Gotham has suffered multiple catastrophes - plagues, cults, mass-murderers, No Man's Land - and he's pretty much kept the place to himself.
Yes, and all those reasons are why 1990's Batman was a character I really couldn't give a shit about, which was a major disappointment to me.
And no, he didn't call Dick to become Batman because he had his own life. Not calling him to help out when the supervillain shit had hit the fan even by Gotham standards was a combination of pride and stupidity.