Folks, if there's one thing that can make a New Yorker forget about the rent, the rats, and the guy on the subway playing saxophone covers of death metal, it's the promise of free stuff, or at least stuff others have to pay for, And boy, did Polymarket deliver on that front with their little "first free grocery store" stunt in the West Village. Hundreds lined up like it was Black Friday at a Tiffany's liquidation sale, only instead of diamonds, they were fighting over pasta sauce and Tide Pods. [H/T Fox News Digital]
"New Yorkers are in pain," said Nick from Queens, who paid the recently hiked subway fare to get to Greenwich Village, waiting patiently (or as patiently as a Queens guy can) for his shot at some bath soap and laundry glory.
This whole circus popped up on Feb. 12 as a five-day giveaway courtesy of the crypto prediction market folks at Polymarket, who are apparently feeling the regulatory heat in various states, including the Empire State itself. Critics are calling it a not-so-subtle jab at Democratic NYC Mayor and Comrade Zohran Mamdani's grand plan for communist-style city-run grocery stores to combat the soul-crushing cost of living here. Because nothing says "we're serious about affordability" like a billionaire-backed pop-up that runs out of tickets faster than a politician runs out of excuses.
The scene was pure New York chaos: lines wrapping around the block, people showing up before the sun bothered to rise, and that special anxiety over who snags a yellow ticket before the shelves go barren. It's like musical chairs, but the chairs are cans of soup and the music is the sound of security guards yelling.
As the crowd swelled, so did the drama. Fatima told right-of-center Fox News Digital that she rolled up at 9:00 and got the bad news: "They said that they ran out of tickets."
Sherrod from Jamaica, Queens, got the same brush-off: "They told me that they ran out of tickets. I couldn't get no more food.… I couldn't get access to the store."
Security eventually started herding folks away like stray cats: "Let's go people, let's go. Go home. Do not linger, do not look, do not watch. Please go home." So he paid another recently hiked subway fare and went home, we can suppose.
Charming. Nothing says "welcome to our generous giveaway" like being told to flick off.
For those who scored tickets, it was a supervised shopping spree: pair up with a staffer, fill a blue tote bag, try not to look too greedy. Some loved it. Nick, who somehow landed fourth in line, praised the security: "Security's been phenomenal. This morning, there was a drunk guy over here harassing a lady... the head security guy... got him out of here. Protecting us."
The drunk guy is nowhere to be found and his family might be looking for him.
Others were less impressed. Michael, chilling outside with his chair like he was tailgating the apocalypse, griped about security's "presentation" when dealing with folks from "florid backgrounds," lacking that customer service polish, apparently. He was down to three cups of soup at home and figured the good stuff would be gone by quitting time.
Sumayah from Brooklyn hit it earlier in the week, snagging two dozen eggs and butter before the shelves turned into a ghost town. Out of work for months and on disability, she said this kind of help could save her $600 a month on food and basics. Still, the chaperoned shopping felt weird: "Someone shops with me and I'm kind of uncomfortable with that... they kind of rushed me through things and I couldn’t get all the stuff that I wanted."
It's like, "Do you really need that? Someone in greater need might need that quart of milk--put it back."
But overall? "Very much needed in New York" because it's free for those getting their ticket.
The turnout proved how desperate things are. Word spreads faster than a funny rash one can get sitting bare-butt on the D train. Sumayah even met someone fresh off a plane from India: "‘Oh my God, I'm in line. I'm coming to get free food.' I'm thinking like, how should I get back on the plane with that?"
Of course, the food in India is extremely cheap and delicious--I returned from India last week and you can have a huge meal for about 5 US bucks. Just don't forget to drink bottled water.
Everyone, ticket or no ticket, hammered the same point: food prices here are insane. Jaquan, homeless and riding the A train in, used to drop $300–500 on groceries living with Mom. Monique blew $200 recently and "didn’t even get much." Sherrod's family of four rings up $400–500 a month. Nick switched to fast food and it's wrecking his health, plus he's a month behind on his phone bill because groceries win every time.
The lucky 300+ who made it inside? Ecstatic. Nick emerged thrilled: "I got the spaghetti. I got orange juice. I like orange juice. I also got some ground beef. They had grass-fed ground beef, they had lean ground beef and the regular ground beef, so I'm really glad I got that. I'm really glad I got the grass-fed."
Polymarket [perverse] says they funded the whole thing, tossed $1 million to the Food Bank for New York City, and even handed out $50 gift cards to the folks stuck at the back of the line. How accommodating.
Shoppers saw it as a teachable moment for Mamdani and his city-owned store dreams: better security, no running out of food, crack down on line-cutters, put them in actual food deserts instead of fancy Manhattan blocks.
Because nothing screams "progressive utopia" like a crypto stunt showing exactly why government grocery stores might end in the same ticket frenzy, security shouts, and dashed hopes.
New Yorkers are in pain, alright. And free Tide Pods aren't fixing it because they still aren't edible, kids.
So where is the money going to come from to pay for "free" groceries? From us, the taxpayers. And in order to pay for it the taxes are going to need to rise, and with Comrade Mamdani as Mayor, they will--at least the property taxes, because that's all he is allowed to raise. He will try to get NY Gov. Hochul on his communist bandwagon, and with elections coming up for her, it's doubtful she'll go along with his demands.
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But if he raises property taxes the 9.5% he's saying, this will raise a lot of Big Apple hackles and he might even be challenged by the governor for possible removal from office. I've heard rumors but will not take them seriously unless I see some legal movement to end this communist regime.
Free food is not a bad thing, but it's a no-such thing. Nothing is free and someone has to pay for it. This will drive the richest New Yorkers to think twice about where they want to live.
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