands in a grocery store cart. The Hunts Point Cooperative Market is nearby. As many of you know, it is the largest food distribution center anywhere in the world. The wholesalers who walk through its hundreds of thousands of [square] feet of floor space can pick between some of the ripest produce in the region. Some of the freshest fish on the East Coast [and] some of highest-quality meat anywhere in the country. And yet, so many New Yorkers in this same neighborhood and across the Bronx cannot say the same. Seventy-seven percent of households in surrounding neighborhoods cannot afford basic needs. More than 50 percent of households have relied on public assistance in the last 12 months alone. And when nearby families go shopping for groceries, there are not enough affordable options nearby. With only one full-service supermarket within a quarter mile, thousands of New Yorkers have only limited options. We are here together today to change that and to chart a new course. Last month, we announced that we would fulfill a campaign promise: that we would lower prices by creating a network of city-owned grocery stores, one in each borough. In these stores, prices will be cheaper. Workers will be paid fairly and treated with dignity. Going to the grocery store will no longer cause that same anxiety for so many New Yorkers. Now, on April 13, we announced the first site, La Marqueta in El Barrio. And in doing so, honoring the legacy of Fiorello La Guardia, who opened a site close to 100 years prior with the same mission of delivering cheaper goods to New Yorkers. Today, my friends, I am so proud to announce that the Bronx location will be here at The Peninsula. And New Yorkers will not need to wait long for costs to drop. This store will be the first of the five city-run grocery stores to open. Bronx residents will be able to begin shopping here next year. It is going to be a 20,000 square foot location and its ambition is perfectly placed at The Peninsula, which will house 740 units of 100 percent affordable housing by the time that it's fully built. And as we heard from Jeanny, it'll be located on the site of the former Spofford Juvenile Detention Facility. Somewhere that, for so many years, was synonymous with neglect and mistreatment. This was a place of failure, where young, predominantly low-income New Yorkers were subjected to brutal physical conditions, human rights violations and physical abuse. We are reclaiming that same site to tell a very different story. This store, and The Peninsula as a whole, will serve as physical proof of our conviction that government can be a force for good. That government can drive change that improves people's lives. And standing here this morning, I cannot help but think of the words of our 40th president, Ronald Reagan. He famously said, “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help.” It's a good quote, but I disagree. I think nine more terrifying words are actually, “I worked all day and can't feed my family.” We are going to use the power of government to lower prices and make it easier for New Yorkers to put food on the table. When government understands its purpose as serving the very working people that it has left behind time and again, it can make a difference in the most pressing struggles facing our city today. It's not just that government can help; it's that government must help and our government will help. And I want to thank organized labor for being a part of this announcement because as we have spoken about a cost of living crisis, as we've spoken about an affordability crisis, we know that at the heart of it is the inequality that runs rampant, not just in this city but across the country. And when we ask ourselves what the most effective tool at combating that inequality [is], we come back to the same answer time and again, union density. And I thank you. All of you for showing us time and again what a path looks like to actually deliver for working people because today City government looks to join you in that same fight by making it easier for a working person to live and stay and build a life in the city that they have helped to run for so many years. This is the start of a new day for the Bronx, one that New Yorkers can actually afford. Now, it is such a pleasure and a privilege to be here with you. I am now going to pass the microphone back to Jeanny Pak, our interim president and CEO of the EDC. Thank you very much.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceYou know, I first want to acknowledge our leadership from EDC, including Jeanny, who's right here with us, for the intensive work that they've been doing to make clear that our vision for a healthy ecosystem is a city-run grocery store alongside flourishing private market grocery stores as well as bodegas. And what we've seen in even the city's current and long-standing approach as it pertains to Essex Market is the ability for city subsidy to flourish alongside those private market operators. What I will say before passing it over to Jeanny is that we are incredibly excited about this site specifically, the timeline of the site and that the grocery store will be the first to open by the end of next year and that it is the fulfillment of a vision that so many Bronxites have had of transforming what was a site of such pain into one of hope and affordability. Jeanny, if you'd like to add anything.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceAnd I will just add one thing before the next question, which is just that this outreach, this engagement — it will continue after the launch of these city-run stores as well. And so, there is going to be a continued commitment to ensuring the flourishing of the ecosystem as a whole. Sorry, and what's the question is to respond to them?
