By Jerry Zremski NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF
Updated: 12/16/07 7:33 AM
NEW YORK — To deputy fire chief Jim Riches — who lost his son Jimmy, also a firefighter, on Sept. 11, 2001 — Rudy Giuliani is no hero, but rather the mayor who left firemen without the equipment they needed to be safe.
To Michael Meyers, Giuliani is the mayor who let the Police Department run amok.
And to Buffalo native Dave Czapla, Giuliani was the nanny mayor whose efforts to tame the city damaged its soul.
You’ll meet people like Riches, Meyers and Czapla all over the Big Apple. They’re living proof that, while Rudy Giuliani may be “America’s mayor” and a leading Republican candidate for president, he’s anything but New York City’s sweetheart.
Nearly six years after Giuliani left office, 57 percent of the city’s residents surveyed earlier this month have an unfavorable impression of him, a Siena College poll found last week.
7:58 am on December 16, 2007
