_______________LETTER FROM OCCUPIED NEW YORK BY JOHN LEONARD (01/14/99)

Rudy is a jerk. Everyone knows that by now. What dismays me about this article was that John Leonard, whose TV column brightens up the generally dismal New York magazine (and whose livelihood depends upon the yuppies he bashes), had absolutely nothing constructive to say. In three years' time, Mayor Giuliani will have departed to either the U.S. Senate or -- God forbid -- the Deputy U.S. Attorney General's Office, where he will be happily alienating his colleagues as per usual. Meanwhile, back in New York, the city's residents will begin to look back on Rudy's reign as a sort of Golden Age, because we'll have a drippy Democratic machine politician in Gracie Mansion, and, well, standards will begin to slip. Crime will begin to nudge upwards, ever so slowly at first. The mob will quietly move back into the fish market, the carting industry and the Javits Center. The subways will be a little, um, edgier. "Friends" will move to Los Angeles. Rudy, effective as he is, could definitely have done a better job in some areas. He didn't need to force out Bill Bratton, and he didn't need to make Khallid Abdul Muhammad look respectable. Were he able to be given a third "mandate" by the voters, he would self-destruct in an explosion of ego and power-hunger. But seriously, do you think Ruth Messinger could have done a better job? -- Paul Wagenseil New York John Leonard does all who live outside of New York City a serious disservice with his rant of half-truths and conveniently buried descriptions. It is true that Mayor Giuliani has a thin skin and very little tolerance for those who disagree. But to pretend that the citizens of this city live in some fascist concentration camp where we all scurry in fear from the mayor's outrageous temper is not only a lie, it is a total disregard for the facts. Unfortunately, it would take too much space to detail all of the outright lies that Leonard spews about New York's mayor. Maybe we are all in denial, but as long as the streets stay clean and the murder rate continues to drop, I'll allow for our blowhard, thin-skinned, dictatorial tyrant of a mayor to do his thing. But don't worry, John, you still have the City Council and other fellow travelers to take us to the cleaners! -- Jeffrey Abelson New York As a 10-year resident of New York, I must say that John Leonard's article about Mayor Rudolph Giuliani was dead on. I have seen New York go from the heights of the '80s excess to the lows of the early '90s recession. One thing that had remained constant was that the city was like a great, raging lion -- excitement lurked around every corner, from the seamy sex-soaked streets of Times Square to the drug-infested parks of the East Village. Performers abounded all over the city, in the subways and on nearly every corner. If you ever needed directions, there was always a helpful New Yorker at hand to tell you what you needed to know, more than you needed to know. New York still resembles a lion, but more like one of the mangy fleabag varieties you would see at a roadside attraction long before PETA. At one time New York fashions and trends were mimicked all over television. However, New York hasn't really produced anything original for the past few years. Giuliani has wiped out all the street performers so that huge MTV and Coca-Cola events clog the streets for the amusement of the tourists. And speaking of tourists! They seem to be the only ones who are benefiting from Giuliani's so-called Quality of Life laws. They flood into the city in droves because the city has become safe for them and not us. Today, ask directions from a New Yorker? You will probably be brushed aside as they mutter, "fucking tourist." All I have to say about all of this is: Thank God for term limits! -- Ann P. Duddy God, it must be hell to live in New York City now. When I was there in 1985, I was warned not to walk past a hotel on 42nd Street because the welfare residents improved their prospects by dropping piss-filled balloons on passersby. There were, of course, all the suggestions about living through the visit to go home. I was in New York last August. No urine bombs, a feeling of safety so profound that my daughter-in-law (who lives in Brooklyn) had no qualms about taking the subway alone late at night without even a dollar in her pocket. Let me tell you, tourists hate that. -- Harry Eagar Maui, Hawaii N E X T+P A G E+| Tom Brokaw's ludicrous opinions; Michael Jordan's last hurrah