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Mamdani and the Left’s ‘fixes’ could instead wreck NYC’s dining scene

Few issues matter more to voters than food costs.

Nearly 90% of Americans report stress about grocery prices, and more than half call it a “major” source of anxiety.

So it was perhaps inevitable that New York City Mayor Mamdani would enter the food-affordability debate.

With campaign pledges to fight “halal-­flation” and “make halal eight bucks again,” Mamdani has neatly folded food into the millennial brand of democratic socialism that carried him to victory in November.

But his proposals — and those advanced by his allies on the City Council — will mire the Big Apple in a progressive war on cheap eats.

The casualties will be the city’s dining scene and its hungry residents.

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The opening salvos of this war date back to 2023, when New York became the first US city to impose a minimum wage on app-based restaurant delivery drivers.

This past summer, the council went further, overriding a veto from then-Mayor Eric ­Adams to extend that mandate to grocery-delivery drivers.

The rate for these drivers now sits at $21.44 per hour.

The council’s expansion came as evidence mounted that the 2023 wage mandate was a mistake.

Supporters of that law note that, according to city data, driver wages did rise.

But the city also saw an 8% decline in its delivery workforce, following the familiar pattern of minimum-wage hikes: those who keep their jobs earn more, but fewer jobs are available.

Delivery platforms began capping the number of active drivers, with Uber Eats reporting a waiting list of 27,000 city applicants.

Food-delivery costs spiked 10% after the........

© New York Post