Bronx Borough President
Ferrer was appointed Bronx Borough President as the result of the then holder of that office, Stanley Simon, going to jail in a major municipal scandal, that included the imprisonment of then Bronx Democratic Party boss Stanley Friedman. Ferrer began his 14-year tenure as Bronx borough president when the Bronx was a symbol of urban decay and neglect. National attention led to a Federal commitment to rebuild. During the Ferrer administration housing was created for about 66,000 families. The borough saw a significant drop in crime, particularly in the South Bronx neighborhood, and a steady rise in business and real estate investment.
In 1997, Ferrer launched a campaign for Mayor of New York. Trailing in the polls and under increased pressure from party insiders for a unified Democratic Party, he abruptly dropped out and endorsed the eventual Democratic nominee, Manhattan Borough President Ruth Messinger.
Read more about this topic: Fernando Ferrer
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“who chained themselves to subways for the endless ride from Battery
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brought them down shuddering mouth-wracked and battered bleak of brain and drained of brilliance in the drear light of Zoo,”
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—Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933)