Between now and Nov. 6, you candidates will be battling it out for what has been called the second-toughest job in America. When you joined this race a year ago, running New York City looked a lot easier than it does now. Today, New Yorkers are rattled by the World Trade Center attack, an economic slump, and looming multibillion-dollar budget deficits.
Let's be blunt. You don't want to be remembered as the mayor whose arrogance or incompetence made things worse. So here are a few pointers for the winner.
-- Make Nice with Albany. No question, relations between the city and the state have traditionally been strained. Upstaters, who are mostly Republican, often think of the city as a Democratic sinkhole for state funds and a place decent people go only for the occasional Broadway show. Moreover, even governors and mayors of the same party can end up on opposite sides of an issue: Witness Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and Governor George Pataki, who have feuded for years over funding for a proposed $1 billion stadium in Manhattan.
So keep repeating after me: Governor Pataki is my friend. Governor Pataki is my friend. Why? Because your first priority will obviously be rebuilding the World Trade Center area. Both the land on which it stood and the destroyed rail lines beneath it are wards of state or bi-state agencies, so the Governor can veto any design for a new structure to occupy the site. If you're looking to expedite rebuilding by skirting local zoning or environmental reviews, you will need state consent. And, most important, the federal government will probably distribute its aid through the state, not the city.
In short, much of the final decision-making power will lie in Albany. It helps that Pataki's "fortunes are tied up in how well New York City does," says former New York City Mayor David N. Dinkins. And don't forget: Pataki is up for reelection next year, and he surely will work hard to maintain his newfound popularity with city voters.
-- Washington Is Not an Endless Source of Funds. Tread carefully when you ask the New York congressional delegation to hit up the Feds for more money. Any hint that the cash will be used to fulfill campaign promises instead of rebuilding will go over as well as ordering pastrami with mayonnaise at the Carnegie Deli. Anti-New York bias lingers inside the Beltway. Before Congress granted $17.5 billion in emergency aid last month, Senator Don Nickles (R-Okla.) balked because his state didn't receive the same level of aid, proportionately, after the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. Senator Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) sees the fiscal writing on the wall: "With the economy turning down, lots of people have demands." It will only become harder to get yours met as the national economy worsens.
-- The City Will Do as Well as the People You Pick To Run It. The two most crucial appointments you'll make will be the budget director and police commissioner. Whoever takes over the city's finances will have to contend with a deficit of at least $4 billion for fiscal 2003. "During times of austerity, that's when the rubber hits the road for the budget director," says E.J. McMahon, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research. When you renegotiate contracts with municipal workers, tie raises to improvements in their productivity. At the same time, don't skimp on such highly visible services as sanitation and park maintenance. But do try to spread the pain evenly.
Make sure your top cop continues the successful policies of the past eight years. It will be especially important to crack down on the quality-of-life offenses that make New Yorkers feel the city is out of control. And if you find someone who can do this while improving relations with black and Latino residents, keep him around. Don't pull a Rudy: He hired the talented Bill Bratton, saw a steep decline in crime--then fired the guy.
-- Remember that the City Is Not Just Manhattan. Rebuilding on the World Trade Center site is certainly the main issue. The attack immediately put at risk 108,500 jobs citywide, including 20,100 in the financial services industry, according to the Fiscal Policy Institute. But the fact remains that most voters don't live in Manhattan. They may work there, but they go home to neighborhoods without enough affordable housing, whose schools are in bad shape, and whose parks are tattered. There will be no greater task than to balance the needs of those communities with the imperative to revitalize lower Manhattan, and to do so during a money crunch.
-- Finally, Keep New York United. Giuliani may be wildly admired now, but he hasn't always been. He won office in 1993 with little African-American support, and he never found a way to connect with the city's black populace. He ignored black political leaders and mishandled incidents involving the police and black New Yorkers. The damage was lasting: In early October, the Mayor floated the idea of extending his tenure beyond the legal limit of two terms. Fully 55% of all New Yorkers supported that, but 82% of black residents polled objected.
You can establish better rapport. To do so, you'll have to solicit the opinions of various groups before you make important policy decisions. "The quality the next mayor will need the most is the ability to build consensus," says Arthur J. Fried, executive director of the Center for Excellence in New York City Governance. Since the attacks, New Yorkers' spirits, if not their politics, have been united. If you want to be a great mayor, make sure your administration builds on that newfound sense of community.
By Robert McNatt
With Lorraine Woellert in Washington, D.C.
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