It is undebatable that Robert Mosses is a legend, and that he affected New York City in a way that can be vividly seen even today. Moses was a master builder and extremely talented in urban planning. In his his book, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York, Robert Caro presents the view that while Moses was a vital part of New York City’s automobile transportation system, he used arguably unethical practices such as eviction to build these systems. Most of the hundreds of thousands evicted were poor, non-white, persons that had nowhere to turn but the slums. Yes, the city would have not been the same without Robert Mosses. As Caro points out, “it would be impossible to say that New York would have been a better city if Robert Moses never lived.” But how many renewals can the city face before everything it once was is destroyed?
Moses exclaimed that, “cities are created by and for traffic”. These words clearly show Moses’ concern for the cars rather than the people and communities within the city. By 1961, Moses had put two federal initiatives in motion. One was an urban renewal project that would level 14 blocks in The Village. The second was an eight lane elevated highway that would run from the East River to the Hudson, cutting through midtown. These projects would displace about 10,000 people and destroy thousands of historic structures. He would have had to bulldoze a strip 225 feet wide, destroying what is now the cast-iron district of SOHO.
Moses had been successful in his other initiatives, and it seemed probable that this time he would be just as victorious. This instance was different, though. Moses would not win. Jane Jacobs vs Robert Moses: Urban Fight of The Century tells the story of a remarkable victory by the people. Residents of The Village came together and choose a journalist, Jane Jacobs, as their leader. She had just published a book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, critiquing urban planning policies in the 1950’s that lead to the decline of many communities in New York City. She recognized that New York City needed help, but not the same kind of help that Moses wanted to provide. She fought for the people’s right to stay in their neighborhoods. Jacobs recognized the dangers of destroying small neighborhoods that make urban cities unique.
Together, the residents held rallies and demonstrations, and attacked the urban renewal projects in public hearings and in print. Frances Golden, a housing activist, points out that the success came from knowing how to organize, mobilizing the troops, getting publicity, and forming coalitions. After a long fight, the board voted not to approve Moses’ renewal plans. The citizens had beat Robert Moses. This also led to the approval of a law three years later on April 16th, 1965, that would protect buildings and communities from future destruction.
Robert Moses never touched the center of Manhattan. New York City just might be the only American city without an expressway through the center of town, but this is what makes it so unique. In this city, we can see faces and neighbors instead of just huge buildings and expressways. This is one of the reasons that New York City is one of the few cities where one can live without a car.
Robert Moses was successful in modernizing the city. His methods may not have been optimal, but because of him we now have bridges and roads that have helped the city develop into the efficient one it is today. Moses never saw a stopping point, though, and wanted to continue until the city did not resemble what it once was. Jane Jacobs and the residents of The Village helped us see that new is not necessarily better than old, and that the people of the city are the most important, because without them there would be no city to speak of.
Works Cited
Caro, Robert A. The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York. New York: Knopf, 1974. 5-21, 323-346. Print.
Graham, Vince. “Jane Jacobs vs Robert Moses: Urban Fight of the Century.” YouTube. YouTube, 13 Feb. 2012. Web. 16 Feb. 2015.
Hey Sophia. This is a really interesting post – and I understand your stance on how in a way, the essence of New York City was preserved by blocking the project to building a highway through Mid-town. On the other hand, if the city had approved Moses’ plan and built the highway, there are certain benefits that New Yorkers would now have. While this may seem obvious to an outsider, New Yorkers do not often consider how troubling it is that there is no way to get across Manhattan without hitting 12 or 13 traffic lights, (except for the Harlem River Drive, which essentially circumnavigates the entire northern part of the island). While all commuters know that a highway without traffic lights doesn’t necessarily mean traffic flows freely, there is a considerable difference between moving consistently at around 15 MPH on the Long Island Expressway and sitting in gridlock on 34th street in Manhattan, traveling maybe a block per green light if you’re lucky. It’s true that building a highway through Mid-town would have disrupted many residences, businesses, office spaces, and historical buildings, but it also would have significantly alleviated the gridlock on the cross-streets of Manhattan. A real world example of this is Second avenue, which is one of the most reliable avenues for traveling downtown quickly because of the proximity of the FDR, which handles the brunt of the traffic.
Another benefit of having a highway through Manhattan would be that it would make commuting between New Jersey and Brooklyn and Queens far easier. Today, a person who lives in Queens would rarely consider taking a job in New Jersey because travel time to either the George Washington Bridge or the tunnels downtown can be up to two hours during rush hour. Had the highway been built, alleviating the gridlock of the east-west streets in Manhattan, it would be feasible to make the trip with less of a headache.
Overall, I don’t necessarily think that constructing the highway would have been worth the price of losing a giant chunk of Mid-town, but there certainly was a practical use for it, which is probably why Moses fought so hard for it.