ARCHIVES OF THE MAYOR'S WEEKLY COLUMN Archives of Rudolph W. Giuliani

The Greatest City in the World Keeps Getting Better

New York has always been considered the cultural, financial, and entertainment capital of the world. But New Yorkers have not always thought of their City as a great place to live.

In a New York Times survey from October 1993, 45% of residents said they would move out of the City the next day if they could. This shocking statistic makes sense when we recall that in the early 1990s the City was losing tens of thousands of jobs a year, quality of life continued to deteriorate every year, and our spirit had never seemed lower.

But what a difference seven years can make. When my administration took office in January 1994, no one thought we'd be able to accomplish so much in such a short period of time. But we have.

Likewise, a year ago many believed that New York City's renaissance had already reached its peak. But once again we've proven the pessimists wrong. 2000 was undeniably a great year for New York City.

Whereas the crime rate was flat in the country as a whole in 2000, we continued to make significant progress in the fight to improve public safety. As of December 24, 2000, serious crime was down 5.5% from 1999. Robberies led the decline with a decrease of 9.5%, while auto theft (down 8.1%) and burglary (down 7.6%) also decreased substantially. But most of us don't need statistics to tell us that New York is safer than it used to be. New Yorkers can sense it every day, as we walk our City's streets, play in its parks, or ride its subways and buses.

When it comes to job growth, our achievements are no less remarkable. 83,900 jobs were created in the first eleven months of 2000. This figure surpasses the private sector job growth for all of last year (83,800), which was the City's best performance in more than 40 years. Counting these latest figures, the City has created almost 447,000 new private sector jobs since January 1994. This is almost 100,000 more than the 348,000 jobs that were lost in the early 1990s.

The revitalization of Times Square also continued at a brisk pace in 2000, with the groundbreaking for the new 45-story Westin New York Hotel and the grand opening of Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum this past fall. Columbus Circle will soon welcome a new home for Jazz at Lincoln Center, and we recently announced plans for a spectacular new Guggenheim Museum on the East River in Lower Manhattan.

Cultural and economic development has also extended to every borough in our City. The Japanese Garden restoration at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden was finished last May. The Kingsbridge Armory in the Bronx is being transformed into a center for entertainment, shopping, and recreation. Construction has begun on the 166-room Marriott Courtyard Hotel at JFK Airport and the 150-room Hilton Hotel on Staten Island. And soon the new minor league ballpark on Staten Island will be joined by a new home for the Brooklyn Cyclones at Coney Island.

Finally, 2000 was the year I fulfilled my campaign promise to bring a subway World Series to New York for the first time since 1956. Whether you rooted for the Yankees or the Mets, it was thrilling for all New Yorkers to see our City recognized as the baseball capital of the world.

Now more than ever, we should be proud of our City and ourselves. We have accomplished tremendous things together. And we have every reason to believe that 2001 will be even better