Rethinkin’ Dinkins
8 comments so far (is that a lot?)
Written by Brian Scott Mednick on October 29, 2009
While endorsing Mayor Mike Bloomberg for a third term in New York City recently, former Mayor Rudy Giuliani said that putting Bloomberg’s Democratic opponent in City Hall could take us back to the Dinkins era, when crime in New York was rampant. Some saw shades of race in Giuliani’s statement because Dinkins was black, as is Bloomberg’s current opponent, Bill Thompson. Giuliani’s remarks were based on facts, not color.
I was here in the city during Dinkins’ reign, and it was a much dirtier and scarier place. People were moving out in large numbers, businesses were relocating, and, worst of all, it seemed as if the police were immobilized and the powers that be in City Hall were turning a blind eye to all of it. You would not dream of walking around Times Square at 10:00 at night back then.
Bloomberg is far from perfect, but overall he has been a very effective Mayor whose years of business savvy have translated into political savvy. He is independent, he is not beholden to any special interests, and, for the most part, he gets results.
It is unfortunate that he had to tarnish his reputation by overturning term limits. Whether you are for or against term limits, the people of New York City voted for them. You cannot simply overturn the will of the people in order to suit your political ambitions. We all know Bloomberg loves being Mayor, but laws are laws. While he set a bad precedent with the term limits fiasco, Bloomberg remains the best person for the job. His opponent is untested and has yet to present a cogent argument as to why he would be a better Mayor than Bloomberg.
Back to David Dinkins. Leave it to The New York Times to offer a different view of his four years in office. In a recent piece titled “Another Look at the Dinkins Administration, and Not by Giuliani,” Michael Powell gives a tepid defense of Dinkins’ disastrous time as Mayor that has got to be one of the most ludicrous examples of revisionist history I have ever read. In an overwhelmingly Democratic city, the fact that Rudy Giuliani won two terms (and easily could have won a third if term limits allowed him) speaks volumes.
Dinkins was an empty suit. He was elected on a platform of easing racial tensions, yet race relations got worse during his tenure. He had no leadership abilities, no convictions, and he downright broke the law when he failed to dispatch the necessary police force needed to stop the miscreants responsible for the 1991 Crown Heights riots or intervene in the boycott of a Korean-owned grocery in Flatbush. In both cases, the perpetrators were large numbers of black men. After four years of this, New Yorkers smartened up and elected someone who was not afraid to take action when needed, even if those actions weren’t always popular.
Alas, New Yorkers are like ungrateful children. While Giuliani remains popular statewide and on a national level, he is largely disliked in his own city. If he were to run for Mayor now, he would lose to any Democratic opponent.
His detractors forget how he cleaned up a city that was called “ungovernable.” They call him a bully. They say he is a racist because he refused to meet with frauds like Al Sharpton. Even Ed Koch, who I thought was a superb Mayor, has seemingly gone nuts in recent years, making nice with former enemies like Dinkins and Sharpton; going so far as to write a book called “Giuliani: Nasty Man.” These are the same people who seemed to have forgotten about the gas lines, hostages, and overall despair of the Jimmy Carter years, and now view Carter as a saint.
To use an admittedly odd canine analogy, Giuliani was a Doberman Pinscher who put himself on the front lines and knew when to bark, while Dinkins cowered in the corner like a nervous Chihuahua afraid of getting smacked for peeing on the rug.
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Filed Under: politics
Tags: bill thompson, mayor bloomberg, mike bloomberg, rudy giuliani
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Comments (8)
Adam
October 29th, 2009 at 7:12 pm
I am no fan of Bloomberg – but you are 100% correct Dinkins was a total disaster and Rudy was a breath of fresh air who fixed this city. Rudy would have easiliy won a 3rd term. What I find most disturbing about Bloomberg is his lack of willing to help the other Republicans running for office this year i.e. Joe Mendola running for Controller and Alex Zablocki running for Public Advocate.. Also lets not forget about Robert Hornak running for Queens boro president and Ashok Chandra running for City Council District 4. I have seen no signs for them in any of Bloomberg's campaign offices.
john k.
