3 thoughts on “Edward Koch, 1924-2013

  1. Sad to see him go..I liked his style and I respected his sincerity..and I loved his “How’m I doing”?.. He was a true New Yawker.

  2. I lived in NYC during the Koch and Dinkins years.

    And oh my, was Ed Koch was an egomaniac – extraordinaire.

    I can remember, he not only had his voice recorded for use in taxi cabs, but in street-sweepers.

    On the mornings when ‘opposite side of the street parking’ applied, if there were still cars on the wrong side of the street, the street-sweepers began a recording of an every more loud, every more NYie-accented Koch, saying, “Move Ya Cah… MOVE… YAH… CAH! MOOOVE!… YAAAH!!… CAAAAAAAAAH!!!”
    Over, and over again.

    And people would scurry out, just to shut-up the recording.
    You didn’t need an alarm clock most mornings, if you didn’t need to get up earlier than 6:30 to 7 am. I don’t care how hungover you were, there was not way anyonce could sleep through that cacophony!

    I saw one guy punch another one outside my apartment in Astoria, because the other guy was very late in coming for his car, and the damn street-sweeper kept the damn recording going, getting louder and louder.
    After the pther guy finally ran out and moved his car, the guy who waited around started yelling at him, then walked up, and punched him right in the face!

    The other guy did nothing, since he knew the whole block hated his feckin’ guts for subjecting them to Koch’s recorded voice screaming at them that early in the morning.

    Ah, NY!

    Sometimes I loved Ol’ Ed, sometimes I couldn’t stand him. But most of times, I just had to laugh with him, or at him.
    Dinkins wasn’t much of a Mayor, either. His lone marker, is the least customer friendly tennis stadium in the world – and eye-sore. And let’s not even speak of Guliani – though, I had moved out right before he got elected.

    But, love Koch, hate him, or be lukewarm about him, he was entertaining, ya gotta say that for him!

  3. Well, I lived in the city during the Dinkins and Giuliani years. Dinkins may not have been much of a mayor, but he was a good guy. Giuliani was well the second coming of Koch in many ways. And Koch, well, this article in the Nation captures his considerable shortcomings!

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