POV

KOCH

Whenever I would fly home, especially if it was at night, there was the city of New York laid out before me. And I thought to myself... this belongs to me. It's extraordinary. Thank you, God.

Chuckles

Chanting "Throw the bums out!"

KOCH

Ed Koch! Ed Koch! Former mayor of New York City! I'm Ed Koch. Remember me?

Crowd cheering

MAN

We all know you!

KOCH

Do you remember me fondly?

CROWD

Yes! Okay. I am here for Michele Adolphe. Yes, and this is our opportunity to take back the Assembly!

Cheering

CROWD

And throw the bums out!

Cheering

Chanting "Throw the bums out"

CROWD

Gotta go! Bye-bye! Good morning. I'm Ed Koch and I'm running for mayor, and I need your help. How am I doing?

MAN

Here was a guy who really represented the rough-and-tumble of New York. And he was just haunted and damned by one hell of a personality.

WOMAN

Today we're going to be voting on a number of important resolutions. We are calling on NASA to retire a space shuttle to New York City. Also, today, we will be voting on legislation to co-name the Queensboro Bridge as the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge. Ed Koch has a claim to being one of the greatest mayors in the history of this city. And I haven't forgotten what this city once was and how we got back to being a great city.

MAN

He really was a hero here in New York. For the work he did as mayor, but even before that, serving in World War II as a distinguished Army sergeant. Ed Koch is the consummate New Yorker. He tells it like it is, he calls it the way he sees it, and he knows a wacko when he sees one as well. Thank you. Y'all got to be kidding, a bridge named after Ed Koch. This is the not the Ed Koch that the black community knows. It's the Ed Koch that every time we asked for something, he said, "I will not be intimidated." And then he asked the rest of you, "How am I doing?" This is a tale of two cities. Maybe that's how he was for the white part of this city, but for blacks, Ed Koch was our nemesis. This is a disgrace to have a bridge named after Ed Koch. I vote no, unequivocally, absolutely no! Dromm? -Aye on all. Eugene? -Aye. Chin?

I vote no. MAN

Crowley?

Aye on all. MAN

Ferreras?

Aye on all. MAN

Garodnick?

No. MAN

Ignizio?

IGNIZIO

Aye on all.

MAN

Koppell?

KOPPELL

Aye on all.

MAN

Mendez?

MENDEZ

Aye on all.

MAN

Rose?

ROSE

No.

MAN

Barron?

BARRON

No.

MAN

Vann?

VANN

No. Ahhhh Watch out You might get what you're after Cool babies

MAN

New York City, where one out of every 25 Americans lives, faces a financial showdown. I am prepared to veto any bill that has as its purpose a federal bailout of New York City to prevent a default. We're in for nasty weather There has got to be a way Burnin' down the house! In 1977, this city was on the balls of its ass. The city was on the verge of bankruptcy.

Siren wails

MAN

Crime was enormous. Businesses were leaving, families were leaving. Anybody who could leave would. We had Son of Sam tormenting, terrorizing the city.

LaCICERO

Kids didn't want to go out because of this nut running around shooting people. Mayor Beame! You're in like Flynn. You hear what I said? You're in like Flynn! Abe Beame is an incompetent mayor. He can't run a second-class candy store. Nice to say hello. How am I doing? Thank you.

KOCH

I knew that the city was in dire peril when I ran. I also knew that of all those who were running or thinking of running, I knew more than they did. How am I doing?

MAN

Not too well.

Koch chuckles

MAN

Can't win 'em all.

WOMAN

Koch started out as, if not the underdog, one of the underdogs. He was this little-known congressman and he wasn't given a chance. He kind of had a shrill voice, he was kind of a little funny-looking, and there were a lot of stars in that race.

Drums beating

MAN

The '77 race had seven candidates, the best and brightest of New York. It had Bella Abzug, congresswoman and champion of women's rights.

KOCH

Bella Abzug is absolutely nuts. And I say that lightly and politely. I don't mean exactly nuts.

ARZT

There was Percy Sutton. Black borough president of Manhattan.

CUOMO

You've got to give their children education, you've got to give them housing...

ARZT

And Mario Cuomo, who was Ed Koch's bte noire.

KOCH

Mario Cuomo doesn't know the issues. And he doesn't really want to be mayor. Can I say hello?

LaCICERO

The polls show we're around fifth or fourth. And then one night...

Horns blaring

Sirens wailing

At a little after 9

00 on a weekday night, New York had a massive citywide blackout.

Sirens wailing

At a little after 9

Within 15 minutes, people were flooding into the streets, breaking into stores. And you had an epidemic of arson. Just really total anarchy. Suddenly, this liberal city... broke.

KOCH

How could the mayor stand by and allow the situation to develop? It was the obligation of the mayor of this city to call for reinforcements, and that happens to be the National Guard. There is no excuse for looting, and I hope you agree with me on that.

MAN

Yeah, in a way I do.

Not in a way

You should say, "I agree with you." Not in a way, but completely.

PURNICK

It was quite close between Cuomo and Koch, and along comes David Garth, Ed Koch's political consultant. David Garth said to Ed Koch, "You have to take that mouth of yours and you got to block it." "I don't want you telling any jokes. Two anecdotes, that's all you're allowed." -The best. -Ha ha ha ha! "Just be substantive. Don't lose your temper." Meanwhile, Cuomo was getting angrier and angrier and he was shouting about the deals that Koch was making to get support.

MAN ON LOUDSPEAKER

Vote for Mario Cuomo!

MAN

Mario appeared to have the ability to speak to Manhattan liberals and to blacks and Latinos. But Ed Koch checkmated him. He proved a master political player. And he systematically went around and picked off key constituencies. A very important issue for those of us in Harlem at least at that time was a hospital that was very close to our community, Sydenham Hospital. There were reports about it closing and it was in trouble. Koch made it clear he needs us and he agreed to work with us to keep it open.

