Ed Koch, RIP

He played guitar in the Silly Bastards?

I love to see Michael again next to Ed. Brings me so many memories about the king of pop music.

Koch was a homosexual and the elite of NYC fought hard to keep it a secret.

That's terrible. Wishing him a speedy recovery.

^ Any New Yorker with even a small degree of gaydar could have told you that 40 years ago

Amazing pic

websterwich

He really was a great mayor who kept NYC going during a really rough time (crack epidemic, AIDS, shitty economy through part of his term). Pulled no punches, was not PC (both qualities rare for a liberal). I don't think anyone could have done a better job with the shitty hand he was dealt during that time.

Dinkins made him look like Laguardia, that's for sure

a true new yorker and you saw him out everywhere... well at a lot of restaurants at least. like NY Noodletown at 2AM once.

Hope you're doing fine wherever you are. RIP.

-bp

he was the first mayor i "remember" as a kid, and always thought of him fondly for whatever reason. i think he was a good man and a relatively honest politician. go well.

did koch ever bang michael jackson?

NYC was great during his administration ..the city was a little rough but it seemed more human , he wasn't bowing to the corporations and cared about people...he was the last great mayor of new york .

Pretty much everyone knew Koch was gay, but no one cared; as it should have been.
RIP Mr. Mayor.

How'm I doin'? How'm I doin'?

I guess not so well anymore.

"Koch was a homosexual and the elite of NYC fought hard to keep it a secret."

It hasn't been a secret for decades!

I once saw him at Landmark with his "friend".

so just because some1 is a mayor that automatically means that he is gay? get real.

Koch was a fun mayor when this city was fun. RIP.

"Koch was a fun mayor when this city was fun."

Koch was a fun mayor, but I disagree that the city was fun. Tons of crime. I for one do not miss walking on crack vials. Of course, Dinkins was the worst mayor of all time. Early '90s were my favorite time. Crime was lower, but things were still cheap. NYC sucks nowadays. I can't believe people are paying high rents to live in a city that is a shadow of its former self.

12:32-spot on

Giuliani ruined NyC.
I would take Dinkins or Koch anyday any day over that Dictator.

Webster was 22 at the time of that picture. Creepy.

1:11 is whack

12:32. THE RENT IS TOO DAMN HIGH!! Seriously. It is. I remember bitching in the late 90's about studios renting for $1500 a month. Now you're lucky to get an apartment in a good neighborhood that isn't far from the city for that much.

he's mentioned on that Simon & Garfunkel album, the 1982 reunion concert in Central Park. if he made Simon & Garfunkel happy he did not live his life in vain.

NYC needs another mayor like him. Real. Human. Not afraid to speak his mind, or to cross party lines, or to go against popular or party opinions. So far, the crop of possible candidates for the next mayoral election (Lhota, Quinn, Liu) all suck worse than Bloomy or Rudy.

(not standing up for bloomy buuuut: pretty sure Bloomberg didn't just cross party lines, but changed parties.

Both Bloomy and Rudy were moderate. They pissed people off at times, but generally they were good mayors. Liu and Quinn are decidedly liberal, and will probably suck as bad as Dinkins. Ultra-liberal does not work in this city. Common sense moderates are what seems to work.

Koch was not great all the time. He was a snob to people smoking outside of their office buildings making dumb comments to them when there was much bigger things to worry about in NYC at the time.

Putting his name on the Queensboro\59th st bridge was really not needed.

Koch was also unfortunately responsible for closing five hospitals in the Bronx and other areas besides closing public schools all over NYC.
He was no friend of the black and latino community either at all.
If he was a moderate or somewhat liberal then why did Koch support the reelection of George W Bush.

http://www.thelmagazine.com/newyork/fuck-ed-koch/Content?oid=2292537

The L Magazine? I am not going to be informed about Koch from a bunch of midwestern transient now living in Bushwick.

why would anyone befriend the black and latino community

Koch may have been fiscally responsible but at heart he was a racist Jew who did next to nothing to eradicate crime. Up until the late 80's drugs were still being sold in plain view , murder was at an all time high, the mafia had it tentacles everywhere, politicians were corrupt :: shock::, etc, etc.

@1232

"the city is a shadow of it's former self "- NY is still great if not more so.
Things change, always have and always will. I mss the funky vibe of weird old NY, but not the crime , lowlifes, and rampant corruption.

Giuliani was THE WORST mayor NYC ever had.