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Rudy Giuliani and the city he remade

By CHRISTIAN BROWNE
January 2, 2024 at 5:00 a.m.



** FILE ** Rudy Giuliani, right, is symbolically sworn-in as New York City Mayor by U.S. District Court Judge Michael B. Mukasey, left, during a private ceremony in New York in this Dec. 31, 1993 file photo. Giuliani’s wife Donna Hanover, center, stands with their children Andrew, 7, and Caroline, 4; Giuliani’s mother Helen looks on. President Bush has settled on Mukasey, a retired federal judge from New York, to replace Alberto Gonzales as attorney general and is expected to announce his selection Monday. (AP Photo/Ed Bailey, File)


Rudolph W. Giuliani was sworn in as the 107th mayor of the City of New York on Jan. 2, 1994, 30 years ago today. He took office during an era of decline that began with the mass suburbanization of the post-war period and that was exacerbated by disastrous mismanagement, culminating with the city’s near bankruptcy in 1975.

By the early 1990s, the lingering effects of the fiscal crisis, coupled with the perception and reality of rampant violent crime, made New York the beleaguered target of Time magazine’s 1990 cover story “The Rotting of the Big Apple.”

Giuliani’s election was a mandate from the electorate for a complete change in direction. While his first victory came by a small margin, Giuliani was a “fusion” candidate who brought together a broad coalition that backed his vision. A Republican, he also ran on the line of the Liberal Party. The tallest pillars of the Democratic Party, Ed Koch and Bobby Wagner, endorsed him, and both cut television ads at the end of the campaign that were crucial to his triumph.

Giuliani never governed in the thrall of one party, ideological movement or ethnic constituency. His success was based on actual, tangible results. By the time of his reelection in 1997, no one could argue with the remarkable turnabout of the city’s fortunes. He won four of the five boroughs. Brooklyn voted Republican for the first time since 1941.

Giuliani is rightly best remembered for the incredible reduction in crime he achieved during his tenure. His work with Bill Bratton and the police commissioners who followed him formed the basis for the city’s renaissance. But Rudy did much more that is worth tribute.

He was an early advocate for school choice and vouchers. He feuded with feckless schools chancellors and relentlessly attacked the old Board of Education system. While the Legislature, for political reasons, would not grant mayoral control to Giuliani, he laid the groundwork for the legislation that handed control of the schools to his successor.

He instituted the “Work Experience Program” to put able-bodied welfare recipients to work in the parks and other places. The welfare rolls declined by 650,000 enrollees during his tenure. He cleaned out organized crime from the carting industry and the Fulton Fish Market.

He drastically reduced the violence and chaos on Rikers Island, an achievement that has been disgracefully squandered in recent years. He would not tolerate vagrancy as a proper solution to homelessness saying, “the streets are not for sleeping.”

Giuliani governed by moral instinct, not political pandering. He was not always correct, but did what he thought was best for the city with minimal political calculus. He endorsed Mario Cuomo for governor over the candidate of his own party. He (literally) threw Yasser Arafat out of Lincoln Center. He denounced the Brooklyn Museum for displaying an offensive portrait of the Blessed Virgin Mary. He unequivocally supported the cops even in the toughest and most controversial times.

His deputy mayors and senior aides were highly competent managers who were devoted to their work in government. They met at 8 a.m. every day; there was a culture of accountability. When 9/11 showcased Giuliani’s leadership, I was surprised that so many people considered the mayor’s response extraordinary. By that time, I had worked in the administration for three years and I saw nothing unusual in the effectiveness of the mayor and the people around him. There was never a hint of corruption.

In April 1995, David Letterman put Giuliani on the Times Square Jumbotron to announce the city’s new slogan: “We can kick your city’s ass!” The phrase instantly caught on — they printed buttons and New York’s Hometown Paper splashed it across the front page. It captured the moment. Less than five years after Time proclaimed the Big Apple rotten, Rudy gave it back its bravado and the sense of superiority that justly belongs to the greatest city in the world.

The foundation for success that Giuliani cemented has been chipped and cracked, but it has yet to collapse. Mike Bloomberg built his mayoralty on it. Even Bill de Blasio, in a concession to the fact that New Yorkers would not tolerate a return to pre-Giuliani lawlessness, brought Bratton back as police commissioner. Former cop Eric Adams edged out his rivals on a promise to restore law and order. He would not take the guns from the police as suggested by one of his opponents.

Unlike almost every other politician of promise, Rudy Giuliani implemented his vision and made it a reality that transformed New York. Thirty years after he took the oath of office, we live in a city that is built on his legacy.