The Mamdani administration is facing a new federal lawsuit alleging that its controversial plan to open taxpayer-subsidized grocery stores in the five boroughs violates antitrust laws, The Post has learned.
The National Supermarket Association and two of its members – City Fresh Market in Harlem and C-Town Supermarket in the Bronx – are filing the suit in the Southern District of New York as soon as Tuesday evening, the association’s president Anthony Peña told The Post.
He pointed to millions of dollars in city subsidies to Mamdani’s five proposed publicly run grocery stores as evidence of unfair competition.
“We are arguing that everyone has to be able to access these subsidies,” Peña said. “It’s not about us being afraid of competition. We are against unfair competition.”
His group, which represents 450 independent grocery stores in New York City, is filing the complaint with the America First Policy Institute, a conservative nonprofit chaired by Larry Kudlow, President Trump’s former top economic advisor.
The suit will mark the second major legal effort against the city over Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s plan to open five public supermarkets in low-income neighborhoods. Under his plan, the stores would not pay rent and would sell key items for at least 30% less than neighboring shops, including small bodegas.
In August, the Multicultural Business Coalition, which is comprised of 50 chambers of commerce representing ethnically diverse businesses in New York City, filed two lawsuits in state court alleging that business owners’ civil rights would be violated if the municipal stores are allowed to open.
City Fresh Market, located at 125 E. 116th St., is only about a block away from one of the proposed municipal stores. Mamdani wants to set up a 9,000-square-foot shop inside La Marqueta at Park Avenue and E. 115th Street for an eye-watering $30 million in taxpayer money. --->READ MORE HERE
Members of an immigrant business group that has spoken out against Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s plans for government-owned supermarkets lately have been getting slapped with fines from the city’s Sanitation Department — and some say it looks like a case of retaliation.
Diana Larrazabal, who owns flower and gift shop Aroma D’ Angel at 304 E. 116th St., said shops including hers in recent months have received a slew of citations from the New York City Department of Sanitation for garbage that isn’t even theirs.
Her flower and gift shop was dinged with fines three times this year — most recently for $350 in May. Many of her Spanish-speaking neighbors who are not bilingual lean on her to help them navigate the city’s red tape, she said, adding that they also are forking over hundreds of dollars in fines.
“It’s definitely more frequent,” Larrazabal said at a Wednesday press conference held by the Multicultural Business Coalition – which sued the mayor and the city on Monday over the city-owned supermarket strategy over fears it will pose unfair competition to their stores.
The coalition’s chairman, Frank Garcia, says the fines ramped up about two weeks ago when the group began pounding the pavement to speak with local business owners to get support for its suit.
“When we started going door to door two weeks ago, that’s when the fines started,” Garcia told The Post, saying some have been served with penalties as stiff as $1,000. “The owners don’t speak English.”
“DSNY issues cleanliness violations in all corners of the city,” a spokesperson for the Sanitation Department said, adding that the city has issued 223 commercial summonses in Harlem since March 1. “Our only goal in issuing violations is to give all New Yorkers the clean streets they deserve.”
Asked about retaliation allegations on Wednesday, Mamdani spokesperson Cassio Mendoza referred to Mamdani’s public comments on Monday, in which he said he is “confident in both the legality of this — that it will stand up in court – and the importance of delivering it.” --->READ MORE HERE
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