David N. Dinkins - Mayors Life

To my bride, Joyce.

Time passes but love endures.

D.N.D.

To Daniel

P.K.

Like many Americans, I have longed for the arrival of a heroic politician who could lead America to a better placea true servant leader whose interest is only to serve those who put him in office and who cares little about the next election or the next rung on the ladder of his political career. A person who has the perfect blend of character and humility, who is plainspoken, who is incapable of telling a falsehood. A person like David Dinkins, the 106th mayor of New York City, about whom I am honored to write this foreword.

Since Mayor Dinkins has covered his life story and remarkable political career in the pages of this book, I would like to comment on the man I came to know and admire after he left office. So first, a little story.

It was 5:00 pm on Saturday, May 18, 2013, when David Dinkins presided at the wedding of my assistant, Jeannie Santos, soon to be Mrs. Frank Zammataro. At eighty-five, he was in full voice and soon had the entire audience spellbound by his masterful delivery. I watched in awe as the former mayorgracious, respectful, and reverentialturned a civil ceremony into a spiritual event, reminding all in attendance that Gods wishes are that we humans get along.

Before and after the wedding ceremony, Mayor Dinkins conversed with nearly all of the 120 guests, with a look of joy and love in his eyes, charming everyone. These were not the actions of a politician who was used to working a room, but of a human being who was born to lead. Because I knew many of the people at the reception, and knew that most were Republicans, I could not help but marvel at how readily he won their hearts. Is it any wonder he became the first African American mayor of New York Citya city with a largely white population at that?

In 1993, several weeks after he lost his reelection bid, I had lunch with Mayor Dinkins in midtown. Although he was still smarting from his narrow loss, he seemed more concerned about how I was doing than interested in answering my questions about his future. The only thing I know for sure, he said, was that, on January 1, Ill be out of work, so Ill need a job to support my family. How could this be, I wondered? Didnt all ex-mayors and ex-politicians get taken care of, and didnt many of them become fabulously rich after leaving office?

From then until now, I have spent a good deal of time with Mr. Mayor, prodding him to write this important book and assisting him in the process. During this time I have become convinced that his portrayal in the mainstream media has been largely at odds with the facts.

To begin with, New York City was not the crime-infested capital of the world under David Dinkins, as has been proposed by his successor, Rudy Giuliani. This widely accepted myth, which was used by Giuliani as fodder for his presidential campaign, did as much to malign the law-abiding citizens of our great city as it did to damage the reputation of Mayor Dinkins.

The truth be told, crime had reached historic highs during the last term of Ed Koch, which carried over to Dinkinss first year in office. Racial tensions, too, had reached a boiling point well before Mayor Dinkins took the oath of office. Moreover, the entire nation experienced surging crime rates that ultimately resulted in what is popularly known as the federal Crime Bill, which was signed into law in 1994 by President Clinton. Exacerbating the problem, weakening city finances and a national economic downturn conspired to cut social service expenditures at a time when they were needed most, and a tragedy such as the Crown Heights riot was an accident waiting to happen.

As I like to say, they didnt exactly lay out a welcome mat for this proud veteran of the United States Marine Corps. And yes, they also didnt know how tough he was.

As you will see as you read this book, two things David Dinkins does not tolerate are violence and lawlessness. While some in the media grudgingly regarded him as courtly and civil, from his first day in office to his last, critics insisted he be tougher on crime, yet never gave him credit for actually doing something about it.

In point of fact, crime began dropping at a faster rate during Mayor Dinkinss tenure than during any other time in the history of New York City, and has continued to do so up to the present. In fact, it was Mayor Dinkins who hired five thousand new cops despite the budget deficit he inherited, and it was he who initiated the Safe Streets, Safe City program, which took police out of their cars and put them on the streetsthe one policing strategy that many experts credit as actually being effective in combating crime. In fact, those initiatives combined to bring about a rapid drop of crime and put the city well on a path to being among the nations safest.

Need I mention that it was David Dinkins who promoted Ray Kelly to the position of police commissioner?

In line with his abhorrence of crime and lawlessness, Mayor Dinkins also had zero tolerance for white-collar crime and political malfeasance of any sort. As a result, his administration did not have a single scandal or indictment handed down to any of its members, while those of his predecessor produced many. In fact, the team he put together to run the city government consisted of some of the most competent and public-spirited individuals ever assembled by any administration. And yes, they represented his gorgeous mosaic, a blend of men and women, whites, blacks, Hispanics, Asians, Christians, Jews, and nonbelievers.

Perhaps the greatest disservice to Mayor Dinkinss reputation was the furor over building a new stadium for the US Tennis Open, which was named for one of the greatest tennis players of all time. How dare he spend millions of taxpayers money? came the hue and cry. Why was it named after Arthur Ashe? Who other than Mayor Dinkins really cares about tennis?

Well, as it turns out, the investment has produced by some estimates more than $1 billion in revenue for New York City since the stadium was completed, and tennis is now widely recognized as a national sport. Arthur Ashe was the Jackie Robinson of tennis, his legacy lives on, and not solely because a black mayor chose to honor him. Yet we still havent heard a single accolade for Dinkinss vision, and the stadium remains widely derided, most recently because we didnt spend even more money to include a retractable dome!

Sometime in the near future we may well build a new domed stadium. In my view, it should be named after David Dinkins. However, knowing him as I do, I can say that he would never consider such a gesture.

Today Mayor Dinkins is leading a wholesome and productive life. A professor of public policy at Columbia University and, as always, a man about town, he enjoys a popularity that speaks volumes about his place in New York Citys history. He remains both thankful and humbled to have had the privilege to serve as mayor of the greatest city in the world.

He is equally thankful, perhaps, for the years he served as city clerk, about which he writes, The part of the job I most enjoyed was presiding over the citys Marriage Bureau. The city clerk can preside over marriage ceremonies, and I took the opportunity as often as I could. I had a convocation ready to go at any moment, adaptable to whomever was celebrating their happy day:

We are here to participate in and witness the sacred ceremony of marriage which has been, since the time of the first born, a means of establishing and continuing a home. For it is by this act that the community endures.