KOCH

Some people talk about bringing people together, and other people do it. I'm happy to be the one who does it.

MAN

One night we drive out to Meade Esposito's mother's house in Canarsie.

POWELL

Meade Esposito was the political boss of Brooklyn, with an ability to deliver many tens of thousands of votes.

LaCICERO

We walk in the door and he said, "I don't want anything. You're my guy. Sit down and have meatballs."

POWELL

Meade says, brilliantly, in almost a scene out of a movie, you know, "What do I want? Let's not worry about what I want."

MAN

Ed Koch is on the precipice of becoming mayor. It's narrowed to just him and Mario. Mario would appear to be the natural candidate of Meade Esposito -- two Italians, two outer borough guys. Mario doesn't make the deal, Ed Koch makes the deal.

WOMAN

Mrs. Cuomo, what's been the toughest part for you?

MRS. CUOMO

Oh, keeping check on the children and making sure they're all back in bed at night and safe and sound.

MARIO

Which wasn't easy this morning because one of them was out postering and just got home. -Do you know who I am? -Yes. -Am I gonna get your help? -Yes.

KOCH

Thank you!

WOMAN

Why have you never married? Well, I've always thought, wouldn't it be wonderful to be married in Gracie Mansion? There was a sense of momentum building in that campaign. At the same time as the momentum was building, so did the rumors about Ed being gay.

LaCICERO

There were signs in all the trains -- "Vote for Cuomo, not the homo." We knew it was the Cuomo campaign. We'll try not to disappoint you.

KOCH

In fact, on the last weekend of the campaign, I called Mario myself, and I said, "You have to do something," and he said, "Oh, my God!" You know, angry that it was -- but nothing was done. We want Koch! We have Koch! -We have Koch! -We got him! We don't know who the undecideds are.

MAN

David Garth came to a rapid conclusion that Koch was going to be defeated because of the gay issue. So he came up with the concept of having Bess Myerson paired with Ed. Our love is here to stay

WOMAN

Bess Myerson was the first Jewish Miss America. She was an absolutely stunning woman. Almost six feet tall. To be real She was glamorous. Very well spoken.

MYERSON

Mario Cuomo has turned his campaign into a series of personal attacks on Ed Koch. What happened to character, Mr. Cuomo? We thought your campaign would be better than that.

MAN

They were seen in public frequently holding hands, looking like love birds.

WOMAN

Which began to raise a lot of questions. What is going on here? Will they marry?

KOCH

What a question! She is the first lady, so far as I'm concerned in this campaign.

MAN

It was a stroke of genius. It was also extraordinarily deceptive. Soo-hoo soo-hoo soo-hoo

KOCH

We were never going to be married. We were never going to be lovers. We were very good friends. And she was a good friend to have in that situation. I've got to have it, baby

Crowd cheering

Whistles and applause

PROTESTORS

Boo to Ed Koch! Boo to Ed Koch! Boo to Ed Koch! Boo to Anthony Miranda!

MIRANDA

This reform movement, we can't let it stop now. Every citizen, every person in our community understands that we need a change and real reform. We need honest redistricting. Go back to where you came from!

KOCH

You find out has the candidate signed the redistricting pledge? And if they have not, throw the bum out!

Crowd chanting: "Throw the bums out!"

KOCH

I don't like crowds. I never go to big parties. But I decided early on, you have to get the attention of the public. You've got to get them to follow you. And you can only do that by being bigger than life. This is amazing. It shows that they're frightened. Thank you again and good luck. It's theatrics. Goodbye! Everybody has a role. So as long as you understand that role, you're not gonna get mad.

Crowd booing

KOCH

Thank you! The legislators are scared to death now. I believe they're looking to have Andrew Cuomo lead them. In fact, I sort of intimated that on the phone to him when he called me about an hour ago.

Applause

MAN

Mayor Koch -- I don't even know where to begin -- It is a personal honor to have the endorsement of Mayor Koch. I grew up watching and admiring Mayor Koch. I've been inspired by him. Been in campaigns where we've been defeated by him.

KOCH

I had, for a very long time, animus towards both Mario and Andrew Cuomo because I believed that they were responsible for those signs. -Mayor. -Yes.

MAN

What, if anything, is different about the Andrew Cuomo standing next to you today?

KOCH

He's older. I'm grayer. Let me just say this. When you're involved in a primary, do you have feelings of anger on both sides? Always! A primary is like a civil war. There's nothing like it. But it's over! Home is living like a man on the run Trains leading nowhere, Where to, my son? We're already dead But not yet in the ground Come on, shake my helping hand... When I came into office, in addition to terrible conditions of crime, graffiti, there was a sense of shame, that the center of the world, so far as I was concerned, that we were now beggars. Going down today to make out our case.

MAN

Ed Koch had to go to Washington to convince the Feds -- Congress, especially -- that he would cut the payroll, cut the budget, and get the city up off the ground again. There were serious arguments that the city should declare bankruptcy so it could free itself of a lot of its obligations and start fresh.

KOCH

I am not for bankruptcy. I will take every effort that's within my power to prevent it. And there will be massive layoffs in order to keep our budget going. It was my job to convince the Congress and that committee that we were worth saving. We have not come for a handout. We're not asking you for a grant. We are imposing management standards... If they gave us federal loan guarantees, that would allow us to restructure debt and a whole host of things. Senator, you are in error on that. If they're working productively only half the time, you can fire half of them. It's simple arithmetic, and get the same amount of work done. -Why not? -Senator. The city of New York does not have a Berlin Wall around it, and the middle class that make it possible to pay for the services, that provide not only their genius, their expertise, but the tax dollars, they will go across the river. And I know, Senator Heinz, you would not want to participate in that, that being one of the areas that they might go to. If you'll lend us that statue that says, "Give us your tired, your poor..." We may have to sell that statue.

