Ken meets his match IN boss of New York

Inheritance ' It would be difficult to exaggerate the mess into which New York City had declined by the time Rudolph Giuliani became mayor in 1993.

Dubbed "Calcutta-on-Hudson" by commentators, the city's neighbourhoods were being ravaged by violence and mayhem.

More than 2,000 people a year were being murdered, compared with just 150 in London (which has the same population). The City Hall payroll was bloated and services near breakdown. Thousands were living in the streets, which were dirty, potholed and dangerous.

New Yorkers were increasingly being terrorised by gangs of youths roaming the streets on "wilding" rampages. Central Park had become virtually unusable. The middle class voted with its feet and increasingly fled the strife-torn city for the suburbs. The only bright spot was the subway, which had been cleaned up during the Eighties by Robert Kiley (London's new transport commissioner).

Ken Livingstone has inherited a city that is far less frightening than the Big Apple was in 1993.

Nonetheless, London in 2000/01 has problems that would have been all-too-recognisable to New Yorkers a decade before, though on a more modest scale.

Violent - notably gun-related - crime is rising steeply, while the police are clearly out of their depth.

Public services have declined to the point where the Underground and suburban train services make daily headlines. Street homelessness is now far more visible in London than New York. It is increasingly impossible to organise any major public event in London, for "safety" reasons. Visible drug-trading now flourishes in the streets of the West End. London is losing its precious safety and its capacity to deliver decent public services.

The power to change things They share a nostalgic desire to return their city to the better, more community-spirited days of the Fifties or before ' "Hizzoner", the mayor of New York, is the first citizen of a city which has virtually no other big players. The President and federal government are based in Washington, while the New York state administration lives quietly, many miles away, in Albany.

There are five boroughs within New York City, though they have far fewer powers than their 33 London counterparts. The 51 members of the city council are, like the 25 London assembly equivalents, dominated by the mayor.

Thus the mayor of New York is the only political show in town.

Ken Livingstone, by contrast must fight for political limelight with the Blair Government, Whitehall departments, the borough leaders and the Corporation of London. It happens that Livingstone is a highly-visible political heavyweight, which boosts his capacity to punch above his weight.

More importantly, Giuliani is in charge of welfare and social services, public hospitals, street cleaning and lighting, taxis and limousines, housing, planning, police, fire, parks and leisure, sanitation and the environment. He funds education, though has very limited control. Transport (subways, buses, airports and roads) is largely in the hands of state government agencies. Economic development is shared between the city and the state. He is subject to scrutiny by the city council.

Livingstone's empire is smaller and his power less direct. He has control over the boards that provide transport, economic development and, to a lesser extent, the fire brigade. The Mayor of London also has some responsibilities for the police, the environment, planning and culture. He is subject to scrutiny by the assembly.

The overall turnover of New York City is about 25billion. Once the Tube is handed over to the Mayor of London, his equivalent budget will be about 5 billion.

Key appointments Being mayor of New York brings powers of personal patronage that would horrify British watchdogs.

The mayor and his (personally-chosen) office can put their people into any of the many commissioner jobs. Patronage is used widely and with purpose in the New York system. Giuliani's highest-profile appointment was of police chief William Bratton, who was widely credited with the success of his now-famous "zero-tolerance" policing methods. Indeed, so successful was Bratton that Giuliani came to see his appointee as a rival, eclipsing the mayor's media profile.

The relationship between the high-profile mayor and his high- profile police commissioner ended in tears, with Bratton being replaced by a Giuliani loyalist.

Livingstone has significant, but more limited, patronage powers. He has appointed chief officers for transport and economic development, and boards for these services plus police, fire and cultural strategy. Senior officers within the GLA are appointed by the assembly, which is very different from the New York mayor's hire- and-fire powers at City Hall.

Ken Livingstone has used his powers to make Robert Kiley transport commissioner. Kiley is a powerful and independent man. It will be interesting to see how far Livingstone can avoid the Giuliani- Bratton problem of an officer eclipsing the mayor who appointed him.

Similarities Rudi Giuliani and Ken Livingstone appear, at first sight, to be as different as chalk and cheese. The former is often seen as a mean-spirited Right-winger, while the latter is a cheery Leftwing populist. Yet in other ways they have much in common. Both were born in the suburbs of the cities they now run: Giuliani in Brooklyn and Livingstone in Streatham. Both were born to working class families and have flowered politically within the cities in which they were brought up.

Both have thus far had conspicuously less success on their respective national political stages than locally, though both have wanted to move on to a leading role nationally.

They both share a nostalgic desire to return their city to the better, more community-spirited, days of the Fifties or before. Livingstone has talked lovingly of a time when bowler-hatted City gents used to go to work on the buses, while Giuliani has championed efforts to stop nuisance crime and to make the streets safe again.

Both men support the employment of more uniformed police, particularly on the beat.

Despite his reputation, Giuliani is broadly liberal on gay issues, abortion and towards immigration. Livingstone can be publicly tough on policing such as stop-and-search.

The big question Giuliani's seven-year reign as mayor has been characterised by an aggressive attack-first, ask-questions-later style.

He and his office have destroyed opponents and sidelined anyone who did not share his enthusiasm for clean-and-safe policies. Black politicians, in particular, have fared badly.

