My New York Hero

April 24, 2009 af093669

Ashley Frangella

Professor Penaz

April 24, 2009

Short Essay Assignment #1

 

When Rudolph Giuliani came into office as Mayor of New York in 1994 his main goal was to clean up . He wanted to reduce the crime rate, and turn New York back into the city it was, that is before all organized crime began. He had a very hard job when entering the office in 1994 and it grew only tougher when he had to rebuild the morale of New York in 2001, after the September 11 attacks. I think Rudy did a great job, and that is why he is my New York hero.

The day that Rudy Giuliani took office he adopted an aggressive enforcement-deterrent strategy based on James Q. Wilson‘s “Broken Windows” approach. This involved crackdowns on relatively minor offenses such as graffiti, turnstile jumping, and aggressive “squeegeemen”. Giuliani and Bill Bratton also instituted CompStat, a comparative statistical approach to mapping crime geographically and in terms of emerging criminal patterns, as well as charting officer performance by quantifying criminal apprehensions. As a result of these strategies and leadership, the crime rate dropped drastically.

I respect Giuliani for this drop in crime rate, because it made me feel safer as a citizen of New York. After his two terms in office, I felt more comfortable and secure when walking through the city. Since the drop in crime rate from Giuliani’s term, the rate continues to go down, and as a commuter I feel more protected when traveling to school.

As the mayor of New York, Rudolph Giuliani was just as shocked as the rest of the world by the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. But despite his shocked ness, he knew that at this essential time, it was his job as mayor to keep the citizens of New York joined together. He believed that in order to get through this upsetting event, we needed to lean on each other. Therefore, he went to Ground Zero and helped the FDNY, NYPD, EMT’s or any other volunteers that came to service that day.

When seeing all the news reports, I remember seeing Giuliani’s friendly face and listening to his words of comfort. I give him courage and strength for keeping New York together at that upsetting time. He handled his job with a grace and a passion that the City needed.

In conclusion, I think Mayor Giuliani did an amazing job in helping New York. He helped us reach the full potential that our city could reach. With the help of Rudy Giuliani, New York remained strong through dramatic events, and became a safer city to live in.

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