Laughter

MAN

What Ed Koch did when he got back to New York was what really made it all work. He showed that the city could be governed, the city could survive. Yes, we're gonna need help, but we're gonna do it ourselves. We bit the bullet the last two contracts. Now the city want us to bite the bullet for the third time. Hell no! So here we are in 1980, and the Transit Union goes on strike. And Ed Koch did something unique. The municipal unions are enormously powerful in New York. They have broken more than one mayor.

Crowds jeering

MAN

The assumption was, because you bring the city to a halt, that mayors capitulate. Koch said no.

KOCH

In the past, the city was a pushover. And you know that. Bob McGuire was the police commissioner. He says, "Let's

meet tomorrow morning at 5

30 to see where we are." Next morning we go to the police commissioner's office down at the Brooklyn Bridge. McGuire is talking to the 10 people that we brought in there, the deputy mayors, commissioners who were relevant. And I'm very nervous and I'm pacing. I look out the window and it overlooks the Brooklyn Bridge. I see thousands of people walking across the bridge. And I say to Bob, "I'm going to go downstairs." I didn't say why. There are lots of reporters, and they follow me as I walk towards the Brooklyn Bridge. Then, as I get onto the bridge, it was like a dybbuk took over, and I started to yell, "Keep walking! Keep walking over the bridge! We're not gonna let these bastards bring us to our knees!" Thank you! I really appreciate your coming to work like this. I gotta go to work to Yonkers!

Whistle blows

OFFICER

Anybody for 28th Street?

MAN

What is the single biggest factor for it being more smooth than '66? Well, there's a different mayor, firstly, isn't that so?

Blows whistle

MAN

We're not gonna take the crap of a couple of wackos! New York was a city that was not just broke, it was depressed. Off to work! And here comes Koch, who was a real cheerleader for the city. And he sort of had the attitude of, "You don't have to just roll over and play dead." This is the Big Apple. This is New York.

KOCH

Don't stop, otherwise I'm gonna have to give you a ticket! -Okay? Am I doing all right? -Oh, great. Hi, everybody! Thank you!

MAN

The strike is over! I'm gonna see my girlfriend. Haven't seen her for two weeks. I've been walking too long! He was very comfortable saying no. And it was a word that most New Yorkers had not heard before.

CROWD

We're fired up, won't take no more!

KOCH

In a calmer atmosphere, there will be a clearer understanding of why the city has chosen to close Sydenham, the smallest, most costly, and least effective of the city's 17 municipal hospitals.

McCALL

That seemed like a real betrayal. Here's something that was a very specific commitment that we felt we had. What about if you're lying in bed? Can you lie flat?

ROBERTS

On a purely fiscal basis there was no reason to keep it open. Except that when black doctors couldn't get a job anywhere else in the city, they were hired at Sydenham in Harlem.

WOMAN

Sydenham used to be a kind of hospital that really inspired people.

MAN

It was just insensitive to the needs of the community. Housing was deteriorating, crime was escalating, and now this guy comes in and he seems not to listen.

KOCH

Do you think that I should give in to symbolism and throw away $9 million in desperately needed medical dollars for a symbol? Mayor Wagner and John Lindsay and Abe Beame. Every one of them had said they were going to close the hospital and they didn't. And they didn't out of fear, that's what I was told, fear that they would anger the black community. And I said, "That's no way to be mayor."

RANGEL

If you really believe this is going to hurt you in terms of your very life and health care, and if you believe that someone's just in your face, it is just so easy to build up a feeling of, "He is against us no matter what we do."

KOCH

I think that there is a great deal of ill will and distrust simply because I happen to be white. No question about that. And that many of the people resent the fact that Percy Sutton, who is black and who is running for mayor, lost.

CONNELLY

His thing was, "I am not the punching bag. I'm not a pillow. I give as good as I get." And I said, "But you're just, you're making an issue." At a certain point, he wouldn't say anything, he'd just go like this. Like, enough.

MAN

No longer can Mayor Koch go asking the question, "How am I doing?" The answer is, "You're not doing well." You're a racist and the people know it. I am not a racist. But I'm never going to be deterred from doing my job because of false charges.

ARZT

Closing down Sydenham was something that his administration never got over.

Crowd jeering

KOCH

I made a mistake, a terrible mistake, which was very costly in terms of support, and I'm sorry I did it. I should have given in for the same... terror...

chuckles

KOCH

that the three mayors before me had given in, and then there would have been no problem.

ARZT

Racial politics was not one of the high points of Ed Koch's record. There was something missing. There was some synapse that wasn't there. My question is not being answered!

KOCH

You have to understand, it makes no difference at all whether you shout or not. You have to understand that. It doesn't move me. It doesn't change me.

Crowd jeering

MAN

Somebody asked me if Ed Koch was a racist. And I thought about Ed Koch. I thought about his pandering to the white ethnics, I thought about his refusal to admit that his police were brutal and ugly. I thought about his confrontation, particularly with African-American leaders. And I watched him do some things that made the Jewish community angry, made other people angry -- and used people. So, when I thought about that, they said, "Is he a racist?" I said, "He's worse than a racist," I said, "he's an opportunist."

KOCH

I take about 10 pills, uh, every day. Remember, I had a stroke and a heart attack and a quadruple bypass. Ain't bad for one guy.

