There always seems to be a conflicting view of Robert Moses and his legacy of building New York City. Although he evicted hundreds of thousands of people and displaced them, he did build over 600 playgrounds, and numerous of new apartments, parks, beaches, highways, and bridges. No matter what people think of Moses, there is no doubt that he is a ruthless, power-driven, accomplished man. Personally, I am just quite shocked how much power Moses was able to obtain. I feel in present day, there is no one like him, or anyone who can become him. For instance, Moses was able to threaten Mayor Wagner that he would resign his position, which made Wagner oblige to Moses’ wishes. In a way, I admire his ability to control and influence.
What I wonder is, what will New York and the rest of America be like without Robert Moses? By building highways/expressways and bridges, Moses did connect cities and states together. Furthermore, expansion was able to occur (i.e. expansion of different living opportunities to suburbs). In addition, although people like Jane Jacobs do not think Moses beautified New York in any way, the parks and beaches that he developed can be argued to add aesthetics to places. At least he did not only focus on buildings and infrastructures.
In Caro’s reading, it is mentioned that Moses was able to keep the public from finding out what he was doing. People did not know about his personal life nor did they always know what he was doing in his job (what his plans were). Today, this would almost be impossible. Because Moses was able to “hide” from public eye, he was able to get away with his projects. However, nowadays, there would be much scrutiny and what Moses was doing would be categorized as “off-the-books.” This can also explain why there is no other “Robert Moses” in present day.
Also, Moses did not let anyone influence him and did not make any compromises. This is important in affecting his projects as well because it means one decision, one thought, one idea. Moses’ projects will be accomplished because he only has himself to listen to rather than waiting to get approvals from other people. If Moses had to ask others for acceptance, and if they were not satisfied, he would have to change his plans. With Moses being the only one who made decisions and actions, he was able to work on and complete his projects quickly. Similarly to the previous paragraph, nowadays, this would not like happen. There are more people/committees one has to go through in order to carry out a project. In my opinion, in present day, because of that, it takes longer to complete anything.
Overall, it is fascinating how one business-architect can have as much power as a politician, and even more at times. He was even able to win against President Franklin Roosevelt. Moses was the very few, or possibly the only one, who was able to “get away” with negatively affecting those who are in the lower social class (i.e. people he evicted). This shows that with power, one can do anything. Moses is the only one who is the best at what he dose, which puts him at an advantage as well. Can another Robert Moses rise? Probably not under today’s circumstances–that are full of stricter and harsher regulations.
