Often, Moses did not tend to the communities’ specific interests, but pursued his subjective ideal New York City. He believed that New York University (NYU), with an undergraduate college originally located in the Bronx, would serve as a central neighborhood institution in Manhattan that would invite diverse scholars to uplift the city. According to Moses, this venture would be practical and strategic: “A civic investment in public infrastructure will drive up property values and ultimately make economic sense” (p. 100). Now, NYU’s overwhelming presence near Washington Square and the East Village persists to this day and continues to grow. In a New York Times article entitled “Where Halls of Ivy Meet Silicon Dreams, A New City Rises” published early last year, universities such as Cornell, NYU, Rockefeller, and Columbia are developing satellite buildings to augment their main campuses. Falling in line with Moses’ original ideas, developers anticipate that a hefty investment now will yield great rewards in educational quality and scholastic activity in the future. Similarly, university leaders want to keep up with a constantly changing culture of innovation, just as Moses intended New York City to be at the forefront of cultural and technological advancement (Chen). Whether this encroachment on city land is a positive or negative force remains a topic of contention.
This New York Times article addresses the current developments of a phenomenon that Moses spurred. Just as Moses took advantage of the potential of New York City, sponsors are now collaborating with universities to cultivate progress, in order to compete with the efficiency of Silicon Valley (Chen). A key difference, however, is how community interests were addressed. Moses often left the responsibility to move and rehouse tenants to the companies that purchased the land. By later coupling public housing projects with his Title I work, neighborhoods and civilians often experienced discrimination and housing segregation (p. 102). In contrast, Columbia offered $150 million in aid to previous owners (Chen). Though forward visions for the city have been set in motion, we must take all parties’ arguments into account. Moses has made a considerable impact on the growth of New York City, but not without serious faults. His legacy offers a discussion of how we should approach an ever-changing metropolitan city.
Works Cited
Ballon, Hilary, and Kenneth Jackson. Robert Moses and the Modern City: The Transformation of New York. W.W. Norton & Company, 2008.
Chen, David W. “Where Halls of Ivy Meet Silicon Dreams, a New City Rises.” New York Times, 22 Mar. 2017, nytimes.com/2017/03/22/nyregion/nyc-cornell-columbia-nyu-campuses. Accessed 6 February 2018.
