Posted on 02/01/2013 3:35:10 AM PST by Zakeet
Ed Koch, the brash, colorful and often confrontational mayor who helped to lead New York City out of its brush with bankruptcy in the 1970s, launching an astonishing municipal turnaround that continues to this day, has died. He was 88.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
RIP, Mr. mayor. Thanks for being fair and decent.
He maintained an office in my building. I saw him walking out with a bit more of an escort just a couple weeks ago. Lots of people, myself included, would say “Hello Mayor” as he walked by. He smiled and nodded.
A Democrat and a Liberal, he was the type of thinking Liberal I like to match wits with; both learning something new in the exchange.
While he had an ego, he never disgraced himself with tawdry nonsense. He had the welfare of the people front and center.
His friendship with Cardinal O’Conner was an example of how he could see past Liberal pettiness and work for the things all could agree on.
One less gun grabber to contend with.
RIP Mayor Koch. He was a very interesting fellow.
For non-New Yorkers, Vaquero is alluding to what Koch would commonly say to people he'd meet walking the streets of NYC—perpetually gauging his performance and support: "How am I doing?"
You could say it was a case of "self-deprecating self-absorption" by a man who took his job seriously. He said (frequently) that his ambition was to be "the best mayor since Fiorello LaGuardia."
Koch was a Democratic Congressman who made his support for the death penalty a platform plank of his first mayoral campaign. Not that he could affect the death penalty one way or the other as mayor. But it was a way to signal that he didn't side with the criminals, unlike many of his fellow-liberals, and voters appreciated it. As was mentioned, when a reporter asked him what could be done about the spray-painted graffiti that covered the exterior of the subway cars in those days, Koch snapped, "We should put wolves in the stockyards!"
He later retracted the remark—half-heartedly. RIP, Ed.
How'd he do? Like the man says:
Pretty good Mr. Mayor, pretty good.
....another Koch story:
In the early 80’s I used to follow the horses..(trotters) and had a friend who worked for a nearby stable. She told me about a horse...*smiles*...anyway this particular horse was running on this particular afternoon, but it was at Monticello upstate...bout a 1 1/2 hr away on a good day. Track located off the thruway so it was a direct route, as long as you didn’t miss the exit, ....yeah I missed it.
Now I have about $300 in bets to take care of and I just know people are not going to believe I MISSED THE EXIT....
The race was early on the card (2nd) and I’m still headed in the wrong direction and post time was 1 pm and it’s 12:30 and there just isn’t any exits to turn around....so I did what any horse player would do (under duress),I used the police turn around *smiles*. Well, I got to the track just as the first race finished, go running in, pick up a program, (checking for scratches), and fly up to the windows and the place is packed, looks like 15 deep, now real panic sets in..the reason it’s so crowded,Ed Koch, shaking hands,flash bulbs going off,people yelling,he’s yelling,....and I just don’t wanna get shut out. I’m starting to think about yelling and it ain’t about how he’s doin....out of the corner of my eye I spot another window opening walk over and I get the bets in and the bell rings (whew).....IT WAS A VERY profitable day, but I was so whacked out after the ordeal I only stayed for the third race and left. Close to a 4 hour round trip, but worth it *smiles*....from that day on every time I heard him say “how am I doin?”...I used to answer him (under my breath)
May God rest his soul.
A Dem who didn’t drink the Koolaid.
And a character.
RIP
RIP. Proof not all liberals are bad people, but still all liberal are still liberals. Just two weeks ago he said we should ban guns:
http://nation.foxnews.com/ed-koch/2013/01/15/ex-nyc-mayor-ban-all-guns
he was a gun grabber....but not rabid
he was pro abortion...but considered late term abortions infanticide.
he was, like Rudy, a city boy. and like Rudy, about as conservative (Ed was the self proclaimed ‘liberal with common sense’) as NYC politicians can get and still get elected, (except for Staten Island where they tend to be more conservative).
He prosecuted criminals, and unlike places like Chicago, would not allow the murder rates that currently are de rigueur in the windy city with the windbag mayor Rahm Emmanuel, who allows violent crimes to use for political fodder to promote gun confiscation.
I did not agree with Koch on many things, especially gun control. but he was one of the best of that lot...
he was a gun grabber....but not rabid
he was pro abortion...but considered late term abortions infanticide.
he was, like Rudy, a city boy. and like Rudy, about as conservative (Ed was the self proclaimed ‘liberal with common sense’) as NYC politicians can get and still get elected, (except for Staten Island where they tend to be more conservative).
He prosecuted criminals, and unlike places like Chicago, would not allow the murder rates that currently are de rigueur in the windy city with the windbag mayor Rahm Emmanuel, who allows violent crimes to use for political fodder to promote gun confiscation.
I did not agree with Koch on many things, especially gun control. but he was one of the best of that lot...
RIP Ed, and prayers to family and friends.
I grew up and lived in New York city (until 2 months ago - I couldn’t take living under despotism anymore) and as much as despot Bloomberg is hated, Koch is/was loved and I don’t even have to guess this subhuman POS Bloomberg will use even this to shine the spotlight on himself. Take bets now, 1000% guaranteed. A lot of memories with Koch, although he was a lib he was a cool guy who respected the people.
Probably the most lib I remember him was during the Simon and Garfunkel concert in Central park in 1981 he told cops not to bust anyone for smoking weed - so guess what people were doing right next to cops? LOL! I remember one mounted cop laughing. I always remember that because now under despot Bloomberg you can’t even smoke a cigarette. I also remember Koch walking over the Brooklyn bridge with everybody during the transit strike screaming to hell with the union lol! Despot Bloomberg - Take a good look at a REAL Mayor, one who actually showed RESPECT towards the people. RIP Mayor Koch.
He was a lovable lib, a rarity to be sure. RIP.
Well said.
You got it.
The last mayor to run his city, sadly was Rudy. Now we have a mayor that is a busybody.
Now the MSM has something to distract the minds of the serfs from any questions about the Turkish bombing and al quaeda.
Heh. Exactly! One less meal for the hog farms IMHO.
He was a good guy, definitely a mensch. He did a great job against heavy odds (and then, of course, was followed by Dimbulb Dinkins, who practically undid it all...but that’s another story).
The last of the old school liberals. A liberal who was not an America hater.
I got in a debate with a Minnesota liberal about the budget deficit and the national debt. I said that the FedGov needed to make the hard choices and get the spending under control. I got blasted for talking about “hard choices”, like it was some kind of “right wing code word”. I asked him if he ever heard of Ed Koch, Mayor of New York. He said he did. I reminded him that he maid some hard choices for New York, and Hizzoner’s fellow liberals howled and whined, yet Hizzoner get the city back on good financial footing.
IMO Guiliani may have been a better administrator, but Koch started off with the city as a basket case. New York City was written off by many. Still, Koch did most of the heavy lifting, and Guiliani continued building on the new groundwork that Koch set.
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