In “Robert Moses and the Rise of New York,” Kenneth T. Jackson talks about the fall of former populated industrial cities after World War II, such as Detroit and Pittsburg and the eventual rise of other cities such as New York. I found it interesting that New York was not always the bustling city that it is today. For example, between 1970 and 1975, New York’s population declined by almost a million people, its factory employment plummeted drastically, its public schools deteriorated, its infrastructure sagged, its parks fell victim to vandals, and its public transit system lost half its riders. Compared to today’s city life, this image of New York is hard to picture. Specifically, the condition of the Bronx during the time compared to today is probably the most drastic difference. Reading this, it is not difficult to see why Robert A. Caro’s “Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York” was such a success.
Caro states that “The Power Broker” exaggerates Moses’s influence on American life and makes him sound like an evil genius. I think that there is some justification to his opinion since the book did not mention the other cities that developed transit systems before Moses developed the New York transit system. I also feel like it was very inhumane for Moses to clear slums for urban renewal. I find the thought of clearing slums to replace them with new buildings to be insensitive. I find it more surprising that the city’s liberal establishment supported the clearance of the slums and was equally willing to sacrifice working-class neighborhoods to luxury apartments, fancy medical centers and cultural centers, and expanding college campuses. This ideology reminds me of the accusations made toward the Republican Party for not caring about middle-class Americans while they keep trying to further the goals of the rich.
One thing that sounds very impressive about Robert Moses is his ability to marshal the resources necessary to see a project through from conception to completion. The fact that he was able to build the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge under budget and early is definitely impressive since today’s city-planners tend to take longer than they estimate. Another astonishing thing is that he was not satisfied with building a swimming pool or park, but he wanted to build unique structures that could withstand both the test of time and the test of excited children.
Caro describes Robert Moses as being a dedicated public servant who did not care about tangible wealth, but rather he just wanted to have power, influence, and importance. I find it interesting that Moses was not rich nor married since he did achieve success as a builder. He gave his full focus and time to his structures and left no spare time for other past-times. This sort of mentality is not as common today since people feel that they need to have time for non-work related activities. People today are not as devoted to their work as Moses was.
Moses was not racist in his building mentality even though racism was present at the time. This was shown in his structures since he designed his bridges not too low in order to accomodate buses so that black families would stay away from Jones Beach, nor did he control the water temperature so as to discourage black patronage. However Caro does make a good point that if Moses was as concerned about equality for African Americans as he was about the importance of open spaces and beaches, there could have been great advances for African Americans at an earlier time. Moses was certainly a big reason for why New York is the most popular city in the world.
