Serving as the 106th mayor of New York City is just one of many notches in David Dinkins’ proverbial belt. A professor in the practice of public affairs at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs, Dinkins remains an influential thinker, teacher, and member of many governmental bodies, including the New York State Association of Black and Puerto Rican Legislators, the Council of Black Elected Democrats of New York State, and the One Hundred Black Men, Inc. Eric Wimer sat down with Dinkins to discuss his career, his thoughts on de Blasio, and his ideal weekend in New York City.

To start off the interview, let me ask you: What do you think is the most urgent issue facing the city today?

I suppose it has to be education. I have a special affection for children and I know how serious our education system’s problems are.

Along those same lines, what do you think of Mayor de Blasio’s steps on education so far? When he came to Columbia and proposed to raise taxes on the wealthy in order to pay for his universal pre-K plan, you warned him that he may have to seek an alternative method. So far in Albany, your warning seems to have proven correct.

I don’t know if anybody agrees with me, but I have suggested on the occasion you mentioned that he consider having what used to be called a commuter tax. It’s a very low-rate income tax on people who live outside the city and work within the city. When I was in office, I attempted to get it increased—but it was unsuccessful, and then Shelly Silver gave it away. He literally gave it away as an attempt to demonstrate that he was the speaker of the entire City Council, including those members who do not live in the city. But the person he was trying to assist was running for the senate and lost anyway. Mike Bloomberg attempted to get it back, but was not successful—and then next year, tried to put his efforts into congestion pricing and was not successful there either. It would have meant maybe $300 million one time, whereas the commuter tax is $400 to $500 million every single year.

How do you think the issues facing New York have changed since you were mayor? What was the biggest issue back then?

The biggest single issue when I came to office—on Jan. 1, 1990—was crime, which had skyrocketed. Although when people speak of it, they sometimes act as though there was no crime on Dec. 31st, 1989. Our Safe Streets, Safe City Program reduced crime as early as ’91, and it declined more rapidly than it ever had—thanks to our program and commissioner Ray Kelly, who I always called “colonel” because he was a colonel in the Marine Corps and I was a PFC [private first class].

Mayor de Blasio worked as an aid to your office back in 1990. Do you have any interesting memories of his time there?

He worked under Bill Lynch, who was the deputy, and who was the guy who got me elected mayor. He did a very good job and learned his politics at the feet of Bill Lynch. [Lynch] died much too early.

Did you see De Blasio often?

I saw him a fair amount of times—I knew who he was. As a matter of fact, he met his wife Chirlane in our speech-writing and press office.

What were they like?

They were terrific. We’re planning a reunion of people who worked in the borough president’s office and in the mayor’s office, and I anticipate that Bill de Blasio and his bride will be among them.

You have the weekend to spend in one neighborhood of NYC. Where do you go and what do you do?

If it were the time of the US Open, I’d be in Queens. Otherwise, I’d be somewhere in Harlem. Harlem has great places to dine—and since I grew up part of the time in Harlem, it permits one to reminisce, walk the streets, remember what it was like.

What were your proudest moments as mayor?

Well I suppose, besides from the Safe Streets, Safe Cities Program, among the great moments we had was bringing Nelson Mandela to New York. Bill Lynch was instrumental in making that happen. The first place that he came outside of South Africa was to New York. He might well have gone to our nation’s capital, or to Atlanta, or to Los Angeles. Everybody wanted him, but he came here first. We had a ticker-tape parade up the canyon of heroes. He spoke at 125th Street and Seventh Avenue where Adam Powell and Malcolm X and many other leaders had been made. And he spoke at Yankee Stadium. He put the Yankee cap on his head, the Yankee jacket around his shoulders, and he looked at the camera and he said, “Do you know who I am? I am a Yankee.” That went around the world. He was a very smart man, Nelson Mandela.

I gotta tell you, being mayor of the city of New York—if you like people, if you like public service, there is no better job. It’s better than being mayor of any city, anywhere in the world. It’s better than being governor of any state, including New York state. And, the only job that’s better is the one that Barack Obama has and some days of late I wonder about that too.

If you could give any advice to a random student at Columbia, maybe one interested in politics and following you, what would you tell them?

I encourage all students to have an interest in public service and I point out that that doesn’t need to be government and politics, although properly done that is public service. But, I don’t care whether it’s the NAACP or the Red Cross—I encourage every student to be involved in what I call public service.