The reading by Bloom gives me a different perspective about Robert Moses. In Robert Caro’s the Power Broker, Moses was portrayed as a more negative person. However, Chapter 7 Designs for a New Metropolis actually surprises me by giving me a different view about Robert Moses and his slum clearance project.
During the postwar years, cities were mainly focused on slum clearance project, I can certain understand that. Those people lived in poverty were clustered in the certain areas of the cities; and the society often view these areas as destructive and dangerous. There was segregation among different economic classes, where poor people usually live in a neighborhood with same social economic classes. I agree with Bloom that “central decay destroys the vital parts, and …nothing is more destructive than decentralization.” The idea of Decentralization was that many people were moving out of cities and to live in suburbs. The decline of city population would definitely impact city’s development. In order to create a successful city I think that some of the slum clearance projects were necessary.
However, there are a lot of criticisms regarding slum clearance project. Robert Moses was greatly criticized for not making efforts to relocate those poor people properly. The project destroyed many families’ home, and these families ended up moving to another slum area. Robert Moses was blamed for not taking care of these poor, and forcing them to move into another slum areas. “There is a natural desire to link all that is distasteful from the postwar period to Robert Moses.” I think that it was unfair for Robert Moses that despite all his efforts of trying to create a better city, people still perceive him as a more negative person.
Bloom gives an example of certain housings had lack of toilet bowl covers and closet doors. What even surprised me was that people blamed Robert Moses for that. As Bloom explains, the lack of closet door was Alfred Rheinstein’s innovation; Moses shouldn’t be the one to blamed. Also Bloom believes that “Moses should only be blamed for extending NYCHA’s influence over more territory.” NYCHA started these ideas, and Moses adopted the growing preferences for slum clearance project. After Moses became powerful, he then started implementing these ideas to his urban renewal projects.
The arguments in Bloom’s reading make me rethinking about our previous reading regarding Robert Moses. In the end of introduction of the Power Broker, Robert Caro said “Moses himself, who feels his works will make him immortal, believes he will be justified by history”. It makes me wonder that if people today started to appreciate his works more, and maybe he will be justified by history.
