Bradley Tastes Sweet Bite of Big Apple

Two visiting mayors tasted the best and worst of the Big Apple over the weekend.

The seedy streets of the nation’s largest, most congested city have a way of making natives and tourists alike fret about the possibility of getting robbed. That fear became a reality for Mayor Silvio Urbina of Degranade, Nicaragua, whose pocket was picked in broad daylight in bustling mid-town Manhattan, site of the 61st annual meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

But New York is also a vibrant, glittering metropolis that is the world’s stage for fame and notoriety, and it was that rosy half of the Apple that the second visiting mayor tasted: On Sunday, Tom Bradley was honored by his peers for a half-century of public service as a Los Angeles police officer, city councilman and mayor.

The nation’s mayors gave Bradley two rousing standing ovations while citing his stewardship through such highs as the 1984 Olympics, and lows like last year’s civil unrest. With nearly every step that Bradley took inside the posh Sheraton Hotel, he was stopped by people eager to take his photo and extend their best wishes as he serves his final 10 days in office.

They honored his unwavering support of the national urban agenda, admired with envy his 20-year reign, and complimented his quiet, understated demeanor. They also recalled how, in 1973, Bradley became the first black mayor of a major U.S. city and blazed the trail for other black politicians.

“We have an expression: Everyone stands on somebody’s shoulders,” said New York Mayor David N. Dinkins. “And certainly his shoulders are those on which many of us who have come along later stand.”

Before Dinkins kicked off the five-day conference that included several workshops out on the streets of New York, Nicaraguan Mayor Urbina, who accepted the conference’s courtesy invitation to foreign mayors, learned firsthand some of the problems of the city that never sleeps.

On the sidewalk after breakfast Friday, one pedestrian bumped into Urbina while another picked $600 in U.S. currency from his pocket, police said. Urbina was unhurt and the two thieves are still at large.

This year’s conference is devoted to publicizing the financial plight of American cities. Many big-city mayors hoped to use the meetings to spark national interest in unfunded federal mandates--services that Congress requires local governments to provide although it has abandoned its commitment to pay for them.

The conference officially opened Sunday--Father’s Day--with a three-hour morning session. Bradley walked in promptly at 9:10 a.m., carrying a black bag filled with schedules and work papers. Later, he was called to the podium and given a plaque, one of more than 40 such farewell ceremonies held for Bradley so far, with many others to follow.

Mayors from around the nation were unflagging in their praise for the 75-year-old Bradley. Mayor Gregory S. Lashutka of Columbus, Ohio, compared Bradley to the legendary UCLA coach John Wooden, known as the Wizard of Westwood for his unparalleled success in college basketball. “There probably won’t be many like him again,” Lashutka said of Bradley.

More than anything, though, the mayors singled out Bradley’s quiet perseverance and demeanor as the traits they admired most.

William J. Althaus, mayor of York, Pa., and president of the conference, told Bradley: “With all the difficulties that occurred within the last year in Los Angeles, you bore those and set such an example for grace and dignity among mayors. Every mayor here had you in our hearts and knew that there but for the grace of God go many of our cities.”

In an interview, Dinkins said: “Among the many things I like about him is his demeanor. He is civil. I just have an image of him as being in command, in control. . . . He epitomizes to a great degree that you don’t have to be loud to be strong.”

Such recognition means a lot to him, Bradley said.

“It does come naturally,” Bradley said of his quiet ways. “I’ve always been like that. . . . I’ve had the strength of my own conviction that I’ve been able to carry on this kind of demeanor throughout my life, sometimes against a great deal of criticism. But I knew I was right and that was all that mattered. Then to have my colleagues say after 20 years that they took notice of that, it’s a very satisfying feeling.”

The New York conference marked the final out-of-town trip for a mayor who became known in some circles around City Hall as “Travelin’ Tom” for his extensive overseas travel. Bradley said he was annoyed when a recent trip to Europe was “distorted by having people say the mayor is off traveling as if it were some kind of pleasure jaunt. I’ve never done that. I’ve never had any apologies for any trip that I’ve made.”

As usual, Bradley flew alone Saturday in coach class without his wife, Ethel, or any aides at his side. He passed up a Saturday evening reception Dinkins threw for the visiting mayors at Gracie Mansion, and planned to return to Los Angeles on an early flight Tuesday.

Bradley said the final days of his term will be “nothing special.” He will come to work just as he has for the past two decades. After the July 1 inauguration of Mayor-elect Richard Riordan, Bradley does not plan to take a vacation or any time off before starting his new job at the law firm of Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison.

“I understand he will walk out of City Hall and literally go to his law firm that same day to start work,” said Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson. “He’s a helluva man. That’s all I’ve got to say. He’s a helluva man.”