Former NYC mayor Ed Koch has shuffled off this mortal coil. Koch was an interesting, often exasperating, figure. Serving as mayor from 1978 to 1989, a time period in which I was just beginning to become aware of politics, Ed Koch was synonymous with "NYC Mayor", even though he served as a U.S. Congressman before his mayoral term. While Koch was sometimes perceived as being insensitive on racial matters, his record on issues pertaining to the gay community is inconclusive, and he was no stranger to controversy there seems to have been a genuine affection for the man. Myself? I thought he was a prickly fellow, but a decent guy deep down. Also, his taste in Chinese restaurants was impeccable.
Here is a nice bit about Mayor Koch finding Fiorello LaGuardia's desk unused in City Hall, and moving it into his office:
Who knows? Maybe Koch will be the subject of a musical someday.
Even though he pissed me off last year, I couldn't stay mad at him- he made a really good show of support for the president's re-election campaign:
Rest in peace, your honor. You'll always be the quintessential New York City mayor to this bastard. That being said, I still won't call "your bridge" by its new name:
It messes up the meter of the best poem I've ever written.
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Eventually, he got on my nerves too much.
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Big city Mayor is a different kind of political role altogether, and it takes a particular kind to do it well. It's interesting that Diane Feinstein is such a gutless, corrupt Senator and yet was a pretty damn good Mayor, especially on that dark, chaotic day in 1978...
Thunder, you were in NYC for Koch's third term- besides him getting on your nerves, do you have any other recollections of him?
Hey, Feinstein does have a mixed legacy. Jello Biafra has long been a burr under her saddle.
I was there for some of his 2nd term, too, B^4.
Reagan and the GOP had a bigger impact on life than the Mayor. Koch was more of a personality.
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Norquist was a GREAT Mayor, maybe not one of the Milwaukee Socialists, but he advanced the ideas of the built environment in a way no other Mayor had. Even got a near-useless bit of freeway TORN DOWN. When was the last, or first, time anyone UNBUILT some of our automobile shrines?
And then he started fucking around....
Eventually, he got on my nerves too much.
Yeah, who doesn't?
I will think of him as the quintessential new york mayor too. Our mayor in Cowtown is a big C Christian real estate guy. Wanna swap, anyone?
Also, due to Ned Beaumont I know what Alter-Kocher means. Damn furriners
Wanna swap, anyone?
Dead zombified New Yorker for mayor of Cowtown!!
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