Drop Dead City

The New York City I knew in the late ’60s and early ’70s was gritty but free—where you could wander the streets, ride the subways, and run into Andy Warhol at Max’s Kansas City without much worry, aside from the summer heat and crushing crowds. But by the mid-’70s, the city had morphed into something unrecognizable. As captured in the gripping new documentary Drop Dead City, New York City teetered on the edge of financial collapse, a once-vibrant metropolis descending into what felt at times like an urban apocalypse. Garbage piled up in the streets, crime soared, and once-proud neighborhoods fell into decay. Even across from cultural landmarks like Lincoln Center, sidewalks became makeshift shelters and bathrooms. My friend’s  parents took commuter buses to avoid the subways, now considered too dangerous. There was at least one murder every day in the 75th Precinct (Brooklyn/Cypress Hills) alone. Add to that daylight robberies where thieves would rip necklaces or slit pants to grab wallets had reporters and cameramen carrying guns for protection.

And yet, Drop Dead City doesn’t dwell in despair—it tells a remarkable story of recovery. Against all odds, disparate forces came together to pull the city back from the brink, offering a powerful, timely reminder of what’s possible when people put aside differences to save something they love.

Directors  Michael Rohatyn, son of one of the architects of the recovery and Peter Yost, decided not to use a narrator but let the “witnesses” of the crisis and recovery speak for themselves. And these interviews, the heart and soul of the movie, gathered over a period of 9 years provide the film with a rare kind of authenticity and intimacy as Michael points out, “Back then, people were more honest on camera. It was the last year local news used 60mm film before switching to video, so folks weren’t as self-conscious—or even if they were, it was in a more genuine way. Even the man-on-the-street interviews and newscasters felt less polished, more real than today.” And as serious as the subject is, the humor albeit occasionally gallows, given by former high ranking officials was surprisingly funny.

And it was also a story that veterans of the crisis wanted and needed to tell. “Like being in a foxhole during a war, people felt like they had been through something together collectively for the city and for something they believed in,” Peter Yates explained. “ I think these folks look back on this time, for the most part, as the high point of their work lives,” Two of the “civilian” stars who move the movie forward are sanitation worker Anthony Lofaso and Judah Gribetz.

Lofaso whose multifaceted career included roles as cab driver, nightclub emcee, radio co-host and pilot enlivens the movie’s narrative. But the part of his past which is most essential to NYC’s recovery is his role in the sanitation department which saw him rise from a worker to department chief becoming essential in maintaining services during the crisis. Lofaso pointed out he was paying back the favor,”Everything that my family and I accomplished here I owe to the city of New York. It gave a bum like me an opportunity when there were no opportunities without an education, training without even good looks. Almost everyone who ran the city was a first or second generation American. “

Michael explains why Gribetz’s interview was one of his favorites,“ He had been a counselor to the governor and very highly placed in state government. And  hearing him articulate the outlines of the story with such compassion and so philosophically, was very moving.” And of course we hear from Mayor Abe Beame who inherited an economic nightmare from the previous mayor John V. Lindsay. Beame though well meaning, was overwhelmed by the challenge of rescuing the city from its 1975 financial crisis.

The film opens with a portrait of an ideal New York City—a city where college was free, good jobs didn’t require a degree, and you could build a life and buy a house in a neighborhood that felt like home. For years, the city kept itself afloat by borrowing money—selling bonds to pay for everyday expenses instead of balancing the budget. Bonds were often purchased by residents who lived “their American Dream” and wanted to purchase bonds to continue it for their children. Though it worked for a while, eventually the debt piled up so high that no one wanted to lend to New York City anymore, and the whole system nearly collapsed. And no one in the federal government, least of all President Ford, Dick Chaney or Donald Rumsfeld, were disposed to give the city a hand up. This was when President Ford famously said, “Responsibility for New York City’s financial problems. Is being left on the front doorstep of the federal government, unwanted and abandoned by its real parents. I can tell you and tell you now that I am prepared to veto any bill that has, as its purpose, a federal bailout of New York City to prevent a default.” But I must point out here that the country’s economy on the verge of a recession contributed to the crisis. So targeting New York City which was certainly at fault if not “default” was a bit of a shell game.