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceI think that as Jeanny has said, there has been sustained outreach to a number of trade organizations representing grocery stores as well as bodegas, and then upon the announcement of any site, also outreach to the specific bodegas and supermarkets in that area. And that's going to continue. And what Jeanny said is something that I will also restate, which is that oftentimes the items that drive most profit for these kinds of entities are also not the items that these city-run grocery stores are going to be selling. We're not going to be selling lottery tickets. We're not going to be selling a lot of the things that make the margin, whether it's tobacco products or things of that nature. And so, we're excited to continue to have that conversation and we take any concern seriously and what I will also say is that our commitment to New Yorkers is to deliver them affordable groceries and we are very excited about doing that.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceWhat I will say is that I remain hopeful that both sides will be able to reach a fair deal for the workers that ensure that this commuter rail system actually runs and for the riders who depend on that very same system. And I'll just take this opportunity also to speak directly to New Yorkers for whom the suspension of service is one of immense interest given the impact that it has on their lives, [and note] that New Yorkers should be planning for heavier congestion. They should be planning for longer travel times for the duration of the suspension of service. The MTA is providing limited bus service for essential workers, those who cannot telework. And for any New Yorker who wants to ensure that they are staying up to date on the most breaking developments, especially as we encourage the continued conversation around the resolution of this contract, is for them to sign up for Notify NYC. And they can, sorry, I'll just say, they can do that by going to nyc.gov/NotifyNYC, or by texting 692-692 to NOTIFYNYC.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceNo, I feel like I can make my opinions, I can share them with any New Yorker at any time. And when it comes to this, I think the importance that I've laid out time and time again, both in private and public conversations, is a fair deal. And that is for the workers who make it run and for those who rely on that system.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceCould I first answer the first question and then we'll go to the second one? Thank you very much. My message to Jewish leaders across this city is that my door is always open. I look forward to welcoming a number of those leaders to Gracie Mansion this evening for Shavuot. I also know that that is a door that we will keep open beyond just this evening's event, beyond just Jewish American Heritage Month. It is part of a commitment to be the mayor for every New Yorker. And that means a mayor for those who voted for you, who didn't vote for you [and] who didn't vote at all. And that also means that there will be times where you will meet New Yorkers at an event, at a specific conversation, out on the street. I look forward to all of those interactions. Your second question?
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceI was proud to commemorate Nakba Day, which is an annual day on May 15 that commemorates the expulsion of more than 700,000 Palestinians from 1947 to 1945 during the creation of the State of Israel and for the year that followed. And it was a privilege to be able to share the story of Inea and her story as not just a Nakba survivor, but also as a New Yorker. And I firmly believe that acknowledging anyone's people pain does not preclude you from the acknowledgement of another people's. And when it comes to New Yorkers like Inea and so many others, not only has their pain never been acknowledged, but so often we have seen that even their identity is up for debate. And my message to each and every New Yorker is that this is a city for you and that we will continue to be proud of everyone who calls it home.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceI think that's an interesting point that I'll bring up to the team. What I will say is that we have seen that the cost of groceries has been going up in this city and that it has outstripped even the increase that we've seen nationwide. And that's of immense concern because what we're talking about is not a luxury good. We're talking produce. We're taking about eggs and milk and chicken and for many New Yorkers they are unable to plan their lives. Knowing whether they will be able to afford that next week because they don't know whether the price is going to continue to skyrocket. [Crosstalk.]
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceSo, May 15 has long been the day of commemorating the Nakba. And there are many Nakba survivors in New York City. And we wanted to ensure that the focus of this was just to hear from a New Yorker herself on her own memories of what it meant to be expelled and what her life has been like and how she has found that home in New York City. We wanted to have a Nakba survivor be at the focal point of this video as opposed to myself. I was intending to be there as part of it; however, I did fall sick and we didn't want to create any kind of complication for her. Thank you so much. ###
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source
Every passage above is taken from this recording: NYC Mayor's Office transcripts, Transcript: Mayor Mamdani Announces the Peninsula in the Bronx as the Second Site for City’s Public Grocery Stores.