October 29th, 2009 at 7:21 pm
That's because bloomberg has the biggest napoleon complex the US has ever seen. he only cares about control and it's evident from many of his positions from gun control to health policy and schooling.
i kinda feel sorry for the guy.
Brian Scott Mednick
October 29th, 2009 at 8:08 pm
Remember, Bloomberg was a lifelong Democrat who only switched to the Republican party to run for Mayor. He entertained President Bush at his Manhattan townhouse and raised money for Republicans because it made him seem like one of them. By his second term, he no longer needed to remain in a party he clearly was not a part of to begin with. He never endorsed a candidate in last year's presidential election, but it is a safe bet that he voted for Obama. He is independent in the sense that he does not need to bow to special interests, but he is deep down a liberal Democrat, which is why he would not stump for Republican candidates in the city, who have zero chance of winning anyway.
DanielNYC
October 30th, 2009 at 7:42 pm
There is no different between Bloomberg and Thompson. During the debate, Bloomberg argued that Thompson will raise someone's taxes. Well, excuse me, Mr. Mayor, but over the last eight years YOU RAISED OUR TAXES TOO!!! I guarantee if this man wins, he will raise more taxes. I bill retail spaces their share of taxes. These are small businesses like dry cleaners, magazine shops, nail salons and restaurants. One tenant (for example) was $29,289 for a fiscal year 2008/09 in taxes. This year, the same tenant was billed $38,061. That's about a 30% INCREASE in taxes and I don't think this guy can afford running a business here anymore.
Of course, Thompson is oblivious to this as well.
When someone doesn't see the correlation of lowering these types of taxes to keep these kinds of businesses, and how you'll end up with more revenue because you have more businesses to collect from.
DanielNYC
October 30th, 2009 at 7:44 pm
You want change, vote Republican for Comptroller and Public Advocate. If a Republican held a citywide office, at least a fiscal conservative can challenge one of these two liberal mayors at the citywide level. You want a more responsible legislature, then vote Republican for City Council if you live in one of the following districts: 4,5,19,20,23,30,32,43,46,50,51. I listed eleven council districts where we have quality Republicans. If we win, say all of them, the city council will be 40 Democrat to 11 Republican. You can argue to your liberal friends, "hey, you still have a majority for your 'progressive' ideas, but if you ever want fiscal responsibility, you'll have a stronger minority to fight for it."
Truthfully, we have a chance of winning five council seats. Not the greatest, but still better than the current three we have. The only way Republicans will win is if the moderate to conservative voters do vote on November 3 and focus on the Republican choices they have for any race other than mayor.
DanielNYC
October 30th, 2009 at 7:46 pm
Oh, And a vote for Thompson isn't voting NYC back to the Dinkins era. There is no way Thompson would be stupid enough to reverse policies that have been effective under GIuliani or Bloomberg. And I can't imagine him turning into the next Dinkins or Abe Beame.
Thompson has been an executive as the Comptroller for 8 years. He will be the either the same as Bloomberg or be similar to Koch.
mary
October 31st, 2009 at 8:36 am
daniel,you don't think he could turn into Dinkins.I have to laugh because did anyone think Ohbuma would turn into a German?
DanielNYC
October 31st, 2009 at 5:36 pm
Mary, you don't think Bloomberg can? He's a liberal politician that has been VERY fortunate to have had the Bush tax cuts over the previous years to spurn the economy. Democrats (and liberals like the mayor) apparently don't see how the Bush tax cuts helped move much of our economy forward over the past eight years. Instead of cutting the budget and promoting small business policies, Bloomberg raised taxes and prevented the NYC economy to expand even more.
Thompson is far more qualified than Dinkins. At least he's held a real position. Dinkins was what? A borough President? He's far more qualified than Abe Beame and apparently everyone loved him enough to vote for him in the 70s.
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