Blakeman Says City-Owned Grocery Plan Violates State Constitution’s Gift and Loan Clause

Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman said he will challenge New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s plan for five city-owned supermarkets using the Gift and Loan Clause in the New York State Constitution. New York Post reported that the clause prohibits municipalities from giving or lending public money or property to private entities and requires that municipal funds serve a public purpose.

Blakeman contends Mamdani’s proposal to open one supermarket in each borough, operated by select private companies at a cost of $70 million in taxpayer funds, violates the provision by subsidizing competition against existing stores.

Mamdani announced in April that the first location would be at the city-owned La Marqueta marketplace site in East Harlem. The plan calls for the stores to open by 2029. “This unconstitutional subsidy poses a direct threat to long-standing, tax-paying businesses, risking widespread closures and job losses within the community,” Blakeman told the New York Post.

He added that local independent supermarkets and bodegas operating on razor-thin margins cannot compete with a government-backed entity that faces zero overhead costs. Blakeman trails Gov. Kathy Hochul by six points in the latest gubernatorial race polls.

Hochul endorsed Mamdani for mayor and stated at an August 2025 breakfast in the Hamptons that she favors free enterprise, but she has made no public comments on the supermarket plan since then. James M. McGuire, a former state appellate judge and chief counsel to Republican ex-Gov.

George Pataki, said Blakeman “may have a difficult time” prevailing based on precedents from the state Court of Appeals. Gristedes supermarket CEO John Catsimatidis said he hopes common sense prevails and the plan is dropped. He suggested that if Mamdani wants to lower grocery costs he should subsidize grocers who buy milk, eggs and bread in bulk on the condition they pass savings to customers.