As New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani gave an update for his city-owned grocery stores, he surprised the crowd by quoting former President Ronald Reagan.
“Standing here this morning, I cannot help but think of the words of our fortieth 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.'”
The socialist mayor said it’s a “good quote,” but added that he disagrees with the message.
“I think nine more terrifying words are actually, ‘I worked all day and can’t feed my family,’” he countered.
MAMDANI: “Ronald Reagan…famously said ‘The nine most terrifying words in the English language are I’m from the government and I’m here to help’…I DISAGREE.”
pic.twitter.com/cAXqjRz9iI— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) May 18, 2026
Unlike Reagan, who pushed for a limited government, Mamdani said his new city-owned grocery stores would act as proof of concept for expanded government.
“We are going to use the power of government to lower prices to make it easier for New Yorkers to put food on the table,” he said. “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 the government must help, and our government will help.”
On Monday, Mamdani shared that the first city-owned grocery store is set to open in the Bronx in 2027 at the site of the Spofford Juvenile Detention Facility. He secured $70 million in funding to not only remodel the detention center into a grocery store but to also build four more grocery stores.
Mamdani previously announced that one of the stores would be placed where his favorite mayor opened a store 90 years earlier, the La Marqueta in East Harlem. The second store is expected to open in 2029.
Mamdani praised NYC Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, who created a “municipal market” that consolidated independent vendors into a permanent place to sell their goods. The market functioned like a public farmers market rather than a city-owned and stocked supermarket. La Marqueta ultimately saw rapid decline in the 1970s as New York City teetered toward bankruptcy and crime skyrocketed.
While two of the five properties have been selected, Mamdani has put out a casting call for the others. Through an application on the city’s website, property owners can submit their storefronts to be selected to house a public grocery store. It is not clear whether the city would then purchase the property from the landlord or become a tenant.
Once the space is acquired, however, the city will select a third-party operator to run the grocery store, which the Mamdani administration claims has “no plans to turn a profit.” Those who want to run the store will go through a “future request for proposals (RFP) process.” The documents do not disclose who is eligible to apply or how much operational control the city will retain.
While the city has not fully detailed how it will implement the program, officials have already outlined what they expect the results to be.
“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,” Mamdani said.
After Mamdani won the 2025 mayoral election, The Daily Wire asked a bodega owner about his thoughts on the new grocery stores. The bodega owner questioned the fairness of the city government forcing him to compete against a grocery store not obligated to pay rent or property taxes.
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