ABSTRACT
Rudy’s vision for the city of New York rested not only on what New York represented, but on what it had to become: Safe, so that people could achieve their ambitions for themselves and their families. Rudy’s real ambition was to confront the impossible. He had to address not just the staggering crime rate but also the culturally embedded belief that nothing could be done about it. Rudy and his team members saw that the key to transforming New York City into a dramatically safer, more prosperous, more livable place began with an assumption: “People created the problem, so people can solve the problem.” This took the “impossible” task ahead and expressed it in simple human terms that framed the entire task in a much more manageable way. It gave confidence that the task could be understood and a way forward developed.
