Whether loving him or hating him, just about everybody had to admit that three-term Mayor Ed Koch was the quintessential New York City politician. He was blunt, funny, combative and shrewd. He was charismatic in a typically uncharismatic New York way.
Visitors walking the city's clean streets and pedestrian plazas today would hardly recognize the New York of the '70s and '80s. Rampant crime, near-bankruptcy, urban blight, graffiti, the AIDS epidemic and racial conflict marked the mayor's tenure.
The new PBS POV documentary Koch is an insider's account that mixes a wealth of archival material with Ed Koch's ruminations and ceaseless political activity through his final years. Koch has its national broadcast premiere on Monday, Sept. 22nd at 10 PM on PBS as part of the 27th season of POV.
Filmmaker Neil Barsky joins us along with Ed Koch’s friend former Chief of Staff, Diane Coffey.