TV playing

KOCH

Stable rules, a stable economy... I was 7 years old when we moved from the Bronx to Newark. And we moved because my father, who was a furrier, made fur coats -- Obviously, nobody was buying fur coats in the Depression. We were fortunate that my mother's brother owned or rented a dance parlor. I don't know what they called them. And auditoriums, and they had plays, and it had a hat check concession. And he gave the hat check concession to my father and mother. They worked very hard. And my brother worked, and I worked. I was maybe 10 or 11 when I went to work. And I would say, "Please, don't forget the hat check boy." We worked on tips. So did many. People, if they were generous, would leave a dime. But I never forgot it. Because I thought it was sad for my mother to have to work that way. I was standing on the corner of Bleecker and MacDougal Wondering which way to go

WOMAN

I met Ed Koch in the village in 1960. The Village Independent Democrats, which was our local Reformed Democratic club.

LaCICERO

Some people in the club felt that he wasn't liberal enough for them, which drove him crazy. When he ran for assembly, you know what his issues were? Abortion, sodomy and divorce. You couldn't get an abortion. Divorce, you couldn't get, and sodomy, forget about it. He lost.

KOCH

I'm Edward Koch, sir, and I'm running for the district leadership.

KOVNER

In those days, we would be at the club till, oh,

11

00, 30 at night. We'd be working away. He'd go down to the news stand in Sheridan Square and come up with the newspapers. You'd ask him what's going on, "nothing." "What do you mean, nothing?" "Well, I didn't make the paper." That's kind of the way he was.

WOMAN

I started working for Ed Koch in 1971 on Capitol Hill. When he was a relatively new congressman. My mother, who was really sharp, sent me a clipping from the New York Times about Ed Koch. She wrote across the top, "This man is a comer. You should go work for him."

KOCH

What else? Good.

COFFEY

He was very demanding as a boss.

KOCH

I'm glad you called to tell me you liked the column.

COFFEY

But he gave you enormous flexibility. If you saw something that you thought should be done, he'd say, "Okay, go do it. Just keep me informed." Just tell me. I want no surprises."

Utensil tapping glass

KOCH

Everybody talks about the need to reform the dysfunctional state legislature. It used to be, 20, 30 years ago, if you had a dinner conversation, it was, "Are you under rent control? If so, what's your rent?" And maybe 10 years before that, it was, "Are you in analysis?" Okay. Yes.

WOMAN

We can not, for the life of us, figure out why you endorsed Dan Donovan today.

KOCH

Why do you think I shouldn't have endorsed him?

WOMAN

Because he is anti-choice. He is against a woman's right to choose. All right, let's stop with that. I don't exclude from public life people who disagree with me on matters of conscience. They have a right to run. And people have to fight to keep the right of abortion. I know it's terribly important because my mother told me that she almost died because she had an illegal abortion. And it happens, when it comes to the attorney general, he doesn't even vote on abortion! You are indeed wrong about the attorney general.

KOCH

I don't agree with you with you. I believe --

WOMAN

It's not a matter of agreement. -They're facts. -I don't agree with you. You undoubtedly, as I am, support same-sex marriage, am I correct? Okay, but did you know the president doesn't? I do.

KOCH

You're not for throwing the president out, are you? -Yes or no? -No. -No. All right, next question. Next! Ooh It's so good, it's so good, it's so good It's so good, it's so good

MAN

Here in New York for Mayor Koch, it was an easy victory, a landslide, really, with the mayor making an historic appearance on both the Democratic and Republican lines. Thank you! Thank you! He gets something like 75%, 80% of the vote. It's more of a coronation than it is an election. I feel love He's really at the top of his game. He's a national figure. What he says matters on everything. Even foreign policy.

Koch laughs, camel groans

MAN

How am I doing? -You're doing great! -Thank you! You know the story, when I was in Reagan's car? Suddenly, he says, "Look! Look! That guy gave me the finger! Look!" I mean, he's absolutely beside himself. I say, "Mr. President, one guy gives you the finger. All these others, thousands of them, are cheering you! Who cares that he gave you the finger?" He said, "That's what Nancy always says. I only see the guy with the finger."

Chuckles

MAN

What a lovely feeling Knowing I'm the mayor Koch just absolutely dominated the city at that time. The winna!

POWELL

He was quick on his feet, he was funny. He wrote books. There's a musical. Sure, the job gets manic One day blacks berate me But I never panic

MAN

He had an insatiable hunger for the camera.

BARRETT

If they can keep a camera on him in the operating room, he will never die. So why do I do it? -How am I doing?! I don't know the answer -Thank you. Maybe 'cause the city's like a wife

KOCH

Shut up, will ya, and let me talk to these people? Will you be quiet? Will you take a picture with me? Being mayor That's my life

POWELL

In the 1980s, New York was a city revived. You had Wall Street coming back. Night clubs. A whole sense of Manhattan as pulsating and a place you had to be. At the same time, you had the day-to-day reality of New York City. You had homelessness nationwide, but nowhere more than in New York. People who had been in mental institutions and then emptied out onto the street.

MAN

In the 1980s, if Times Square was a window on New York, in capital letters it said "DECADENCE." There were scores of porn shops in the Crossroads of the World.

Alarms chirping

MAN

200 police officers were assigned to the area and made no dent in one of the worst crime rates in the city. So it was decided that the only thing that would work would be large-scale government intervention. Ed Koch was really the first mayor to say, "We've got to look at this in a broader context and can't just rely on law enforcement." Ultimately, the city, working with the state, decided to condemn most of the buildings on 42nd Street, preserve the theaters in the midblock, and initially to build a merchandise mart and a hotel. Is it surprising to you when you see Times Square today?

KOCH

No. This is exactly what the plan said it would be. Doesn't surprise me. The lighting had to be the best technology from Japan. And everything on the ground floor had to be active, inviting people to come in. There were deep subsidies to get developers to come in and take a chance on this project. He became a very pro-business mayor, which upset a lot of his liberal friends who thought he was giving the city away to real estate interests.

