Michael Goodwin: Rudy Giuliani took Gotham from the brink to the big time Americas mayor belongs in NYCs Hall of Fame

The report that Rudy Giuliani has turned a corner in his battle with pneumonia and is breathing on his own in a Florida hospital is certainly worth cheering.“Just yesterday he was in critical condition, so I’m incredibly grateful to share that he is now conscious, off the ventilator, and even cracking jokes,” his son Andrew told The Post on Tuesday.It was separately reported that his condition was so serious when he arrived at the hospital that a priest had given him last rites.Almost as remarkable as his improvement is the enormous outpouring of well wishers, with even Mayor Mamdani joining the chorus.“I think he is someone that we as New Yorkers know well.And he’s been a fixture in our city’s politics and public life for so many years.

And I know that many New Yorkers are concerned by the reports that he’s in critical condition, and so we do keep him and his family in our prayers at this time,” Mamdani said.Bravo, Mr.Mayor.Such is the deep and justified respect that far surpasses politics and party lines for the Man Who Saved New York.Without Giuliani’s two terms in City Hall, New York would not be nearly the place it is today.

It surely has its flaws, but ever since his tenure, it has been the safest big city in America.That is owing to the fact that he proved that crime could be reduced and controlled, meaning no mayor since has had the luxury of pretending there is nothing he can do when blood is shed.Until Giuliani came along, there wasn’t much hope that Gotham could recover from the violent crime wave that wrecked the city and its economy in the late 1980s and early 1990s.Although the socialist Mamdani and the conservative Giuliani don’t agree on much, it is a fact that the current mayor is the most recent in a long line whose performance has benefited from critical reforms and standards Giuliani established.Chief among them is the NYPD’s weekly release of major crime statistics for the five boroughs.It is now a routine report card ...