David Dinkins - 1993 Election

1993 Election

In 1993, Dinkins lost to Republican Rudy Giuliani, earning 48.3 percent of the vote, down from 51 percent in 1989. Although he was a moderate with a substantial history of building coalitions and supporting Jewish causes, one factor in his loss was his perceived indifference to the plight of the Jewish community during the Crown Heights riot.

During his final days in office, Dinkins made last-minute negotiations with the sanitation workers, presumably to preserve the public status of garbage removal. Incoming mayor Giuliani blamed Dinkins for a "cheap political trick" when Dinkins planned the resignation of Victor Gotbaum, Dinkins' appointee on the Board of Education, thus guaranteeing his replacement six months in office. Dinkins also signed a last minute 99-year lease with the USTA National Tennis Center, including strict limitations on flights in and out of neighboring LaGuardia Airport during the US Open.

A 2009 report in The New York Times looking back at the Dinkins administration suggested that its achievements were not as Giuliani stated, noting:

• Significant accomplishments in lowering New York City's crime rate and increasing the size of the New York Police Department, and the hiring of Raymond W. Kelly as police commissioner;
• The cleanup and revitalization of Times Square, including persuading the Walt Disney Corporation to rehabilitate an old 42nd Street theater;
• Major commitment to rehabilitation of dilapidated housing in northern Harlem, the South Bronx and Brooklyn despite significant budget constraints-—more housing rehabilitated in a single term than Mr. Giuliani did in two terms;
• The USTA lease, which in its final form Mayor Michael Bloomberg called "the only good athletic sports stadium deal, not just in New York but in the country";
• Mental-health facility initiatives; and
• Policies and actions that decreased the size of the city's homeless shelter population to its lowest point in 20 years.