Ed Koch died today, at the ripe old age of 88. We’re not going to lie, basically all of us are too young to have any kind of memories of the guy, outside of a cameo in the Muppets Take Manhattan or impressions gleaned from reading The Bronx is Burning. But surviving three terms as the mayor of New York is a goddamn miracle, and he embodied the spirit of New Yorkers as well as anyone, living on as a kind of unofficial mascot after his time at Gracie Mansion. And anyone who sticks up for New York with a quote like this:
“Have you ever lived in the suburbs? … It’s sterile. It’s nothing. It’s wasting your life, and people do not wish to waste their lives once they’ve seen New York! … This rural American thing — I’m telling you, it’s a joke.”
is alright by us. Hopefully they have pastrami on rye wherever he lands, or something decent to nosh on.
I am old enough to have lived under Ed Koch as mayor of New York. As a Bronx native I can’t say I have much respect for his tenure as mayor.
Tell us more, please. I wasn’t going to spout off about a subject I don’t know much about, at least when the person isn’t alive to defend themselves. But what didn’t you like about his time as mayor?