In a City Divided, Many United to Lay the Blame on Its Mayor

Mayor Edward I. Koch, embraced by this city 12 years ago as a symbol of its hopes for rejuvenation, was rejected by the same voters Tuesday, viewed by many as the embodiment of New York’s racial, economic and cultural divisiveness.

He conceded defeat by paying tribute to “that special diversity that has made the city the international capital of the world.”

New York’s problems, he vowed, “will be overcome, because of the expertise that exists in this city, and the decency that exists in this city.”

It was a far different note than he had sounded on his first day in office.

“New York is not a problem,” Koch had declared on Jan. 1, 1978. “New York is a stroke of genius.”

A former civil rights lawyer and congressman, Koch had a brash and confident style that had seemed the antidote that year for a demoralized city that only two years before had teetered on bankruptcy.

Financial Order

As he plunged into office--taking on the interest groups, slashing dollars and jobs from the city budget--he helped put the city back on its financial feet. City services, eroded to a bare minimum during the lean years, began to improve.

Although his friends and critics debated how much credit he should get for the turnaround, Koch became the personification of a revitalized New York. “How am I doing?” he called out in public at every opportunity.

He was a national celebrity by his second term, and on his third bid for the job four years ago, Koch rode into office on 78% of the citywide vote.

But as fiscal solvency faded as an issue, there emerged other urgent problems--AIDS, homelessness, crack cocaine and racial tension.

Even as people called for more services from their city, Ronald Reagan Administration budget cuts left Koch with less resources to meet these demands. Increasingly, his management of the city came under fire.

Corruption Scandals

At the outset of his third term, his image suffered further as a number of Koch’s political allies were caught up in a series of municipal corruption scandals.

No longer was the blunt-spoken mayor seen as the beloved symbol of New York moxie. Instead, he was more often characterized as a divisive force. Last year, for example, he outraged many of the city’s black voters with his comment that Jews “would be crazy” to vote for the Rev. Jesse Jackson in New York’s Democratic presidential primary.

And when a black youth was killed after being confronted by a group of whites a few weeks ago in Brooklyn’s Bensonhurst section, Koch further aggravated blacks by criticizing a group of demonstrators who had marched through the white neighborhood to protest the murder. He was booed as he attended a service for the slain youth.

Assemblyman John Dearie, one of only two elected officials in the Bronx to support Koch’s reelection bid, said Tuesday night that the vote amounted to “a really personal rejection,” an attitude of “enough already of Ed Koch.”

“He was popular for a really long time,” Dearie said. “He’s been a remarkable long-playing act in this city. He’s made everybody happy. He’s made everybody unhappy.”

Although the primary campaign only underscored the city’s divisions, Koch struck a theme of unity Tuesday night, as he congratulated Manhattan Borough President David N. Dinkins on “a very substantial victory,” and pledged “to make it as easy as I know how and can do for David Dinkins to be elected.”

‘Root Out Bigotry’

And as he asked his supporters to join in the effort to elect the first black mayor of New York, the 64-year-old Koch spoke of “a need to root out the bigotry in our city.”

However, even in defeat, a bit of the old Ed Koch still showed.

“You’ll have me between now and Dec. 31,” he said. “I do not intend to keep my mouth shut.”