Notes on a NYC State of the City Address: Mayor Giuliani, 2001

Katie Roberts

PAF 9199

January 15, 2016

Mayor Giuliani starts his speech by giving thanks to everyone who has helped him during his mayoral years, recognizing that this is his last year as Mayor and thus his last State of the City Address. He pays homage to two fallen NYC workers, a firefighter and a sanitation worker, thanking everyone for rescheduling the address so that he could attend the funeral of the firefighter, Gregg McLoughlin. He uses PowerPoint slides throughout his speech, first using a photograph of Times Square during and after the New Year’s celebration, highlighting the strong work of the sanitation department. This leads him into speaking about the work ethic of NYC, stating, “The work of all the people who work for the City of New York is enormously important and there’s no one area of work that’s more important than any other.” This sets the stage for him to highlight the various accomplishments he has achieved in his previous years as mayor as well as advocate for hard work in the year to come.

Two areas that he talks about in depth are crime and safety as well as education. He talks about the areas he has had successes in and also highlights things he has been wanting to get done but has not yet accomplished – for instance, he repeatedly says that a goal is to “abolish the Board of Education.” Once he finishes talking about political aims, he launches into his vision of NYC as a beautiful and modern city. Throughout his speech he continues using PowerPoint slides to bring the audience along with his vision. He states, “But look at that, isn’t that a beautiful baseball field? Look at that.”

His tone throughout the speech seems very casual and lighthearted. He is constantly interacting with the audience, he uses photos and images to supplement his speech, and he even does a demonstration of a defibrillator. He also promotes some books that support his ideas, noting how “simple” and easy to understand they are. All of these elements it seems he uses as a tool to show how straightforward and uncontestable his plans and vision are. His speech is long and somewhat haphazard, jumping from one topic to another and then back to a previous topic, possibly a result of not using any notes. He stops to recognize people and pay them recognition but does this for long enough that we forget what he was originally talking about. Thankfully he returns to the original topic at hand by saying, “But back to…” reminding us what he was discussing. His visions are a long stream of projects that cannot realistically be finished in his last Mayoral year so this part of his speech is more of a dream than a realistic plan. Overall, nothing to me was incredibly outstanding about this speech. His arrangement was confusing, he used little style, and his delivery was long and cumbersome. Maybe it was because it was his last speech, or maybe it was because he had built up a level of comfort over his previous mayoral years. Regardless of the reason, this speech will not likely be remembered as a part of his mayoral legacy in NYC.

2001 marked Giuliani’s last mayoral speech due to limits on mayoral terms. The year before was a tough year for Giuliani. He had been running for Senate against Hilary Clinton, but had dropped out of the race in early 2000 after being diagnosed with prostate cancer (Bumiller, “Mayor Undergoes Cancer Treatment”). In addition, his support was dwindling. There was a lot of controversy surrounding him both in regard to his personal life and his politics. He was separating from his wife with rumors circling that he had had an affair, and in fact, reviews of this address highlight his “close friend” Judith Nathan being escorted in and then leaving with Giuliani (Bumiller, “The Mayor’s Address”). In addition, while he had a positive record of decreasing crime in the city, his controversial tactics had garnered criticism and racial tensions were high. In 2000, Patrick Dorismond was the fourth unarmed black man to be killed by police in thirteen months. Giuliani was widely criticized for authorizing the release of his criminal record, showing that he had two charges of disorderly conduct in an attempt to indicate that a “pattern of behavior” had led to his death (Duke).

As previously noted, the speech was rescheduled so that the Mayor could attend the funeral of a firefighter. Giuliani stood against a backdrop of the twin towers, poignant now knowing that only a few months later the towers would collapse (“Rudy Giuliani”). The address was held at the City Council chamber at City Hall and audience members included leaders of the city. “The speech provided a day of pageantry at City Hall, as hundreds of supporters crowded up the grand staircase toward the Council chamber and the mayor strode in to sustained applause” (Bumiller, “The Mayor’s Address”).

A general theme among press reactions was that the Mayor was more gracious and inclusive, recognizing that he cannot do it all alone and that he needs help and teamwork. One opinion piece writes, “In contrast to previous years, Mr. Giuliani praised others, talked about being a team effort and worked to defuse some of his more explosive past criticisms” (“Mr. Giuliani’s Last Opus”). Similarly, in her article “The Mayor’s Address: The Overview; Giuliani Proposes Extending School to ‘Patch’ System,” Elizabeth Bumiller notes that Giuliani had “unusually conciliatory remarks” and “appeared more gracious, and pointedly asked for help from many of the same people with home he had fought so bitterly in the last seven years.”

