NEW YORK (AP) -- Former New York Mayor David Dinkins says his predecessor Ed Koch was "a feisty guy who would tell you what he thinks."
Koch died early this morning in New York of congestive heart failure. He was 88.
Koch, who served three terms as mayor, said his biggest personal achievement was rallying New Yorkers in the face of a transit strike that crippled the city in 1980.
During his years as mayor, from 1978 to 1989, his tight fiscal policies pulled the city out of severe financial difficulties. But homelessness and racial tensions soared and critics charged that City Hall's responses were ineffective.
Koch's funeral will be Monday.
