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I would nominate two people: Fiorello LaGuardia and Alexander Hamilton.
LaGuardia showed what a mayor can do to not only save but also transform a city. He helped wipe out large segments of organized crime, he built reasonably priced housing and worked with D.C. to make sure people had jobs here.
Hamilton was basically the architect of the US Economy. He believed in industrialization and the development of business while Jefferson was looking backwards at an Ancient Roman agricultural ideal based on slave labor. The Civil War was, basically, the triumph of Hamilton's system over Jefferson's as the south was forced to "get with the program" and this saw the USA skyrocket to world dominance.
I would also nominate Andrew H. Green - a city comptroller who helped initiate Central Park, The Metorpolitan Museum, Museum of Natural History etc., helped bring about the "unification" of the 5 boroughs into "New York City," and developed the quite effective grid system that helped Manhattan develop in a northerly fashion.
For worst New Yorker I would nominate Peter Stuyvesant - a tyrant who stifled diversity and religious freedom and Michael Bloomberg, a megalomaniacal billionaire who bought three elections but did nothing. He fiddled on his Caribbean paradise while NY went down the toilet. And I am tired of his disgustingly nasal voice and nasty attitude.
Too many good ones to count.
As for worst...at least ONE of the worst, I nominate Rudy Giuliani.
I remember him before 911.
Speaking of 911....
What did he do differently that any other mayor would have done on that day?
He realllllly needs to stop reminding us that he was mayor that day.
We get it.
Yes I can still remember him standing next to his great friend Bernie Kerik on that day, as firemen were dying because Giuliani never bothered getting them radios that worked properly.
Didn't care for Giuliani's tactics but his results in reducing crime cannot be ignored... He took our city that was in the toilets in the early 90s and completely changed that... Bloomberg simply followed what Giuliani had already been doing for years and a poor job at that as we are starting to see now with all the Police corruption that had been cleaned up a great deal when Giuliani was mayor...
Being young, I don't know a whole lot of historical figures to choose from.
As for best I'd have to pick LaGuardia. For the worst it's Bloomberg and--I'm shocked no one's mentioned him yet, even in just six posts--Robert Moses.
Too many good ones to count.
As for worst...at least ONE of the worst, I nominate Rudy Giuliani.
I remember him before 911.
Speaking of 911....
What did he do differently that any other mayor would have done on that day?
He realllllly needs to stop reminding us that he was mayor that day.
We get it.
Wow.... if you nominate Rudy Giuliani as one of the worst, where do you
put David Dinkins? I actually like Bloomberg the first term, but it
deteriorated with second term, and can't stand him the third term.
I would have to say john jay or lewis morris as the greatest new yorkers, I cant forget jane jacobs. The worse, probably jp morgan or al sharpton along with robert moses.
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Bernie Kerik
