A good man...”a mensch” has passed on. Ed Koch at 88. Two a.m
intensive care at New York Presbyterian. An
irresistible spirit, we crossed paths at 2 Fifth Avenue, a newly built
elevator doorman apartment building at 8th Street, the entrance to
Greenwich Village.
II
A four time Congressman, three
time Mayor. Like a sprite out of the Bard’s “Mid Summer Night Dream” his
buoyancy, blistering energy, and observations on human nature, made him a “character’.
His documentary “Koch”opening
the same day, he closed out his lifeline .
Driving down a side street,
passing a Rolls Royce...rolling down his window. “How am I doing?” he asked the
mechanic, driving the owner’s limo.
He tried fighting it out in those
boundaries that transcend the city that never sleeps “Never again,” he said as he was humbled by
the cool indifference to his Bronx born style of interior dialogue..
“How am I doing? “ he asked in
his “Puck” like tones..
So we shared the same space at 2
Fifth Avenue but we were never the butt of his query “How Am I doing?” Three
terms as Mayor. Following Abe Beame of
Manhattan Beach, he dominated the airwaves, managing the reporters “How am I
doing?” never venturing beyond their level of competence.
Therefore on a rendevous at hi
end Fiorello’s , at high noon, his soul ascending , the
“Koch”documentary opened.
V
Ed reckoned with the *Angels.
“How am I doing?”.
*****
*“To get the attention of the public. To follow you, you
must be larger than life.”
the city that never sleeps, two a.m, February 1, 2013
