I’ve heard of Robert Moses during previous IDC seminar; this reading gives me a more in depth view of Robert Moses. In the introduction of The Power Broker, Caro gives an overview of Moses’ early life. One of my favorite parts is when Moses learned that “ideas-dreams were useless without power to transform them into reality.” I don’t agree it completely; I think it depends on what kind of idea or dream it is. Sometimes it can be vice versa, power doesn’t necessarily help your dream to come true; instead it can be a by product of your dreams coming true. For example, becoming successful in a business, you usually have to start at the bottom, and work hard to get to the top. And the higher you get, the more power you will be rewarded.

One must admit that Robert Moses is a successful reformer. Even the governors of New York City were not able to govern the city; he was the only one who was able to change New York City. And his influences can be found everywhere throughout the city. He was responsible for building various expressways, bridges, and roads that connects five boroughs of New York City, as well as connects NYC with other cities. He was also famous for building world’s most famous cultural complex, the Lincoln Center.

One of his remarkable successes could be reflected from the number of recreational center he built. He added more than 600 playgrounds to New York City, and built more state parks, which eventually account for “45 percent of all the states parks in the country”. There were parks, power dam, roads named after his name. These figures all showed how successfully Robert Moses became during his powerful years.

I believe that the higher the people get to, the more ambitious they would become. This was especially true for successful builder like Robert Moses. After how much he contributed to transforming New York City into “an international symbol of glamour, sophistication, success, competition, and safety” (Jackson), he earned the power he longed for. However, his great successes led him to seek for more power. Although at the beginning he started his dream with serving the public, his dreams got bigger every time when he tasted the power of success. This led him into a more ambitious person, which eventually made him known as a power broker.

Although Robert Moses had been largely criticized for having too much power. He was also responsible for moving almost half million of poor people into the slum areas. However, his great contributions in terms of what he built up were undeniable. I strongly agree that New York City would be a different city without Robert Moses. Today I think people did appreciated what he had done to New York City.