I was robbed and shaken down during his time. I have every right to remember him for the lousy mayor that he was. I also have every right to mention how he treated the true leaders of our people.
In his time, I feared walking the streets of Crown Heights at night. I was shaken down in the subway when coming back to Manhattan from simchas beis hashoeva in 1988, and that is my most lasting memory of those years. When I last lived in Crown Heights (which I avoided doing in the Koch and Dinkins years, much as I wanted to) during Bloomberg’s time, the denizens of once off-limits Nostrand Ave were afraid of me during the day, and I was addressed as “boss” at 1 AM one summer’s night by local toughs who realized I was right behind them when they were openly breaking drug laws. In 1988, I’d have ended up with a knife in my back for seeing that.
He basically tried to shame the Lubavitcher Rebbe ZYA, who never endorsed any candidate for any office in the US, but gave all who asked brochos for success, into giving him an endorsement. The Rebbe of course refused politely and still gave him a brocho. This is on video, and it shows the real Ed Koch – a sleazy politician who pit everyone against everyone else for his own gain. For revenge, he turned properties that the Jewish community should have had over to a “church” group that put a criminal element in the buildings.
He did the same to Satmar because he did not get the Williamsburgh vote.
I can’t remember if it was Yehuda Levin or someone else who got my protest vote the year I could have voted for Koch. I was too tired to find out how to write in Bernhard Hugo Goetz.
Once he was out, he said whatever would get him the press coverage that he so loved. He was really the same as a certain MAF personality-wise, but he was brighter so he achieved more. I do think, however, that 9-11 was a wakeup call for him, and that his most recent proclamations were sincere.
Still, I will always remember: “Ed Koch was not a happy man. Ed Koch was a (word for m”z that rhymes with hay) man.” (attributed to R’ Meir Kahane HYD but not confirmed – certainly not my original slogan.)
after the necessary time Ed Koch will be there too.
Yes, like most every Jew who does not get kooreis. That amount of time is 11 months. Unlike Eliezer ben Dordai, who could buy oilam haba in a moment, Ed Koch caused real damage to many Jews, and he did not ask for mechila in their lifetimes.
For now, he is enjoying the company of a few crack dealers whose businesses he never shut down.
As for the date coincidence, he and Daniel Pearl only expressed their Judaism when it was too late. That is why the coincidence is the secular date!