And every great drama needs a villain. Washington played the villain well, but the mess had plenty of co-stars. The city’s finances were a joke—one insider admits, “There were no books! Everybody had stuff in drawers!” New York City was spending way more than it earned, and the unions, with their generous deals, made an easy target when the blame game began as Michael Rohatyn points out “The unions were instrumental in this story. They were demonized then and still carry, I think, an unfair burden of responsibility. Even now, people look back and say New York City gave away too much. But what we found was that the unions were doing what a union is supposed to do—advocating for their members. They did a good job and provided qualified people to the workforce. The teachers union and DC 37, the municipal workers union, had 100,000 people working in it.”

But surprisingly enough the recovery was aided by the harshness of Washington’s response when the New York Daily News: ran “Ford to City: Drop Dead.” on the front page. That headline became a lightning rod. Intended as a rhetorical death sentence, it galvanized the very population it sought to abandon. It unified New Yorkers—unions, politicians, bankers, and citizens—who realized that the federal government wasn’t coming to their aid. If the city were to be saved, it would have to save itself. And surprisingly the unions played a part as well as Michael’s father, dubbed “Felix The Fixer“. Known for his ability to restructure distressed companies, Felix would become a central figure in one of the greatest public turnarounds in modern history. A holocaust survivor who rose to the top of the city’s financial world embodied the American Dream, A dream that the city should be celebrated for.

Felix helped form the Municipal Assistance Corporation (MAC), a controversial but ultimately pivotal entity that took control of the city’s finances. Though unelected, Felix wielded significant power—setting budgets, negotiating with unions, and restoring confidence among skeptical investors. What made his leadership extraordinary was not just technical know-how, but the ability to bring deeply divided groups to the same table: union leaders, Wall Street bankers, public officials. People who, under normal circumstances, would never have aligned. People took to the streets to protest against Felix and MAC,; incensed that they were unelected and wielded the power to remove rights they had grown up with and relied on. And in one of the most seminal moments in the film Felix between a rock and a hard place, expresses how conscious he is of the damage these cuts could do to the population of New York City and the future of the city itself. “The city will just have to do with less money and that will mean that libraries may be opened less, that garbage pickups may suffer and that you may have less protection and you have today. Children who are already, probably not getting enough education will get less. And that poor people will suffer since they are always the first to suffer.”

Donna Shalala, One of the rising stars of MAC, the only woman in the organization was not spared the City’s wrath, as she points out, “there were protest in the streets whenever we cut anything, including when we impose tuition on the city university, destroying one of the clear identities for any New York City resident.” Shalala, became a champion for people’s rights serving in the Carter administration in Housing and Urban Development and then as Bill Clinton’s U.S. Secretary for Health and Human Services. Among her many honors she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2008.

One of the more remarkable dynamics was the partnership between Felix and Victor Gotbaum, the head of DC 37, New York’s largest public employee union. Their lifelong friendship underscored a powerful message: cooperation between capital and labor is possible—and sometimes essential. That kind of relationship, almost unthinkable in today’s polarized climate, helped turn the tide.

But the turnaround wasn’t just financial. It was psychological. New Yorkers were forced to confront their own problems, admit their failures, and dig into the hard work of reform. The process was messy, loud, and filled with infighting—but ultimately productive. The realization dawned that public and private interests were not opposed. If the city collapsed, everyone lost. And most importantly, it became apparent to Ford’s Presidency, if New York City would default, of the political and economic cost to the nation and I might add to foreign governments. Saving it meant working together, even through gritted teeth. Fred Ferretti, summed it up quite eloquently, ,”I was born and raised in New York and I wanted to live nowhere else. It has everything that’s wrong with society and it has everything that’s right with society. New York was known best as a city that took care of people’s needs, which after all, isn’t that what our government’s all about.”

The story of New York’s 1975 fiscal crisis isn’t just a relic of the past. It echoes today in the ongoing tensions between cities and the federal government, especially during times of political discord. It raises questions about autonomy, resilience, and the belief in collective solutions over collapse. In a time when gridlock and partisanship dominate headlines, the lessons of that crisis—pragmatism, unlikely alliances, and moral courage—are more relevant than ever. I would urge viewers to view this epic doc in the theaters. The impact of the crisis, the city and the people can only truly be felt on the big screen.

Los Angeles premiere at Laemmle’s Monica starting May 23rd

Still going strong, Shalala, one of the most informative and dynamic speakers, her youtube posts of health and government policy are not to be missed.