00:00Talking with beef producers while I was here, it's just a constant struggle of those stacking up of regulations.
00:12Like I think a lot of people are okay, you say, okay, give me something finite.
00:17Give me something finite I have to deal with.
00:19Like how much are you going to tax me?
00:22But oh, those regulations continue to stack up, stack up, and they sneak up on you,
00:26and suddenly you can't do what you want to do anymore.
00:30So I'll tell you one thing that won't work.
00:34Community public-run grocery stores like Mom Donnie is opening in New York.
00:38Those are not going to work.
00:39Okay, that is not the way.
00:45I just feel so strongly about supporting the agricultural community
00:51and your right to produce in a way that is legal, in a way that is clean and safe,
00:58and you are the ultimate conservationist.
01:00You don't need to be told how to do that.
01:02And in a way that allows you to expand domestically and overseas and prosper.
01:10That's it.
01:11That's why I'm running.
01:12I want to be there for you.
01:13I want to partner with you.
01:14Talking with beef producers while I was here,
01:20it's just a constant struggle of those stacking up of regulations.
01:27Like I think a lot of people are okay.
01:29You say, okay, give me something finite.
01:32Give me something finite I have to deal with.
01:34Like how much are you going to tax me?
01:37But oh, those regulations continue to stack up, stack up,
01:40and they sneak up on you, and suddenly you can't do what you want to do anymore.
01:45So I'll tell you one thing that won't work.
01:49Community public-run grocery stores like Mom Donnie is opening in New York.
01:53Those are not going to work.
01:54Okay, that is not the way.
01:56Okay.
02:00I just feel so strongly about supporting the agricultural community
02:06and your right to produce in a way that is legal,
02:11in a way that is clean and safe.
02:13And you are the ultimate conservationist.
02:15You don't need to be told how to do that.
02:17And in a way that allows you to expand domestically and overseas and prosper.
02:25That's it.
02:26That's why I'm running.
02:27I want to be there for you.
02:28I want to partner with you.
02:29We are here in Hunts Point,
02:31through which so much of the food that nourishes New Yorkers travels
02:35before it arrives on a restaurant plate or lands in a grocery store cart.
02:41The Hunts Point Cooperative Market is nearby.
02:44As many of you know,
02:45it is the largest food distribution center anywhere in the world.
02:49The wholesalers who walk through its hundreds of thousands of feet of floor space
02:54can pick between some of the ripest produce in the region,
02:57some of the freshest fish on the East Coast,
03:00some of the highest quality meat anywhere in the country.
03:04And yet, so many New Yorkers in this same neighborhood
03:07and across the Bronx cannot say the same.
03:1177% of households in surrounding neighborhoods cannot afford basic needs.
03:16More than 50% of households have relied on public assistance
03:19in the last 12 months alone.
03:21And when nearby families go shopping for groceries,
03:24there are not enough affordable options nearby.
03:28With only one full-service supermarket within a quarter mile,
03:31thousands of New Yorkers have only limited options.
03:35We are here together today to change that and to chart a new course.
03:40Last month, we announced that we would fulfill a campaign promise,
03:43that we would lower prices by creating a network of city-owned grocery stores,
03:48one in each borough.
03:49In these stores, prices will be cheaper.
03:52Workers will be paid fairly and treated with dignity.
03:56Going to the grocery store will no longer cause that same anxiety for so many New Yorkers.
04:02Now, on April 13th, we announced the first site,
04:05La Marqueta en el Barrio.
04:11And in doing so, honoring the legacy of Fiorella LaGuardia,
04:14who opened a site close to 100 years prior
04:17with the same mission of delivering cheaper goods to New Yorkers.
04:21Today, my friends, I am so proud to announce
04:24that the Bronx location will be here at the peninsula.
04:33And New Yorkers will not need to wait long for costs to drop.
04:37This store will be the first of the five city-run grocery stores to open.
04:46Bronx residents will be able to begin shopping here next year.
04:52It is going to be a 20,000-square-foot location,
04:56and its ambition is perfectly placed at the peninsula,
05:00which will house 740 units of 100% affordable housing
05:04by the time that it's fully built.
05:06And as we heard from Jeannie,
05:08it will be located on the site of the former Spofford Juvenile Detention Facility,
05:13somewhere that for so many years was synonymous with neglect and mistreatment.
05:18This was a place of failure where young,
05:21predominantly low-income New Yorkers were subjected
05:23to brutal physical conditions,
05:26human rights violations, and physical abuse.
05:28We are reclaiming that same site to tell a very different story.
05:33This store and the peninsula as a whole
05:36will serve as physical proof of our conviction
05:39that government can be a force for good,
05:42that government can drive change that improves people's lives.
05:46And standing here this morning,
05:49I cannot help but think of the words of our 40th president, Ronald Reagan.
05:53He famously said,
05:55the nine most terrifying words in the English language
05:58are, I'm from the government, and I'm here to help.
06:01It's a good quote, but I disagree.
06:04I think nine more terrifying words are actually,
06:07I worked all day and can't feed my family.
06:12We are going to use the power of government
06:15to lower prices and make it easier for New Yorkers
06:18to put food on the table.
06:20When government understands its purpose
06:23as serving the very working people
06:25that it has left behind time and again,
06:28it can make a difference in the most pressing struggles
06:31facing our city today.
06:32It's not just that government can help,
06:35it's that government must help,
06:37and our government will help.
06:44And I want to thank organized labor
06:47for being a part of this announcement
06:49because as we have spoken about a cost of living crisis,
06:52as we have spoken about an affordability crisis,
06:56we know that at the heart of it
06:57is the inequality that runs rampant,
06:59not just in this city but across the country.
07:01And when we ask ourselves
07:02what is the most effective tool
07:04at combating that inequality,
07:06we come back to the same answer time and again,
07:09union density.
07:10And I thank you, all of you,
07:12for showing us time and again
07:14what a path looks like
07:15to actually deliver for working people.
07:17Because today, city government looks to join you
07:20in that same fight
07:21by making it easier for a working person
07:24to live and stay and build a life in the city
07:27that they have helped to run for so many years.
07:34This is the start of a new day for the Bronx,
07:37one that New Yorkers can actually afford.
07:41Now, it is such a pleasure and a privilege
07:44to be here with you.
07:45I am now going to pass the microphone back
07:48to Jeannie Pack,
07:49our interim president and CEO of the EDC.
07:52Thank you very much.
07:52Thank you very much.
Comments