I suppose you would have preferred another David Dinkins term. These guys were responsible for delivering 50,000 signatures for the liberal party line, which Rudy needed to add to his vote tally in order to win his first election. I haven't seen you out petitioning lately, but here is an update: there are WAY more registered DEMS in NYC than registered REPS, therefore we run our guys on various party lines to get as many votes as possible from registered voters. 2 Let's see: a second term dominated by firings/attrition of top staff, an obession with personal press at the expense of actually running the city, taking credit for the work of Jack Maple, getting bogged down in petty issues (the Virgin Mary fiasco, street vendors, etc>) at the expense of actually relieving property taxes or BO taxes, in all a total dereliction of duty that caused him to receive well deserved approval ratings in the area of 30%.
The late Jack Maple's anti-crime initiative was very effective...However, without Giuliani in office, it would have never been implemented. Do you truly believe Dinkins would have allowed it...PLEASE. He would have thrown Maple out on his ass. Giulani instead took the hits of being called a "racist" everyday for implementing that initiative. Maple was never in that crossfire. The "going down in a blaze of glory" campaign strategy simply doesn't work in NYC.
The Virgin Mary "fiasco". Gee, when the City Council has 47 liberal Dems and 3 republicans...guess what a GOP NYC mayor's veto power is on city funded art? Giuliani spoke out against it, but the city council will have the ultimate say...unfortunately.
Of course, a glorified stump speech in front of some burning buildings and all of a sudden he is Churchill. Puh-leeze.
Only a mayor who has supported the NYPD(Even when Cops were being attacked...which NEVER happened when a Dem mayor was in office) and the FDNY before and after 9/11 earned the respect of the bravest and finest. How often did he stand up for the NYPD when NO OTHER city official would.
But who knows? maybe you miss the triple x theaters and prostitutes who populated Times Sq. I guess it was Rudy's "incompetence" that got rid of them...huh? Maybe its the Squeege men who used to threaten my mother, that you miss?
Tax Hikes? I'll refer to Deroy Murdock here:
http://www.nationalreview.com/murdock/chart_murdock02-13-07.html
 |
|||||
| New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani's Fiscal Record: 1993-2001 | |||||
|
1993
|
2001
|
1993-2001
|
|||
| Murders |
1,927
|
618
|
-67.9%
|
||
| Overall crime |
430,460
|
155,414
|
-63.9%
|
||
| Vehicle thefts |
111,622
|
34,311
|
-69.3%
|
||
| Top personal-income-tax rate |
4.46%
|
3.54%
|
-20.6%
|
||
| Tax burden: Overall |
8.8%
|
7.3%
|
-17.0%
|
||
| Tax burden: Family of four earning $75,000 |
15.0%
|
12.1%
|
-19.3%
|
||
| Tax burden: Family of four earning $50,000 |
13.5%
|
10.3%
|
-23.7%
|
||
| Tax burden: Family of four earning $25,000 |
10.9%
|
7.2%
|
-33.9%
|
||
| Hotel-tax rate |
6.0%
|
5.0%
|
-16.7%
|
||
| Hotel-occupancy rate |
69.5%
|
84.6%
|
21.7%
|
||
| Hotel-tax revenue ($ millions) |
115
|
235
|
104.3%
|
||
| Commercial-rent tax for firms paying $250K+ in rent below Manhattan's 96th St. |
6.0%
|
3.9%
|
-35.0%
|
||
| Commercial-rent tax for all other firms elsewhere in New York City |
6.0%
|
0.0%
|
-100.0%
|
||
| Companies subject to commercial-rent tax |
80,000
|
5,000
|
-93.8%
|
||
| Commercial-rent tax revenue ($ millions) |
630
|
377
|
-40.2%
|
||
| Commercial carting costs ($/cubic yard) after crackdown on Mafia trash trucks |
14.20
|
7.70
|
-45.8%
|
||
| Average, annual growth in NYC inflation |
-
|
-
|
3.9%
|
||
| Average, annual growth in NYC government spending |
-
|
-
|
2.9%
|
||
| City-funded employees: Police - uniformed officers |
36,340
|
40,710
|
12.0%
|
||
| City-funded employees: Board of Education - pedagogues |
69,002
|
77,843
|
12.8%
|
||
| City-funded employees: All others |
117,494
|
97,338
|
-17.2%
|
||
| City-funded employees: Total |
222,836
|
215,891
|
-3.1%
|
||
| Children in foster care |
47,509
|
29,705
|
-37.5%
|
||
| Welfare recipients |
1,112,490
|
469,142
|
-57.8%
|
||
| Unsold, abandoned (In rem), city-owned housing units |
30,358
|
6,733
|
-77.8%
|
||
| Construction permits |
46,048
|
71,421
|
55.1%
|
||
| Unemployment rate |
10.4%
|
5.7%
|
-45.2%
|
||
| Private employment |
2,703,600
|
3,115,200
|
15.2%
|
||
| Personal income ($ billions) |
202.9
|
310.5
|
53.0%
|
||
| Population |
7,329,079
|
8,008,278
|
9.3%
|
||
| Sources: "Restoring Accountability to City Government"; Presentation by Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, December 19, 2001; http://www.nyc.gov/html/records/rwg/html/2001b/121901_files/frame.htm Preliminary Fiscal 2001 Mayor's Management Report (Summary Volume); http://www.nyc.gov/html/ops/downloads/pdf/2001_mmr/0201_summary.pdf Fiscal 2001 Mayor's Management Report (Agency Narratives); http://www.nyc.gov/html/ops/downloads/pdf/2001_mmr/0901_vol1.pdf Tax Rates and Tax Burdens in the District of Columbia: a Nationwide Comparison, 1993 and 2001 (Office of the Chief Financial Officer, Government of Washington, D.C.). New York City Department of Finance Note: Giuliani was the 107th mayor of the City of New York from January 1, 1994 to December 31, 2001. |
|||||
| Compiled by Deroy Murdock, contributing editor, National Review Online - February 13, 2007. | |||||