At a packed and emotional news conference in May 2000, in which he announced he was dropping out of the race for the U.S. Senate as a result of his illness, Giuliani admitted to suddenly seeing the world very differently. He said his illness had changed him and that he wanted to reach out to minority groups and the poor. Most important, he said, he had newfound respect, understanding, and empathy for the city's uninsured. It seems Giuliani couldn't feel people's pain until he, well--literally--felt people's pain. But once he had, he stated that extending health insurance coverage to more of the city's uninsured was his top goal for his remaining 18 months in office. ''One of the things that I felt from the beginning of [my illness] and continue to feel is a tremendous sense of compassion for the people that have to make decisions like this alone," he explained. "One of the things maybe that I can do is figure out how we accelerate making sure that people are covered."  

heh

Before Rudy when I went to NYC on business it was like being in a compound...all that was missing was sandbags around the hotel's doors and guards on each floor.... (I actually experienced the guards on each floor at a H Inn in Newark... or was it Orange? in '76... the manager said it had more or less stopped the muggings... and yes, I know that was pre Dinkins ...) The most interesting thing about Dinkins is this:

Dinkins' term was marked by polarizing events including the 1991 Crown Heights riots and the boycott of a Korean grocery in Flatbush. He withheld police protection during the Crown Heights Riots, publicly endorsed the accused shoplifters at the Korean grocery, and he used city funds to pay for the funeral of the drug dealer whose being shot by police sparked the Washington Heights Riots [1].

Now. Tell me how good he was for the city...