The opinion piece “Mr. Giuliani’s Last Opus” praised Giuliani’s plans to expand low-income housing as well as his plans to reconstruct buildings and work on the Brooklyn Bridge Park. However, the piece criticizes his lack of mention of critical tasks such as working on his relations with minority communities and voter reform.

There was no mention of a speechwriter in my research, but Bumiller comments that Giuliani spoke for nearly two hours with no use of notes, lending to the assumption that he wrote his own speech and that it included a fair amount of improvisation. She also notes that he cut out parts of the speech including an assault on the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (“The Mayor’s Address”). The lack of notes probably contributed to the sense of rambling that goes on in his speech and the lack of structure. It also may have played a part in his omission of important issues.

Giuliani does a fairly good job of explaining the references he made, and since this is a relatively recent speech, there are not too many references of which the significance is lost. For example, I did not know about the murders that took place in a Wendy’s in 2000, but Giuliani does not simply reference the murders, rather, he explains them by stating, “Two criminals went into Wendy’s and shot seven people, killing five people, and wounding the others.” He does this kind of explanation and introduction throughout the speech, making it fairly easy to understand despite the fact that it occurred fifteen years ago.

One program he references repeatedly but does not explain in depth is Operation Condor, which was a program that gave overtime pay for drug sweeps and quality of life patrols. This operation basically went hand in hand with the more widely referenced “Broken Windows Theory.” He praised the operation and even states in his address that he plans on expanding the program, but not everyone was in love with his ideas. “In addition to challenging the program’s cost, some senior police officials, judges, and prosecutors [had] privately questioned the wisdom of using millions in overtime funds to make the mostly low-level drug arrests produced by Operation Condor. The program has also been criticized for its aggressive street enforcement, which community leaders say has further strained already frayed relations between the police and residents of poor neighborhoods” (Rashbaum).

Another reference he made was to the New York Coliseum, a building that is no longer a notable or much remembered part of the New York City landscape. The building was a convention center on Columbus Circle from 1956 to 2000 and was “a low point for New York’s public buildings…the windowless Coliseum building was sheathed in lifeless, uniform white brick, with vertical metal panels running from top to bottom” (Gray). The space was unused for many years due to a bidding war, and in July of 1997 Giuliani “vowed to block the proposed high-rise project unless it included a large theater or performance space” (Bagli). In his address, Giuliani notes, “One of the things I’m going to be proudest of when I leave here is holding up the deal for the Coliseum because we wanted a performing arts center as part of the Columbus Circle Project and that ultimately became Jazz at Lincoln Center.”

Mayor Giuliani makes many references to people and places throughout his speech. As mentioned before, he highlights firefighters and sanitation workers for doing the work they do and utilizes a picture of Times Square to emphasize this. He consistently gives shout outsto people throughout his speech, recognizing them for the work they’ve done, possibly trying to highlight his ability to work with people and his evolving persona as “the new Rudy.” For example, after repeatedly mentioning his aims to abolish the Board of Education, he mentions and thanks Billy Thompson (of the Board) for his work on negotiating a deal to have a new Board of Ed headquarters.

In addition, he uses specific people and events to highlight the need for his policies. He references Craig Godineaux and John Taylor of the Wendy’s murders to promote getting rid of paroles for federal offenses. He also uses convicted criminals Vincent Johnson and Troy Brown to justify the building of a DNA lab. When it comes to his plans for beautification, he references John Lindsay, a mayor who had “insisted that the parks were for the people, not cars, and filled them with concerts and go-go dancing and kite-flying contests, psychedelic sidewalk painting and other ‘happenings’” (McFadden). Lindsay had recently passed away, so it was fitting for him to support his beautification projects with homage to a Mayor who also had an artistic vision for the city.

He includes the entire city of New York with his broad sweeping plans for beautification and modernization. He mentions a baseball museum and resort hotel for Coney Island, a pool and skating rink for Queens, a Staten Island baseball stadium, and a river development and military academy for the Bronx. He envisions the west side of Manhattan as a sports Mecca and a possible site for the 2012 Olympics. The significance is to bring all of New York together and to acknowledge that he recognizes all boroughs and all neighborhoods.

He ends his speech referencing two men, one who he likens himself to as an artist, and the other he humbles himself to. He says, “I feel like Giuseppe Verdi did when he sat down and wrote ‘Falstaff.’” Falstaff was a compilation of multiple themes that Verdi had been unable to include in his previous operas. This links to his theme of beautification, and he is referencing himself as an artist creating a masterpiece. Soon after this though, he shows some recognition that this is very much a dream and that a lot of what he wants to do is unobtainable considering he only has one year left. He concludes with, “And then, as Fiorello La Guardia – the Mayor that I will never exceed, and I don’t believe anyone else ever will in terms of accomplishment – as La Guardia said, we’re going to turn the City over, better, not worse than we found it.” Finally, some humility, but also a nod to this term being the end of his legacy.

