Ed Koch and the Rebuilding of New York (review)

Jonathan Soffer’s big new biography of Mayor Edward Koch is valuable because it addresses a central debate in American life: how important have political leaders been to economic development? After decades of so-called failed urban renewal, enterprise zones, business improvement districts, eminent domain, tax credits, and other local incentives designed to catalyze economic development, there is a growing conviction on the left and right that government should cease promoting private enterprise. What the mayoral career of Ed Koch indicates, however, is that these kinds of programs can play, in the right place and time, a central role in making cities globally competitive.

Ed Koch was a fast study and hard worker who rose quickly in the complicated political landscape of New York City. Soffer highlights throughout Koch’s ability to straddle seemingly incompatible political divides. Koch launched his career in the 1960s with support from leftists like Michael Harrington, and neighborhood activists such as Jane Jacobs, because of his outspoken leadership on liberal causes, including neighborhood preservation, gun control, drug treatment, civil rights, and gay rights. These countercultural stances built a reservoir of goodwill that he drew upon as he made a political calculation in the 1970s to reach out to “disgruntled white ethnics” (107). Support from the populous middle-class outer boroughs proved key to his citywide political success. They appreciated his stand against minority identified public programs (new public housing, antipoverty agencies, city hospitals, etc.) as well as indicators, in their minds, of growing minority/poor disorder in public space (panhandling and graffiti). Koch’s hard line on poverty programs and city hospitals in time not only attracted Whites but also alienated African-Americans.

As mayor (1978–1989), Soffer believes Koch deserves more recognition for his role in restoring business confidence. Before Koch, New York City had been in a long-term financial squeeze and had already shed thousands of private and public sector workers. Long-term trends (recession, deindustrialization, and white flight) had toxically combined with excessive debt, unionization, and federal entitlement programs (particularly Medicaid). Koch immediately took a hands-on approach to city agencies and he communicated feverishly with the press. In order to restore federal confidence and receive longer term federal loans, he developed more transparent budgeting and ultimately cut tens of thousands of jobs. His choice of administrators also proved, according to Soffer, important to his success.

New York’s improving economy buoyed Koch’s reputation as a turnaround whiz kid. The booming stock market of the 1980s gave Koch the ability to boost spending on some high profile city services such as the police and sanitation (including subway car cleaning), which lent credence to the upbeat “I Love New York” campaign launched in this era. Koch apparently slowed the rates of arson in the Bronx, too, and this initiative staunched the destructive “Bronx is Burning” narrative. The leading role of wealthy, private interests in Central Park’s restoration further cemented the notion of a revitalized, if also more elite, New York.

The use of tax incentives and subsidies to redevelop key sections of New York, particularly Midtown in Times Square, proved particularly important to the long-term health of the city by creating a tourist-friendly, private sector economic engine. Times Square during Koch’s mayoralty began to be transformed from red light district to family and business friendly. New planning overlays preserved the dynamism, with new signage and street-level commercial, while permitting massive office towers that met international global standards. The plans worked, although Koch is rarely given credit, because it took many years for momentum to build. According to the Times Square Alliance in 2011, for instance, “though it comprises only 0.1% of New York City’s land area, Times Square houses 5% of the city’s jobs and generates 10% of its economic output.”

Koch was also an unabashed supporter of residential upgrading citywide. Gentrification was underway by the...