New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani is running on city-run grocery stores and free public buses, but one GOP lawmaker is warning the self-described Democratic socialist’s progressive ideas have already backfired in another major U.S. city.
Missouri Republican Rep. Mark Alford, whose district includes Kansas City, covered the opening of city-run KC Sun Fresh as a local news anchor in 2018. Now, the store is on the verge of closing despite receiving millions of taxpayer dollars.
Alford warned the same ideas that failed close to home would also fail in the Big Apple.
“This was in a food desert, the urban core. There’s a lack of grocery stores in the urban core, but the problem is it’s also an oasis of crime. That’s why no grocery store wanted to move in. So the city subsidized it. They ended up losing $15 million of taxpayer money over this. The crime only increased in that area. There were shootings and robberies, and now it’s a failure,” he shared on “Fox & Friends” Thursday.
Alford said the same happened with Kansas City’s bus system. The Kansas City Council approved a zero-bus fare system prior to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019, but voted earlier this year to reinstate fares amid staggering financial losses.
The Mid-America Regional Council (MARC), in conjunction with other entities, found that the “Zero Fare” model resulted in approximately $8 to $10 million in fare revenue losses across the region in 2020. That loss was supplemented by the CARES Act at the time.
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Author: Ray Hilbrich
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