After Meeting With Waldheim, Ban Cozies Up to Local Leaders
Benny Avni
February 28, 2007
New York Sun
Original Source: http://www.nysun.com/article/49471

Secretary-General Ban met yesterday with local dignitaries at the landmark 21 Club in a bid to improve the uneasy relationship between the United Nations and its host city.
Mr. Ban's host, Roy Goodman, a former state senator who now leads a corporation charged with renovating the U.N. headquarters, brought together a star-studded group of former and current officials and businessmen for what was billed as a welcome luncheon for the new U.N. boss.
Mayor Koch, Governor Pataki, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, Edward Cardinal Egan, and some high-profile ambassadors to the United Nations, among others, voiced hope for improved relations between the world body and the city.
Even a meeting last week in Austria between Mr. Ban and a U.N. secretary-general between 1972 and 1981, Kurt Waldheim — who later became a pariah in New York when his service as a Nazi storm trooper in World War II was disclosed — appeared to elicit no outrage from yesterday's attendees.
I have no problem with people going to see the elderly, as long as he knows he was a Nazi, Mr. Koch told The New York Sun.
Some Jewish leaders said privately that while they were irked by it, Mr. Ban's private meeting in Vienna was more of a diplomatic faux pas, which resulted from bad advice, than a bad sign. But it remains to be seen whether Israel will be treated more fairly at the United Nations than it has in the past, one Jewish leader, who declined to speak on the record, said.
Mr. Ban also met yesterday with the families of two Israeli soldiers who were kidnapped in Lebanon last year and have not been heard from since. The families of Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev described the secretary-general as sincere in wanting to bring about the release of the two soldiers, whose kidnapping last summer sparked a month-long war between Israel and Hezbollah. They added, however, that the United Nations would be judged by the results.
I will not be satisfied until my husband comes home, Mr. Goldwasser's wife, Karnit, said.
As the chief operating officer of the U.N. Development Corporation, Mr. Goodman serves as liaison between the city and the United Nations for the $2 billion renovation of the landmark First Avenue building, a project known as the capital master plan.
Mr. Ban called on Mr. Goodman to build a nice building for my colleagues, the men and women of the ever-expanding U.N. family. But, noting that he oversaw an overhaul of the Korean Embassy in Washington as South Korean ambassador and that he is now living at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel while his official residence is being renovated, he said he hopes to be remembered as a skillful diplomat — not a repairman.
The secretary-general's meeting with Mr. Waldheim was described as private. Mr. Ban, who also served as the South Korean ambassador to Austria, said yesterday that he had not wanted to decline an invitation from a man who served as Austria's president.
I've known him for many years. He used to be my neighbor, Mr. Ban told the Sun. He also said that until recently, Mr. Waldheim's daughter worked for the United Nations.
Mr. Pataki said two of the best things America did after World War II were creating the United Nations and deciding to place it New York.
But Mr. Koch, who as mayor referred to the world body as a cesspool and a monument to hypocrisy, advised Mr. Ban not to be like his predecessors as secretary-general. Don't model yourself on a single one of them, he said.
The friction between local politicians and U.N. diplomats has led to tense situations like Mayor Giuliani's ejection of a former chairman of the Palestinian Authority, Yasser Arafat, from an event sponsored by the city and the United Nations.
But Mr. Ban, in several meetings with Jewish leaders, New York business executives, and community and political figures since arriving at the United Nations, has signaled that he thinks relations with the city will be important during his tenure.
Governor Pataki was my governor. Mayor Koch was my mayor, he said yesterday, referring to a previous posting in New York as a South Korean diplomat.