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March 30, 2007
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FOR THE RECORD

Although Rudy Giuliani's positions as Mayor might be expected to endear him to the business community here, an on-line survey conducted by Crain's New York Business found that two-thirds of those polled believe he lacks the proper temperament to be President.

Among 1,303 persons who responded to the survey by March 21, 68 percent said that Mr. Giuliani was too prickly to get things done in Washington or in dealing with other nations.

The poll was triggered by a column by Crain's publisher Alair Townsend, who stated that there was no question that Rudy "left New York a better, resurgent place" but that by the latter part of his eight years as Mayor his "stick-in-your-eye style wore thin and began to create problems instead of solving them."

The former Budget Director and Deputy Mayor during the Koch administration said that she had voted for Mr. Giuliani all three times that he ran for Mayor, but added, "I do not believe he has the temperament to be president. He does not work well with others. He would have to fundamentally change his style to work effectively with Congress and international leaders. I don't believe he can."

Ms. Townsend noted Mr. Giuliani's refusal to communicate with even moderate black elected officials who he believed had been critical of him, his intransigence in dealing with officials at the Port Authority and the Javits Center, and his withholding of "routine information about governmental operations from other elected officials, civic groups and the news media until he was repeatedly sued and ordered by courts to release it."

She went on to write, "For the past seven years, we have had a president who has shared some of Mr. Giuliani's least-admirable traits. Mr. Bush seems to live in a bubble, closing himself off from people whose opinions could be helpful. He has shown recklessness in taking the nation to war. Our standing in the world reflects this. I don't want more of the same."

Among the survey respondents who took issue with her opinions, one wrote, "Our country and every country need a decision-maker that will stick it in your eye. Is there any other style that bad guys understand?"

* * *

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly revealed last week that the NYPD has begun placing hundreds of surveillance cameras throughout the city.

"They certainly have been helpful," he testified before the City Council's Committee on Public Safety. The cameras have so far been used to identify a suspect in a homicide and other shootings, he said. In all, the NYPD has installed 122 of the planned 505 cameras around the city.

Three weeks ago, a camera inside a Queens apartment building taped a suspect punching Rose Morat, a 101-year-old woman. The Jamaica Estates camera, however, was not owned by the NYPD, which has tried to use the blurry footage to help apprehend the suspect.

At the Council hearing, Mr. Kelly also highlighted the reduction in murders this year to date. Murders have declined 32 percent from the same period in 2006 and there have been 19 percent fewer shootings.

But the Federal Government has not offered as much help as the department has sought for key crime-fighting and counter-terrorism initiatives, Mr. Kelly remarked.

Last year, the city submitted a funding request for $219.7 million, but was only provided with $64 million for the lower Manhattan Security Initiative, to partially fund Operation Atlas, and for new counter-terrorism equipment and training.

* * *

Two veteran District Council 37 officials are calling it a career.

Johnnie Locus, who began as a Nurse's Aide at Coler Memorial Hospital in 1968, is leaving as the union's Hospital Division Director.

Joan Reed, who's been the president of College Assistants Local 2054 for 34 years, actually retired in February, although the union's crack public relations department didn't inform us until last week. A founder of DC 37's Women's Committee, she also helped raise thousands of dollars in scholarship funds for the children and grandchildren of union members.

She will continue to serve as a vice president of DC 37's international union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, until her term ends.

 


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