Early April 1980, a moment in time I will always remember: The transit union had called an illegal strike.
Mayor John Lindsay’s inadequate answer to a previous transit strike — the union went out on the first day of his administration — destroyed the balance of his two terms. My response was to go to every bridge connecting the other boroughs with Manhattan — starting with the Brooklyn Bridge — and encourage the people of New York City to walk to work the next 11 days. We broke the strike, and the city survived.
It was a high point of my administration, setting a tone for the two terms that followed — a tone that made it possible for us to accomplish much more than we would have if the strike had succeeded in bringing us to our knees.
That’s why I’ve endorsed Chris Quinn for mayor: because I know that if the same thing happened again, she’d be there, on the bridges and in the streets, standing with the people. That’s the kind of leader she is — tough, no-nonsense, a liberal with sanity.
When I was mayor, we faced some very tough budgets. There were years people didn’t know if the city could make it. We had to make tough choices — and we did. As speaker, Chris has done the same during this terrible recession. She’s led the City Council to balance the budget responsibly and to protect vital social programs and keep firefighters and cops on the streets and teachers in the classroom.
The economy may be improving, but the next few years are going to be rocky. We’re going to need a leader like Chris to manage our fiscal ship.
A lot of people know they can score political points by attacking Mike Bloomberg on everything. When he says it’s day, they say it’s night. It’s a good way to make headlines — and a disastrous way to lead.
That’s not Chris. She works with the mayor when she thinks he’s right and stands up to him when she thinks he’s wrong.
That’s what independence means — and being a good mayor takes independence. New Yorkers didn’t always agree with me, but they always knew that I was standing up for them, not for politics. Today, I don’t always agree with Chris; I don’t always agree with anyone. But I know that whatever decision she makes is based solely on what she believes is best for the city.
Sometimes those decisions disappoint the progressive community. Sometimes they disappoint the business community. That’s good! To me, the more you disappoint entrenched constituencies, the more you’re doing your job. That’s what we need in a mayor. The world is too complicated for people with rigid ideologies or absolute loyalty to a few select constituencies.
New York is a big stage. You’ve got to have chutzpah. You’ve got to speak your mind. You’ve got to do what’s right, not what’s easy. You’ve got to have “it.” Chris Quinn’s got all of that in spades. She’s going to be a great mayor.