Return of a Giant: Economic and Fiscal Recovery, 1976–2001

After decades of relative and absolute decline New York City began to revive after the fiscal crisis of the 1970s. During the administration of Edward Koch, Gotham witnessed vast growth in the financial and legal services indusries even as factory jobs continued to disappear. Crime began to decline sharply, corruption in the police department and city agencies came under control, and the population of the five boroughs began to grow after decades of loss. This was unusual because the other big cities of the midwest and northeast, such as Boston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Buffalo, Detroit,and St. Louis lost population by double-digit percentages. Manhattan retained its reputation as the nation's business, media, cultural, financial, and legal services center, and Gotham came to be recognized again as the capital of the world. The city became a tourist focus, and immigration again reached historic proportions. Unfortunately, the poor and minorities did not share in the new prosperity.