Dec 14th in NYC History -
The Mayor's Authority is derived from God and Money;
Jack Dempsey;
Koufax;
King Kong;
U-N-YC;
Yankees die at 51;
Saturday Night Fever;
Bubble Swallows Big Fish.

1653:  Nieuw Amsterdam's CEO/Director-General/Governor Peter Stuyvesant declares to the new city government's General Assembly that his authority derives from "God and the Dutch West India Company, and not from a few ignorant
subjects."     

This Foreshadowed Mayor Bloomberg's approach* to governing,

But back to the past, the Assembly had gathered to discuss the city's defense and fiscal issues, as well as Stuyvesant's "arbitrary government."

About ten years later the city fell to the British Navy, which overwhelmed the nearly defenseless city.**   


1920:  Jack Dempsey, Heavyweight Champ, successfully defends his title in a difficult bout, his only one at Madison Square Garden.

Dempsey beats Brennan at MSG


1928:  Mayor LaGuardia opens the Sixth Avenue subway line, including includes the F, B and D trains, running from West Fourth to 50th Streets. 


1946:  The United Nations General Assembly establishes the U.N. headquarters in New York City.   

The land was donated by the Rockefellers, who encourage international relations and globalization. 

After completion in 1950, it became international territory, so buy a UN stamp there if you want to mail a letter from the east side of 1st Avenue and 46th St after you take their wonderful, if somewhat depressing yet hopeful tour.

Being international territory, the diplomats enjoy diplomatic immunity, including not paying millions of dollars worth of parking tickets,

buying guns at Jovino Gun Shop

and packing their pouches with them to be enjoyed in Africa, the most armed place on earth.



Jovino's interior for Serpico.  'You're fighting an army?'


 
1954:  Sandy Koufax joins the major leagues and the Brooklyn Dodgers.



1963:  Last major sporting event at the Polo Grounds.  Jets lost to Buffalo 19-10.     

The first pro-football game was played there in 1920, and the first major league baseball game happened in 1890.  


1977: Saturday Night Fever opens.


1980:  Elston Howard died at age 51.  The baseball catcher was the first black to play for the Yankees from 1955-1967. He was an MVP in 1963 and the Yankees' coach.


What's the deal with Yankees' stars dying at 51?!

1985:  Roger Maris died at age 51.  The right-fielder led the Yankees to win five Pennants (1960-64), and beat Babe Ruth's single season home run record with 61 in 1961.



2000:  The Federal Trade Commission approves the $111 Billion merger of AOL and TimeWarner with AOL as the bigger half!

By this point, the tech bubble already burst, but the deal began before that.
   
This move probably cost the CEO of TimeWarner his job, as the
TimeWarner corporation spent the next few years decoupling itself from AOL.


2005:  King Kong returns to the Empire State Building.


2006:  Ban Ki-moon of South Korea sworn in as the eighth secretary-general of the United Nations.



**Stuyvesant's proposed defense in 1664 against the mighty British Navy was for New Amsterdamers to die defending the city to the end.  The Assembly over-ruled him that time, negotiating a peaceful transfer to the British guaranteeing the newly renamed British colony of New York's continued tolerance, property rights, rights, customs, rule of law, freedom of press and religion, and free trade -- all of which distinguished NYC from all the other British colonies on the east coast which had official religions and trade restricted to Britain.  

Fiscally, the former military man, Stuyvesant, was the best leader the colony ever had.  But he was a bitter pill who hated diversity and its sometimes inefficiencies.

Not sure what's going on here, but it looks like Stuyvesant is hassling Asser Levy the respected Jewish Butcher and Lawyer whom the Assembly gave rights of citizenship to, over the Governor's objections.  I like how the dog is barking at Stuy.  Maybe he wants to take his peg leg.

He made a difficult transition to New York City life, which elucidates why he keeps haunting St Mark's in the Bowery Church, which I like to highlight on East Village Tours.   

I love to cover all these topics in my Nieuw Amsterdam tour (Queen's Day is coming 30 April!), and in my Seaport Tour.

*Back to the present:

[*Even Giuliani couldn't get his term limited term extended
in the wake of the 9/11/01 attacks, but
Mayor Bloomberg used the "economic emergency" to get the City Council to set aside term limits, even though limits had been passed by two voter referendums.    

A few months later in 2009, Bloomberg held a press conference to announce how he successfully shepherded the city through the financial emergency.  A reporter asked if Bloomberg would withdraw his candidacy for a third term, since he accomplished his emergency mission already. 

The Mayor replied: "I don't see how that is relevant" and then he strode off the stage, ending the press conference. 

No one asked that question again, making it irrelevant.

After spending $100 million, or a half percent of his wealth, he
narrowly beat the Democratic candidate, winning his third term, which we are honored to be experiencing this day.

Stuyvesant's authority derived from God and corporate investors, Bloomberg's from tens of billions of dollars.]