Mayor Koch, New York: "How'm I Doin'?"

Brash and opinionated New York City mayor Ed Koch would stand at  subway entrances and ask his electors, "How'm I doin'?" 
    So, how's Ed doin' now? Well, Koch's obituaries strive to balance his mayoral record (1978-89).

   Koch is credited with New York's transformation from a city on the verge of bankruptcy to its emergence as a global financial powerhouse.

  But Koch is also derided for failing to stem New York's crime wave, crack cocaine epidemic, AIDS crisis and descent into racial tension.

  After losing his last election in 1989, Koch dismissed calls for him to stand again. "The people threw me out and now the people must be punished."

  Koch, born in December 1924, died on 1 February.

Paul Coleman, London Intelligence, February 2013