WOMAN

I'm not blight. My neighbors aren't blight. The people who live in Clinton are not blight. We know that the ultimate purpose of that project is to get rid of poor people in Midtown Manhattan, and we're not leaving.

KOCH

We had to defend and win 47 lawsuits -- every one that was brought. When we started with 42nd Street, the one block brought in $5 million taxes annually. And we said it should bring in $800 million. And you use those monies to provide services for poor people. But the nuts don't understand that. I've never been to a Red Lobster before.

ROBERTS

There weren't many democratic mayors who realized they had to be now fiscal conservatives and social liberals, and that was Ed Koch. He described himself as a "liberal with sanity."

POWELL

In the 1970s and early 1980s, you had waves of arson that swept over the South Bronx, over Brooklyn, over parts of Queens, and in Harlem.

MAN

The South Bronx looked like Dresden after the war. You could drive for blocks and see only shells. The city put up these famous decals on the houses across the Bronx, pictures of cats in the windows, but of course there was nothing behind it, it was a shell.

BARRETT

For decades, this was a federal responsibility. Ronald Reagan was killing housing programs across the United States. They were funded at a fraction now. MAN,

TAPPING TENT

Let's go, the rangers is here, y'all. Come on, man, you gotta get up.

WOMAN

The issue of affordable housing was considered the number one problem in New York. Families were living in tiny hotel rooms in deplorable conditions. The streets were lined with homeless.

Crowd chanting: "We want housing!"

KOCH

You know, these editorials, day after day. One day, I said, "Let's build houses! We'll give them to the homeless. I'll teach the New York Times what it costs." That... irrational, I mean, I was so fed up. The program I'm proposing today will build housing. It will preserve and upgrade neighborhoods. It will provide over 20,000 new construction jobs annually.

POWELL

Koch says, "Look, we have now the ability to reenter the bond market, to access the hundreds of millions of dollars needed to take on a rebuilding that is without precedent in American history."

MICHETTI

At one point, under the Koch 10-year plan, the city was spending more than the next largest 50 cities combined.

MAN

Ed Koch is just the third mayor in this century elected to a third term.

KOCH

This inaugural ceremony is special for me. And I promise you it will be just as special on the fourth, fifth, and sixth occasions!

Applause

MAN

Political news this week was dominated by the so-called "Ground Zero Mosque," the proposed Islamic Community Center being developed in a former discount clothing store two blocks from New York's hallowed Ground Zero.

Dogs barking

MAN

How are you? How are you, sweetheart? Hello. -How are you? -And where is the grandmother? Hiya. Had another thing taken off? Yeah, another thing. Why not?

Indistinct conversation

MAN

How was your fast, easy?

KOCH

It was a very easy fast. It was easy for me, too.

WOMAN

Did you give your sermon? Uh, I did. It was really good, if I say so myself. -Which I generally do. -Which you generally do, right. I talked about the mosque. Oh, that was timely. Timely, right?

MAN

Rabbi also last night talked about the mosque, and he talked about how --

KOCH

Oh! Mwah! -Mwah! -What happened to your head? It's a basal cell. Everybody gets it. When you're 85, you'll get it, too. That's a long, long time. It's a long time! It's a long time. I said the First Amendment guarantee. On the other hand, sensitivity is involved. And then I closed -- I thought it was very effective -- and I said, "Yes, they have a right. And we have a right to protest. And I protest." Rather dramatic, no?

MAN

Our rabbi was talking about how there were many states where Jews couldn't build synagogues until like mid-1800s and was kind of making the analogy between the two. Well, what is he saying? That they have a right to do it. They have the right. It's just insensitive. You don't think it's insensitive? Not at all. How far do you got to go, how far away? 10 blocks, 20 blocks... No, I don't think anywhere in the area. Would you want people to tell you where you can build a synagogue? I don't. Look, near 3,000 people were murdered. -Including Muslims. -Innocent people. -Near 3,000. -No one disputes that. And the people who murdered them were 19 Muslims. Uh, that doesn't mean that most Muslims are murderers, they aren't. -But a significant number -- -How far do you gotta go? Just a minute -- a significant number are supporters of that murder.

WOMAN

We can all agree that it's insensitive.

I don't agree. WOMAN

Well, to some people.

WOMAN

Most people feel it.

MAN

And it's a loosely veiled support for anti-Muslim sentiment.

KOCH

Well -- -You're wrong.

MAN

Jon's right, you're wrong. Okay, let's go.

Laughter

MAN

Baruch Atah Adonai Eloheinu Melech ha-Olam Asher kid'shanu b'mitzvotav V'tzivanu L'hadlik neir Shel Yom Tov I like salt bagels.

Overlapping table talk

MAN

It's on my fork. It's smoked salmon.

KOCH

It's delicious!

MAN

In his third term, this is where the tide turned on him. The third term began with the beginnings of a breathtaking municipal scandal.

Police radio

MAN

It began as a routine traffic stop, but the driver of the car was the Queens Borough president, a close friend and political ally of New York Mayor Edward Koch. When police found him, he was bleeding from a slashed wrist and ankle. Donald Manes, who was the Queens Democratic leader and a very powerful political figure in New York tried to commit suicide.

WOMAN

Mayor Koch paid an early morning visit to the hospital and at that time speculated that Manes' liquid diet might have led to the slashed wrists. You never heard of these liquid diets, they kill ya?