New York has been so cleaned-up that some inhabitants complain it has been too "sanitised" and - after Disney moved into the previously- sleazy Times Square district - made fit only for Mickey Mouse.

But no one, not even Upper West Side liberals, will privately denounce the cleaner, safer New York and take the risk of returning to a graffiti-covered subway, crime-infested and filthy streets or midday rapes in Central Park.

Giuliani may be bad, but the alternative is far, far, worse. His successor will almost inevitably be a Democrat offering all the current mayor's successes, but without the nasty character traits.

As he completes his last year in office (he is restricted to a two- term limit) Giuliani begs an important question for Ken Livingstone: is it possible radically to reduce crime and make public services effective without being tough and mean?

Giuliani has never wished to be loved, and indeed has been happy to be hated by much of his city's political elite. In this sense he resembles British public figures such as Margaret Thatcher and Chris Woodhead.

The post-2000 Livingstone, by contrast, wants to be liked and has adopted the "big tent" approach also used by Tony Blair.

But can a politician ever really bring about change to the government of a vast, difficult, city without being politically brutal? The much-heralded sacking of London Underground's top brass may, if it occurs, be a sign of Mr Livingstone's willingness to be as nasty as his New York counterpart.

As he walks away from City Hall, will he see Rudi Giuliani as a model to copy, or one to avoid?

* Tony Travers is director of the London School of Economics Greater London Group.

Ken Livingstone

AGE: 55

EDUCATION: Tulse Hill Comprehensive, Philippa Fawcett College of Education PAY: 84,384

DATE OF ELECTION: 4 May 2000

TERM OF OFFICE: Until May 2004 BASE: Romney House, a Government office block in Westminster BUDGET: With the turnover of Transport for London included, Mr Livingstone has a budget of about 5 billion. Ten per cent comes from the council tax precept, 30 per cent from fares and 60 per cent from government grant STYLE: The "cheeky chappie" populist, famous for his string of ready quips. Propelled to power as an independent candidate against the party machines, he has to strike a balance to appear radical enough to please his core supporters and yet responsible enough to keep less adventurous types on board.

Travels by Tube, minicab and taxi

POPULARITY: High. London's business leaders rate Mr Livingstone more highly than either Tony Blair or William Hague. The latest London Monitor survey of the capital's executives found that half still expect his election as Mayor to be good for their own business POLITICS: The man of the Left.

Historically he has been associated with the gamut of Leftwing causes, particularly during his stewardship of the Greater London Council in the Seventies and Eighties. But he currently runs an administration assisted by supporters of all the major parties

PERSONAL LIFE: Lives with long term partner Kate Allen, the UK head of Amnesty International.

They have homes in Cricklewood and Brighton.

Loves eating out (he was once an esteemed restaurant critic for the Evening Standard) and Britpop bands like Blur ACHIEVEMENT SO FAR: Still laying policy foundations, having won the election with a sketchy manifesto.

But he has extracted a better than expected transport settlement from the Government to start building new Tube lines. Also employed Robert Kiley, the acknowledged transport expert who revitalised subway systems in New York and Boston

WHAT HE NEEDS TO KNOW: Livingstone will want to know how Rudi Giuliani made the city feel safe.

He is also keen to learn about the regeneration of rundown areas such as Harlem

Rudi Giuliani

AGE: 56 EDUCATION: Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School, Brooklyn, Manhattan College in the Bronx, New York University Law School PAY: $195,000 (139,000) DATE OF ELECTION: 1993. Beat David Dinkins, New York's first black mayor.

TERM OF OFFICE: Until December this year BUDGET: Giuliani is his own man with a budget of a staggering 25 billion.

Crucially, he can raise income through state taxes. A quarter of his income is derived from charges for state services and money received by the city in grants STYLE: Uncompromising. His attempt to soften his image by smiling was derided by critics as "satanic". Was a crusading US Attorney for the Southern District of New York where he set a record of 4,152 convictions against drug dealers, mobsters and white-collar criminals. Carried the aggressive approach into City Hall POPULARITY: Respected rather than loved.

Seen by some as a control freak. Everyone concedes he has worked miracles, but many remain unsure about his approach.

Minorities are wary of him (he lists the defeat of political correctness in New York as one of his prime achievements) POLITICS: Once a Democrat. Now a "liberal" Republican in a city dominated by Democrats. Highly regarded by his party. Made a US Attorney General under the Reagan administration.

Pulled out of last year's senate race but still seen by some as a future presidential candidate PERSONAL LIFE: Has lived in Gracie Mansion, the opulent former merchant house overlooking the East River, with his wife Donna Hanover, 50, and two children.

Seen more often of late in the company of his "very good friend" Judith Nathan, a 45-year-old divorcee. This has caused some disquiet, but he received much sympathy last May when he revealed he is suffering from prostate cancer. Loves baseball, opera and the high arts ACHIEVEMENT SO FAR: Giving the creed of "zero tolerance" its finest hour. Crime is down 50 per cent, murder 70 per cent, and New York is recognised by the FBI as the USA's safest large city. The city's "workfare", in which people have to work to get benefits, is the most successful in the country WHAT HE NEEDS TO KNOW: Will try to get as much information as possible from Livingstone about the Met's use of DNA technology to solve crimes

Copyright 2001
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