Sicilian Culture: News: Giuliani Bids New York Farewell

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Giuliani Bids New York Farewell
By Timothy Williams, Los Angeles Times

December 27, 2001 - - NEW YORK -- Rudolph Giuliani said goodbye today as mayor of the city where he has battled critics, crime and the Sept. 11 crisis. He said a "soaring" memorial must dominate plans for the rebuilt trade center site...standing on an altar one block east of ground zero.
Giuliani, 57, leaves on the highest note of his administration: his acclaimed handling of the city following the terrorist attacks that collapsed the World Trade Center and killed more than 2,900 people.
Giuliani, near the end of his 55-minute address, said he believed the site of the collapsed towers should be turned into a "soaring, beautiful memorial" to the victims of the attack...
With less than a week before he leaves office, the mayor told listeners that when he took office eight years ago, he was determined to take a different approach from his predecessors-- even though he knew it would cause "hostility and anger" among critics.
"When I became mayor of New York City in 1993, it seemed to me that I had to do something different than other mayors," Giuliani said. "It seemed I had to totally change the direction and course of New York City."
During his time in office, Giuliani helped drastically slash the city's crime rates, renovated Times Square and made New York a tourist attraction once again. For his efforts after Sept. 11, he was named Time magazine's "person of the year."...
Giuliani, comfortable in front of a friendly crowd...spoke at St. Paul's Chapel in lower Manhattan, a pre-Revolutionary War Episcopal church one block east of the trade center ruins.
The mayor described the church as "hallowed ground," noting that George Washington prayed there following his inauguration in 1789. He also pointed out that the church emerged unscathed Sept. 11, without even a single window broken.
Giuliani, a Republican, was barred by term limits law from seeking a third consecutive term. His last day in City Hall will be Dec. 31, with the man he endorsed-- billionaire businessman Michael Bloomberg-- taking over on New Year's Day.
Giuliani was expected to swear Bloomberg in at a brief ceremony around midnight in Times Square.
www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-122701giuliani_wr.story

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