“Every crime that we stop represents a person who’s going to live, a person who can go about exercising their right as a free citizen of the United States.”
Giuliani references “safety” as the “most important civil right.” By doing this, he is using “safety” as an ideograph. He is using a broad and well recognized/widely used term and narrows our use of it – now we recognize it as a civil right – our most important civil right. By framing safety in this way, he sets the stage to lay out his aggressive police and crime policies. He portrays his crime policies as a way of promoting civil rights.

“New York City creates the culture of America and much of the culture of the world.”

Giuliani portrays New York City as a cultural mecca and a place that the world looks to for inspiration. It is this portrayal that lays the foreground for his vision of NYC as a modern and beautiful city. It also instills in us an obligation to work with him to live up to and set the standards for the rest of the world.

“But the School Construction Authority wasn’t doing a really good job. See, that’s a better way. The new Rudy should say it that way. The School Construction Authority wasn’t doing such a good job. Was it a disaster? I can’t say that. The old Rudy would say, ‘It was a disaster.’”

Giuliani had entered this speech after a year of turmoil and criticism. Many praised this address because his manner was more conciliatory and gracious than it had been in past years. This quote represents an attempt by him to portray himself as a new kind of man – more humble, more gracious, and less abrasive.

“The City should permanently be required to think about, in advance, how to deal with emergencies, rather than deal with them as they’re happening, so we can save more lives and help more people.”

I wasn’t sure if I should include this quote in my analysis. At the time, this line,in reference to his Office of Emergency Management, didn’t stand out in any particular way. However, in hindsight it is a little unnerving – who would have thought of the foreshadowing this quote was having with 9/11 only months away?

“Safety” – as mentioned earlier, safety is used as an ideograph and is described as the “most important civil right.” It is the basis behind much of his policies, and he even links it to his desire for education reform, stating, “If making a city safe is the single most important thing you can do, equally important is making sure that children get the highest quality education possible.”

“Work” – Giuliani starts his speech thanking everyone for the work they do that makes NYC the city it is. He references hard work as the reason for the many city accomplishments during his terms and cites hard work as what is needed for more accomplishments in the year to come. This links heavily to the genre of the State of the City Address in that a big portion of the address is highlighting what needs to be done in the coming year. In a sense he is using this to demonstrate his ethos, and he also uses this to support his history of decreasing welfare, stating, “It’s not good to be dependent on the government. It’s much better to be working.”

“Simple” – Giuliani references many books and concepts during his speech as well as demonstrates how to use a defibrillator. He says, “Its real simple.” “It’s simple to use,” “It’s a very simple description.” Giuliani is trying to give us the sense that his policies and ideas are no-brainers; they are simple to understand and thus can’t and shouldn’t be contested. This is a part of his logos.

“Modernization” and “Beautiful” – A large and final theme of Giuliani’s is his vision of making the city modern and beautiful. He supplements his speech with visuals, saying, “See, isn’t that beautiful?” allowing us a small glimpse into his grand vision.

Books:

-Rudy Giuliani: Emperor of the City by Andrew Kirtzman (2000)

-The Prince of the City: Giuliani, New York, and the Genius of American Life by Fred Siegel (2006)

-Grand Illusion: The Untold Story of Rudy Giuliani and 9/11 by Wayne Barrett and Dan Collins (2007)

-The Full Rudy: The Man, the Myth, the Mania by Jack Newfield (2007)

-Rudy Giuliani also wrote his own book on leadership in 2002, aptly titled Leadership

Movie:

-“Rudy – the Rudy Giuliani Story” (2003)

References

Bagli, Charles V. “Giuliani Administration Negotiating for a Jazz Concert Hall on Site of the Coliseum” The New York Times 28 Jan. 1998. Web. 12 Jan 2016. <

Bumiller, Elizabeth. “Mayor Undergoes Cancer Treatment.“ The New York Times 16 Sep. 2000. Web. 13 Jan. 2016. <

Bumiller, Elizabeth. “The Mayor’s Address: The Overview; Giuliani Proposes Extending School to ‘Patch’ System.” The New York Times 9 Jan. 2001. Web. 12 Jan. 2016. <

Duke, Lynne. "Giuliani Hit By Barrage Of Criticism; Reaction to Latest Shooting Draws Fire From All Sides.” The Washington Post 25 Mar. 2000: A06. Web. 12 Jan 2016.