"Prior to 9/11 Rudy was sinking fast, plagued by a messy divorce, messy affair, revelations about his family and friends, etc. etc. He's not a bad guy, just wasn't a great mayor."
O.K. ex-mrs. guiliani. Is rudy late with your alimony check this month? This statement makes no sense. The city was not "sinking" and your claim that rudy was riding on ed koch's coattails is hilarious, especially when it is noted that rudy was preceded by a disasterous Dinkins term, not Koch.
I didn't say the "city" was sinking. I said "Rudy" was sinking. There was a game in the local media "where's Rudy living?" nobody could figure out where he was living for awhile. Finally, he was spotted at his new residence. He was living with two gay friends on the upper east side (cue Odd Couple theme song). His former mistress a young girl was seen as a loose cannon and he was embroiled in some ugly policies. Plus, he kept firing police commissioners.
Again, Rudy isn't a bad guy, but he's a prosecutor. A class NYC prosecutor. He needs a fight. An opponent. That's when he functions best.
In regards to riding Koch's coat tails, yeah, that's pretty much true, for better or worse. Koch did a lot of stuff that eased the way for placing big bets on wall street, banking, and media. Many of the deals regarding Times Sq revitalization were made under Koch. Dinkins was a place holder, basically coasting through his years in city hall.