Best New York City Mayor in modern times

[Polybius]

Let's start with 1978 and work our way up. Who was our best Mayor? I'm torn between Koch and Bloomberg, so I'll hear your opinions before I decide to vote in my own poll.

29 votes, 3 passes | Time left: Unlimited
	Ed Koch - January 1, 1978 - December 31, 1989
	2 (7%)
	David Dinkins - January 1, 1990 - December 31, 1993
	2 (7%)
	Rudy Giuliani - January 1, 1994 - December 31, 2001
	4 (14%)
	Michael Bloomberg - January 1, 2002 - December 31, 2013
	16 (55%)
	Bill de Blasio - January 1, 2014 - December 31, 2021
	5 (17%)
	Eric Adams - January 1, 2022 - present
	0 (0%)
	3 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided.
Show usernames Disclaimer: This is an Internet poll

[OAITW r.2.0]

1. Should have had an option "unqualified to comment".

I'd have chosen that.

[Polybius]

2. I thought about it, but some may have never lived here, yet know about all of these guys

NYC mayors are quite known.

[LeftInTX]

4. They're well known, but more like "celebrity well known"

[OAITW r.2.0]

5. If this w as a "who is the best known mayor" poll, I'd probably would have picked Bromberg.

But who really delivered for the citizens of NY? No clue.

[LeftInTX]

17. Sorry, but Giuliani is the most famous. That doesn't mean he was good.

Obviously some voters liked him because he kept getting re-elected. Something about "cleaning up Times Square" and stuff like that. He was good at dealing with organized crime. But other than that, I don't know how his tenure was. I think he marginalized many LGBT people and shut down their clubs. However, it was also during AIDS, so voters probably thought it was OK.

Today, he would never fly. However, I do think his expertise on organized crime was probably his one strength. He really fucked up his reputation after he left office.

ETA: He apparently supported domestic partnerships for gay couples. And also supported immigrant rights and disallowed city employees from contact INS. So, what do I know?

All I know is he knew alot about organized crime.....

I have never lived in New York.

[SocialDemocrat61]

22. Giuliani took credit for the mayors who came before him

Plans to clean up Times Square started up under Koch. And Dinkens secured federal funding to hire 5000 more cops to make it a reality. Giuliani just reaped the benefits of their work.

[mr715]

3. De Blasio

negotiated labor contracts despite Bloomberg's 12 year attempt to break their back. Teachers got a decent raise and even though it took years, all the retroactive pay they earned.

He doesn't get enough credit.

[Prairie Gates]

6. So sad

[SocialDemocrat61]

7. So a Republican billionaire

who refused to step down when his two terms were up is leading. I thought this was democratic underground?

[mr715]

8. I don't understand it.

He wasn't even a good mayor from my perspective as a union member and teacher.

Do people not remember how he tried to gut tenure?

3rd term?

Democrat-when-he-wants, Republican-other-times Bloomberg?

[SocialDemocrat61]

9. I don't get it either

He illegally imprisoned protestors to the Republican convention in 04, costing the city millions in legal settlements. He cut his own taxes while increasing property taxes on middle class homeowners. He did everything he could to fund charter schools while cutting funding to public schools. He allowed stop and frisk targeting minorities. I thought he sucked.

[Polybius]

10. He became a Republican solely because he couldn't win the Democratic primary

His first term was as elite as it gets.

[SocialDemocrat61]

11. My favorite Bloomberg moment

[Polybius]

12. No doubt he did horrible in that debate

He would have been a two-term President though, had he won the nomination.

[SocialDemocrat61]

13. He couldn't win a primary

No way he would win an election.

[Polybius]

19. He was leading (or close to it) before the debate

He would have gotten a lot of "Never Trumpers" in addition to all of us voting for him in the general election.

[SocialDemocrat61]

21. Democrats don't vote for

Egomaniac billionaires who illegally imprisoned protestors and don’t like giving up power. We let republicans do that.

[Polybius]

23. Matched against Trump they would

He's also leading in this poll. Many of us do indeed like him.

[SocialDemocrat61]

24. So they support stop and frisk

and the illegal imprisonment of protestors to the Republican convention?

[Midwestern Democrat]

25. I think 2016, 2020, and 2024 should have taught us that you could fit all the "Never Trumpers" inside a Georgetown

cocktail party.

[mr715]

18. I understand this

but opportunism costs him some points in my eyes. The he couldn't defeat Mark Green or whoever in the Democratic primary makes me less likely to think fondly of him when considering the best mayors of my lifetime.

He was certainly elitist, if that is what you mean by elite. I remember having to learn the new teacher eval rubric with its 36 components and be a union rep at the time. He had a politically independent technocratic streak, proto-Elon Musk. Unlike Musk, he isn't a psychopath but he ran the city with an emphasis on data and metrics that were not always the appropriate means to judge the real world.

His 3rd term was really unforgivable. And what he did with Taylor law'd union contracts was malpractice.

[BannonsLiver]

14. Rudy lol what in the world

[SocialDemocrat61]

16. On a site dedicated to supporting democrats

It is surprising. But minons gotta minon I guess.

[WarGamer]

15. define best.

Best meaning quality of life? Turmoil, wealth, equality?

[Polybius]

20. By best, I mean in general compared to the rest

Pick some really good Mayors who did a good job and made quality of life better for you. Now, pick the best one of the bunch.

[Scrivener7]

26. I see Bloomberg won. I lived and worked in NYC under him. I have to say, for 50%

of things he was great, and for 50% of things he was a monster.

He despised unions and disallowed raises for union members (other than police and fire, who he treated like kings) for 8 years. His strong-arming to get his third term was ridiculous. I could go on. He tried to do the same to get a stadium on the West Side. Thank God he was squashed on that.

Uneven, at best.

[Hekate]

27. I'm not a New Yorker

[Mossfern]

28. What about John Lindsay?

Did you forget him or was he too early to be considered "modern".
Mayor of from January 1,1966 to January 1, 1974.
Said that being Mayor of NYC was the second hardest job in America.

[Polybius]

29. I'm surprised that Ed Koch isn't getting more love

He was so good.

[mr715]

31. I am too young to remember him

I know he was beloved by many for a long time, but had some - let us say, problematic issues. Because he was mayor when I was very young he kind of has formed my mental archetype for what mayor of NY is.

[mr715]

30. At least no one voted for Adams

It is hilarious that he is significantly less popular that Rudy Giuliani on a partisan Democratic online community. Tells you a lot about the impressive individual that is the honorable Eric Adams.