"In the mid-1970s, New York was broke, crumbling, and on the edge of collapse. Garbage piled up on sidewalks, unions fought bitterly with City Hall, and bankers refused to buy the bonds that kept the city running. The sense of crisis reached its peak when the Daily News captured the mood with one of the most famous headlines in American history: "Ford to City: Drop Dead.""
"What emerges is more than a story of fiscal mismanagement. It is a portrait of a turning point in the identity of New York. A city once defined by unions, public services, and free tuition at CUNY shifted toward an era dominated by austerity, privatization, and the financial sector. For those of you who followed along with 99% Invisible's breakdown of The Power Broker (by our hero, Robert Caro), Drop Dead City feels like an unwritten epilogue."
In the mid-1970s New York faced financial collapse, crumbling infrastructure, and pervasive service failures. Garbage accumulated on sidewalks, unions engaged in bitter clashes with City Hall, and bankers refused to buy municipal bonds. The Daily News headline "Ford to City: Drop Dead" captured the depth of the crisis. Federal hesitation compounded the emergency as police and sanitation strikes strained basic services. The crisis signaled a shift from a city defined by unions, strong public services, and free CUNY tuition toward austerity, privatization, and financial-sector dominance. The story explains how those 1970s dynamics shaped the city's later character.
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