MAN

It quickly became apparent that Rudolph Giuliani, the federal prosecutor, had been onto a vast corruption scheme that Manes had been part of. Assuming that all the charges are true and they are, as you said, credible, do you feel a sense of betrayal here? I feel violated. I feel as though a friend had assaulted me physically. Mr. Manes, can you tell me your thoughts on Mayor Koch's comments regarding your... I've been advised by my doctors to give no interviews, so I think I'll follow their advice, if it's all right. Are you going to go and talk to the authorities, sir? Are you going to talk to the authorities soon, Mr. Manes? Is there anything about the wound? One wound that went between the ribs, into the heart. Apparently self-inflicted, and that's all we can tell at this preliminary stage. Was Mr. Manes on any medications? The whole thing unraveled very quickly. Giuliani was very aggressive about it. The Parking Violations Bureau, Director Lester Shafran, forced out. The number-two man arrested by the FBI for allegedly taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes. It was phony contracts, bid rigging, real estate was involved. It was extraordinary corruption that we have not seen anything like it since.

BARRETT

The Parking Violations Bureau always remained the core of the scandal, but agency after agency after agency, you would find tentacles.

MAN

There are those who say that you went to Meade Esposito, for example, in '77 and said, "Meade, I'll give you the patronage in exchange for your support in the mayoral runoff against Mario Cuomo." It's an absolute lie. Who told you that? He started as this legendary reformer, talking about county leaders -- the Donald Maneses and the Stanley Friedmans and the Meade Espositos -- that these were the bad guys, and yet he embraced the bad guys. It was the way to get elected -- it worked. He got the backing of the bosses, and you can draw a straight line to the corruption that happens seven, eight, nine years later with some of those same people.

WOMAN

You're saying that because you appoint the commissioners but have absolutely nothing to do, by choice, with the people below them, that you have no responsibility? I never said that at all. I do have responsibility. -But it's a different kind. -What is the responsibility? I'm going to tell you. It sounded like you were deliberately passing a blind eye on something because you have no responsibility. Then I may be inarticulate, because that's not what I intended to convey.

KOCH

I went into a state of depression. I thought to myself, what will people think? Will they think I was a crook? I can't bare that! I mean, I know I'm certainly one of the most honest people that's ever held this position. But what will people think?

PURNICK

He was never accused and it was never proven, and I don't think anyone believes that he was personally involved in corruption. But he does have a very big ego. -Hello. -How are you doing, Mr. Koch? Good, thank you.

MAN

It was his comeuppance. He had been the king on the hill, he had been invincible, and suddenly now his government looked as corrupt as any government ever had. This was what he had worked his whole life for. And I think he saw it all in danger of slipping away. I'll start with you, Mr. Mayor.

Muffled dialogue

MAN

Koch said he set up the new office to, quote, "enhance an already strong relationship between my administration and gay and lesbian New Yorkers," end quote. Now, let us celebrate together tonight the end of the last day on which Ed Koch can tell himself that the communities which are being decimated by this epidemic are so weak that he can keep serving us this kind of bull. Tomorrow morning, he will begin to learn the truth.

CROWD

Act up, stand tall! It's time to march on City Hall! Act up, stand tall! It's time to march on City Hall! Act up, stand tall! It's time to march on City Hall!

GETO

Koch was largely seen in the AIDS epidemic as someone who was not helpful, not supportive to this rapidly mushrooming epidemic which was a nightmare, a total nightmare.

Sirens wailing

GETO

We're dying! The city is dying! We're willing to discuss with them where they think we can do more. We'll look at any proposal they have. It all has to be within our fiscal means.

MAN

They were very early appeals to Mayor Koch as mayor of New York to have a prevention strategy, public education strategy, to give more support to AIDS treatment, AIDS service organizations. There was no medication whatsoever, nothing. I lost dozens of friends. Others I knew lost hundreds of friends and acquaintances. So there was a tremendous frustration that built into terrific anger against Koch.

CROWD

History will recall Koch did nothing at all! History will recall Koch did nothing at all! History will recall Koch did nothing at all!

KOCH

I went to a party, and when I come in, I'm accosted by Larry Kramer, who starts to yell, "People have died! 18 friends of mine! Lovers, friends have died 'cause you are not doing anything!" I think to myself, "What's he talking about?" We gave out over a million condoms in the gay bars. We closed bathhouses that didn't require safe sex practices, meaning the use of condoms. So I don't know what else I can do.

GETO

A lot of the resentment and frustration was because so many people -- particularly in the gay community -- believed that Koch was gay. And that because he was a closeted gay man, that he wouldn't do anything on AIDS.

MAN

Whatever his sexual orientation may be, this was not a man who was uncomfortable dealing with gay issues. In 1977, Ed Koch is running for mayor, and I am a reporter in the New York Times, and, like every other gay person working for the New York Times, I am deeply and carefully in the closet. Practically the first thing that he does when he becomes mayor is to institute this executive order protecting gay people -- at least those working for the city -- from any kind of discrimination.

GETO

It was revolutionary. Look what happened in San Francisco. The mayor and Harvey Milk, a council member, were assassinated in no small part over opposition to gay rights. We won, we won, we won, we won, we won! In the middle of the AIDS crisis he got the Gay Rights bill passed by making a deal with the City Council leadership.

Applause

GETO

This is a law prohibiting discrimination in employment, in housing, and in public accommodations. From the gay community's point of view, we desperately wanted people in positions of power, influence, respect, success, who were gay, to come out as gay. It would have been so incredibly invaluable for a popular mayor of New York to declare that he was gay. And it's not that anyone wants him to talk about his sex life or anything. Just to say, "Yes, my sexual orientation is gay, and I'm proud of it."

