Twelve years ago, if someone attacked me, I wouldn't let them get away with it. I'd take them on. I now perceive my job to include allowing people to vent their rage.

New York: Kensington Books. Later city councilman Peter Vallone (D-Queens) introduced legislation banning the naming of New York City property after people who are still alive. W.

A popular figure he rode the New York City Subways and stood at street corners greeting passersby with the slogan "How'm I doin'?" His private life was enigmatic with speculation about his sexuality which he rebuffed as nobody's business but his own; he had no children and no publicly acknowledged romantic relationships but declared his heterosexuality after his retirement. He died on February 1 2013 of congestive heart failure.