PAF 9199
David Hoffman
Omar Douce
7-13-15
Notes on the State of the City Address: David Dinkins 1992
David Dinkins, New York City’s first African-Americans Mayor was in the middle of his
only term. As the year 1992 approached, America was going through some substantial changes
with the end of the Cold War and a mild recession. David Dinkins was elected Mayor in 1989
after narrowly defeating incumbent Ed Koch and Rudy Giuliani in the primary and general
election respectively. During the speech, the NYC mayor touted some of his greatest
accomplishments. He talked about the crime rate in the city deceasing thanks to increased police
patrol in various communities across New York. This was in spite of the fact that the crime
increased nationally. I believe that the theme that Mayor Dinkins was implying that government
should be involved in improving the lives of others. He criticized the political philosophy of
Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. This political ideology the Mayor was
refereeing to that the government should have a lazier faire approach to solving problems and tax
breaks should be given to wealthiest Americans. The Mayor said in his address that “a
turnaround in the national economy will happen only when Washington commits itself to better
lives for our people—not to better bombs for our armies and bigger tax break for the privileged.”
i
(2) In other words, unless we have an activist government, only then we can solve our nation’s
problems with regards to unemployment, taxes and so forth.
Mayor David Dinkins talked about have more affordable housing and tenants’ rights for New
Yorkers, stabilized property taxes and additional infrastructure to capital projects in the city.
David Dinkins wanted to build coalitions with unions, businesses and community leaders to get
things done in New York City. For instance, the Mayor eliminated rements for 10% of business
in the 1992 fiscal budget. (13) Also, he reduced business pay by 7.5% for garbage removal. All
of this was part of the message that Mayor David Dinkins was advocating that government
doesn’t have to big but efficient enough to make New York work again. In Mayor Dinkins
words “a more compassionate government should enable us to create a city in which all people
can strive and reach and hope.” (15) I found that to be interesting because the national
Democratic Party at least until the mid-1990’s were seen as the party of big government.
However, it’s anti-climactic because David Dinkins actually reduced government to help solve
some of the fiscal woes facing the city such as cutting programs to tame the fiscal deficit.
Mayor David Dinkins gave his 1992 address at the City Hall Chambers. Like most of his
predecessors and successors, the location of the speech wasn’t significant. However, the mayor
did mentioned a few special places in his state of the city address. One such place was be 8 East
3rd street in Manhattan in which the area was a bastion for homelessness now turned into a rehab
center for alcoholic and provides employment opportunities’ for homeless people. Interestingly,
Mayor Dinkins mentioned Andrew Cuomo, the son of then New York Governor Mario Cuomo
and future governor himself nearly two decades later. Andrew Cuomo was the Chairman of the
New York City Homeless Commission and worked with the Mayor to provide additional
homeless shelters for New York City. ii Another person that the Mayor mentioned was Lissette
Nieves, a graduate of Brooklyn College who became a Rhodes Scholar from that university.
iii
Ms. Nieves was an example of a true success story that regardless of social status, if you work
hard you can achieve anything in life.
Mayor Dinkins did highlight the overall crime decreasing in New York in his address, he was
still facing some racial tension that occurred in the city. In 1991, a riot occurred in Crown Height
Brooklyn between the Jewish and African-American community when Gavin and Angela Cato
were accidently killed in a car crash by Yosef Lifsh who was carrying the body of the late Rabbi
Menachem Schneerson. iv The riot occurred because many African-Americans believed that
Gavin Cato was not receiving equal treatment at Kings County hospital which caused many
young black men to attack Jewish members all around Crown Heights. The riots tarnished Mayor
Dinkins’s image because his handling of the riots made him ineffective. Over 100 NYPD
officers were injured as a result and the relationship between him and the police community
never fully recovered even though crime went down during his term.
I saw numerous language terms in this speech. Some of these terms includes metaphor,
anaphora, alliteration, irony and personification. For alliteration, the words that came up
consistently in his address were opportunity and compassion. An example of a simile in this
address was when Dinkins said “we have a unique role as a generator of commerce.” (2) New
York is seen as the epicenter of creating success stories regardless of race, ethnicity or income.
For paradox, David Dinkins talked about New York City being “a firm vote of confidence by
America.” (3) I found that statement contradictory because the 1991 riots that happened under
his watch was badly mishandled and cause distrust among Jewish New Yorkers. There were a
couple of interesting statements I found to be quitter intriguing. The first one was “for a
government that succumbs to silence can accomplish nothing, and will wither into the depths of
its isolation.” If you don’t act immediately upon a situation, then things will only get worse. The
second statement was a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. when he said “the ultimate
measure of a man is not where stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he
stands at times of challenge and controversy.” (20) I liked that statement because real leadership
tested through crisis as opposed to stability.
Unfortunately, I was not able to find any press reaction to the speech. However, I did find an
article that showed a deep distrust between Mayor Dinkins and the New York City Police
Departmentv. That New York Times was called “Officers Rally and Dinkins Is Their Target” by
James C. McKinley Jr. Mayor Dinkins wanted to create an independent civilian agency that
would monitor police misconduct. The proposal received widespread criticism from the NYPD
and over 10,000 officers marched to City Hall to protest the action. This was a perfect example
that despite David Dinkins advocating for better relations between the police and the citizens,
some of his proposal faced fierce opposition from the NYPD
Overall, I found the address delivered by Mayor David Dinkins to be laid out with details and
highlighted his accomplished. Based on what I read on the speech, he gave a very optimistic tone
about the state of New York City and what the citizens and government officials can do to make
it better. Since David Dinkins was the first African-American Mayor, he had high expectation to
change the trajectory of the city and in many ways he did by taming the fiscal budget, provided
more educational and employment opportunities and so forth. If there was one book I would
recommended reading it would be David Dinkins and New York City Politics: Race, Images, and
the Media by Wilbur C. Rich. That books give a very thought out analysis on David Dinkins
mayoralty and how his leadership changed New York City.
i
David Dinkins. Sate of the City Address. January 2, 1992
Nortz, Shelly. "Cuomo's Potential: Reduce Homelessness - Coalition For The Homeless." Coalition For The
Homeless. Coalition For The Homeless, 1 Dec. 2011. Web. 3 Aug. 2015.
ii
iii
"Brooklyn College's First Rhodes Scholar Works to Boost Today's Students." Brooklyn College. Brooklyn College, 3
Apr. 2002. Web. 3 Aug. 2015.
iv
McFarland, Stephen. "TIMELINE: How Crown Heights Riots Unfolded." NY Daily News. NY Daily News, 14 Aug.
2011. Web. 3 Aug. 2015.
v
Mckinley, James. "Officers Rally And Dinkins Is Their Target." The New York Times. The New York Times, 16 Sept.
1992. Web. 14 Aug. 2015.