MAN

It is nobody's business and you have a right to privacy. But you also have an ability to shape lives, inspire people, change lives, if you were gay and if you choose to make that public. Have you ever been tempted to sort of use your platform... I don't agree with your premise. I believe, as I tried to say initially, that if there isn't someone like me standing up and resisting all those people who want to torture everybody running for office who are gay or who aren't gay, what's gonna stop organizations, decent organizations, if it becomes permissible to add another question to their questionnaire that they give every candidate? You know, they want to know your position on a hundred issues. They can add the newest question -- "Are you gay? Are you straight?" I'm not going to let it happen if I can prevent it. And so I have taken the position in response to the basic question, it's none of your... business. I'm not afraid of death. I believe in God. I believe in the afterlife. I believe in reward and punishment. And I expect to be rewarded. But you have to make preparations.

COFFEY

Calls me one day and says, "I've decided I'm going to be buried at Trinity Cemetery." I said, "Trinity, as in WASP? Is that what you mean?" I said, "Are you nuts? Why would you do this? Don't you know that Jews will be furious with you?"

KOCH

One rabbi, he said, "We could get the Jewish cemeteries" -- there are about five, they've been closed by law -- "we can get them open for you. They're all in the Village." So I went down there and they're locked and nobody goes and...

Chuckles

KOCH

That's not what I want. I want to be in a bustling cemetery. My plaque will be on a subway. A subway stop there! And the view. They should fix this path. -I'm holding on to you... -We're both. And you're holding on to me, so if one of us goes down, then both of us go down.

Koch chuckles

KOCH

"Edward I. Koch. Mayor of the city of New York."

COFFEY

You've got your bench and you've got...

KOCH

And this tree. This wonderful tree. So even if it's raining, we could come and sit here. You mean come and contemplate how wonderful you were? Right. And then my epitaph, which... Written by you. -Was written by me. -I want to take note of that. "He was fiercely proud of his Jewish faith. He fiercely defended the city of New York, and he fiercely loved its people. Above all, he loved his country, the United States of America, in whose armed forces he served in World War II." That's the whole thing. I don't walk as well as I once did.

COFFEY

Well, you're almost 86. What do you expect?

KOCH

More. Better.

COFFEY

He has a lot of friends. And we all look out for him and try to do what's in his best interest. And I'm clearly mindful of his legacy, because that's very important to him. "How will my obituary read? What will they say about me when I'm gone?"

MAN

Ed and I had many arguments. Famous ones. He would say, "My biggest legacy to the city" -- always very concerned about that -- "is the merit selection of judges." I said, "No, Ed, it's housing."

BARRETT

You can't ride through the neighborhoods of the city of New York, if you're an old man like me, and not see the tremendous physical manifestation of this decision. It's better than the pyramids. Rudy Giuliani's police strategies are largely credited for the tremendous decline in crime in New York that we've experienced over these years. But I believe that the housing transformation is as responsible as any other factor.

POWELL

In 1989, Koch decides to run for mayor once again, seeking a fourth term. It's been a very rough four years for him.

WOMAN

We have a right as taxpaying citizens of this community to have safety on the streets!

Okay. WOMAN

Thank you!

MAN

He put in the housing, gay rights, campaign finance law, but no one cared about it because of the scandal.

Crowd cheering and booing

MAN

More yay's than boo's. He had, in his housing program, a growing success. Yet, during the election, he -- a man who never hesitated in the past to beat his own drum -- rarely mentioned it. Say hello to Dave Dinkins, our next mayor. -Good Luck. -Thank you.

WOMAN

Most polls say three-term incumbent Ed Koch is behind. In a slim lead is this man, Manhattan Borough President David Dinkins, who could become the city's first black mayor.

POWELL

It was very hard at that time to be a voice of both black and white. We were, in many ways, a divided city.

PURNICK

Being mayor of the city of New York, whether it's Koch or someone else, you have to be really, really smart. I mean street smart and IQ smart. Because a crisis is thrown at you four or five times a day. You have to know how to respond. Are we ready?

At approximately 9

20 P.M. last night, four male blacks were walking down Bay Ridge Avenue between 20th and 21st Avenues here in Brooklyn, when a group of male whites armed with baseball bats and at least one gun shot and killed 16-year-old Yusef Hawkins.

Crowd chanting "Justice for Yusef!"

KOCH

I would urge that people not engage in marches into communities, and the reason is, the community thinks it then is the perpetrator of the violence and I don't think that any community can be branded that way.

MAN

I want you to see the father and the mother. Two regular, hard-working, committed black people.

COFFEY

People were hurting. Ed pooh-poohed that. He responded too lightly. And his reaction then caused even more outrage.

Chanting "Yusef!"

KOCH

I'm gonna try to do more, but let no one deceive you to think that, if someone else were in my place, that that incident in Brooklyn would not have occurred.

Crowd booing

MAN

He had lost the ability to be any kind of conciliator or mediator, to bring people together, to try to reduce the tensions.

Crowd chanting "Dinkins!"

MAN

For the first time in the city's history, an African-American has captured the nomination of a major party in the race for City Hall.

Chanting "No more Koch!"

MAN

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Eddie, Eddie, Eddie!

COFFEY

That was really hard. I mean, even though we knew we were going to lose, that was really hard. Go home now and know that you waged an extraordinary battle and that I'm grateful to you and will never forget you. Thank you and good night. Thank you! You'll get a better job. There is no better job. Thank you.

WOMAN

Sorry to see you go.

COFFEY

For me, I had a husband and a family and I had another life.

KOCH

I said to myself, "If I had been reelected to a fourth term, I probably would have died in office." So God is good. People would say, "Oh, you must run again. You must run again." And I would say, "No! People threw me out. And now the people must be punished." And people loved that. I still say it occasionally.

