The Streets Were Paved with Gold - Ken Auletta [0]
Copyright © 1975, 1976, 1977, 1979 by Ken Auletta
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American
Copyright Conventions.
Published in the United States by Random House, Inc.,
New York, and in Canada by Random
House of Canada Limited, Toronto.
Originally published by Random House, Inc., in March 1979.
Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following for permission to reprint previously published material:
Brookings Institution: Excerpt from Richard P. Nathan and Paul R. Dommel, “The Cities,” in Joseph A. Pechman, ed., Setting National Priorities: The 1978 Budget, (Brookings Institution, 1977), this page.
Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc.: Abridged excerpt from this page–this page of “Here Is New York” in Essays of E. B. White (1977) by E. B. White. Copyright 1949 by E. B. White. Reprinted by permission of Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc.
New England Economic Review: Excerpt from Lynn Browne and Richard Syron, New England Economic Review, July/August 1977, this page.
“More for Less” appeared originally in The New Yorker.
“Profile of Abe Beame” by Ken Auletta is reprinted courtesy of The New York Times. © 1975 by The New York Times Company. Reprinted by permission.
“How the Lies of New York’s Political Midgets Are Destroying the City,” “After the Storm, the Hurricane,” and “What It’s Like to Be Dead: A Report from City Hall” are reprinted by permission of The Village Voice. © The Village Voice, Inc., 1975.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Auletta, Ken.
The streets were paved with gold.
1. New York (City)—Economic conditions. 2. Finance, Public—New York (City) 3. New York (City)—Politics and government—1951- I. Title. HC108.N7A9 1980 336.747′1 79–22305
eISBN: 978-0-307-80071-8
v3.1
For Nettie
and Pat Auletta
Acknowledgments
I HAPPEN TO HAVE one of the world’s great jobs. As a journalist, people pay me to meet people, travel, get an education, get my name in the papers, have fun. Journalism is prolonged adolescence.
Writing a book is not as much fun. But you get to work with nice people, some of whom I’d like to thank. My close friend, Richard Reeves, goaded me to write this book and painstakingly reviewed the manuscript. When his legs go, Reeves will make a luminous editor. Ray Horton, Howard Samuels, George Sternlieb, Steve Clifford, Dick Ravitch and my agent, Esther Newberg, also took time to read the book and offer valuable suggestions. Mimi Gurbst charitably assisted with fact-checking, as did Mary Schoonmaker. Tully Plesser suggested the book’s title. Mike O’Neill, editor of the New York Daily News, generously extended my leave of absence with greater frequency than Abe Beame amended his budget deficits. Random House is my publisher because I was eager to work with Jason Epstein, an educated man. I was not disappointed. His assistant, Sara Binder, was of great help, as was copy editor Lynn Strong.
Obviously, any blame for this book is mine. If there be any credit, I would like to share it with someone who had a profound effect on my thinking about New York—Howard Samuels. I had the good fortune to work for Howard on and off from 1965 through 1974. In between helping him lose three gubernatorial campaigns, I listened and learned a lot. He is one of the few liberals I have known who knew how to read a budget. As early as the mid-sixties, he was warning of the city’s gathering fiscal crisis, of the budget gimmicks, the collapse of New York’s economy. At a time when many of us measured the size of a candidate’s heart, Samuels was presciently measuring the institutional rot of our governments—their mismanagement, musclebound civil service system, the too-pervasive power of special-interest groups. From the voters, Howard never received the recognition he deserved. From me, he receives both recognition and thanks.
And, finally, I wish to thank Amanda, who spent the better part of a year staring at my back as I pounded away at the typewriter. During that time, she provided equal measures of constructive criticism and love.