MAN

We need a civil rights bill for all gay and lesbian Americans, all 50 states, all civil rights, all gay and lesbian Americans. Senator Gillibrand is inside tonight with every Democrat from the state of New York. We need a civil rights bill for all gay and lesbian Americans. And they've already called the election. But first, our two United States Senators, Chuck Schumer...

KOCH

Why do they have so many people?

MAN

Kirsten Gillibrand! And the next governor of the state of New York, Andrew Cuomo! Who are you going to see?

KOCH

What are we gonna see? Cuomo, I think.

Cheering

MAN

Thank you! Thank you! For the last 12 years, New Yorkers, you've allowed me the privilege of working the best I can on your behalf to make your lives a little bit better.

KOCH

Oh, bull. Ugh. So, Andrew is not coming down till he goes after he speaks. He's just with his parents so I assume you don't need to go to the VIP room, correct? I don't care, no. Whatever you want to do. -So let's go see Tom. -So we're getting out of here? Yes, we're leaving this room. Andrew's not seeing anyone till after he speaks. -How are you? -You are? -Clarissa. -Clarissa Schornstein. Oh, sure, I'm sorry. How is your mom and dad? -Good. -Good. I'm a guy who wrote speeches for you in 1982 when I was in college. I met you years ago when you visited with dad in Sunrise Lakes, Florida. Oh, yes! Okay. -Here we go! -I want this picture with Emily. -Come on, Emily, hurry up! -Come on, Esther. Awesome, thank you. -He's from the club. -Uh-huh. Good. Gotta go! -How are you doing? -I'm doing good. -I'm glad to hear that. -Thank you.

MAN

What happened to Andrew?

KOCH

Andrew doesn't want to see anybody. -He's a schmuck. -He is a schmuck. I mean people come. To turn them away is ridiculous. The last time I was in a really crowded elevator, I peed on the governor.

Laughter

WOMAN

Which governor? Pataki.

Laughter

WOMAN

Actually, I almost peed on him. I mean, the problem was, at that time, I had an enlarged prostate, and I said, "If I don't get out of here, it's over." Hello, gentlemen. Hi.

KOCH

It takes years to train those curls. Pssh! Uggh!

MAN

Go home. You want to go back to the home right now? Yeah. Be with my daughter. Some things are better than politics?

WOMAN

Some? MAN,

LAUGHING

Yeah. -Well! -Now the night is done. My night is done.

Chuckles

LAUGHING

Right. Okay, so where do you want us to take him? -I'm going to go home -And you're going to go home. -So you're not coming with me. -No. -Okay, good work. -Good to see you. -Thank you. -See you later. Good to see you. I want to thank all my family and all my friends who stuck with me over a very long and bumpy road with ups and downs but people who never gave up on me.

MAN

We love you! Thank you, and I love you, too! Thank you very much!

Cheering and applause

MAN

And, wherever I went in this state, people would come up to me and talk about a man who they missed. They said this man stands for principle and integrity and quality in government and how they miss that in Albany today! And his name is Governor Mario Cuomo!

Crowd cheering

PURNICK

Koch has lived his life in the public. That is his family. He gets great pride from his acceptance and his recognition. And I don't know if you want to say the word "love," but I think being liked and being respected is terribly important to him. I think it's his oxygen. -I know, he's here. -Oh, I didn't see him. I said I had worked for Koch.

KOCH

Hi, everybody. Hello. How are you? Hello! How are you, Nancy! How are you? Good. Are you still here? -Yep! -You're the longest one. Still standing. -We're ready when you are. -Yes, I'm ready. How are you?

MAN

Ed Koch. 86 years old. Hard to believe. Here's a man who shows the energy and activity of a man half his age. He is penning film reviews, he's doing TV commercials, he's yucking it up on NY1. He's even on Twitter. Now, how Ed can fit his comments into 140 characters, I have no idea. And now that he's not in office, he can say damn well anything about anyone, anywhere at any time for any reason and not give a damn about the press or the pundits. Gosh, when I grow up, I hope to be Ed Koch.

Laughter

CROWD

5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0!

Cheering and applause

CROWD

I've always said that what I want to be until the day of my death is relevant. And that doesn't mean in the newspapers, although that ain't bad.

Laughter

CROWD

Now, I want to tell you just a little bit about why this bridge is special, and it comes from "The Great Gatsby," F. Scott Fitzgerald. "The city seen from the Queensboro Bridge is always the city seen for the first time in its first wild promise of all the mystery and the beauty in the world." Isn't that wonderful? And that's my bridge!

Laughter, applause

CROWD

Thank you!

MAN

David Dinkins was the grandfather. Just the nicest man. Smart man. Needed to be a little tougher for New York. Giuliani, there was no love in him. Nobody ever felt like Giuliani really cared about anybody. Michael Bloomberg, good manager, you know. You know, cool. But Ed Koch -- it'll be, for my generation and those of us who knew him, he's the mayor.

KOCH

Mike is a very gracious guy.

MAN

He's a very, very gracious guy. He really is. How many mayors that you know go out of their way to promote former mayors? -Nobody. -That's right. But I didn't do a thing for Abe Beame.

Chuckles

MAN

Oh, this is your bridge coming up.

KOCH

This is my bridge. I'm very protective of it.

MAN

Complete the sign here. It says "Queensboro Bridge." All these signs here, Mayor?

KOCH

Yeah, they'll all change. I think we need more lights on my bridge.

Man chuckles

KOCH

Tom, get your plane right on time I know your part'll go fine Fly down to Mexico Da-n-da-da da-n-da-da And here I am The only living boy in New York I get the news I need On the weather report...

PHOTOGRAPHER

Thank you. -Congratulations. -Thank you.

MAN

Great to see you. God bless you. And thank you for everything you've done. Oh, good night. Okay, am I finished? I've got nothing to do today, but I smile Da-n-da-da da-n-da-da...