As illustrated in “The Power Broker” by Robert Caro, Moses was a builder who created a countless number of bridges, roads, and parks in New York. These include the Triborough Bridge, Long Island Expressway, Grand Central Parkway, Fire Island, and more. With these creations, however, there was a great price to pay. Moses had to tear down factories, stores, and the homes of half a million people for these developments. In an article called “Eminent Dominion,” Paul Goldberger discusses how Moses was a combination of both good and evil rather than a completely villainous figure with his actions. A complex question comes into play with Moses’s legacy of both turmoil and successes as Goldberger criticizes how it takes a very long time today for New York to complete any sort of project. In contrast to how Moses had extended Riverside Park within three years, a “project [today] can be held up for years by public hearings and reviews by community boards…and planning commissions.” In other words, by allowing more and more citizens to participate in these project plans, big developments have slowed down in New York. Thus, should New York ever use Moses’s methods of building again in order to quickly complete projects? Should we lessen citizen involvement?

Although it might be true that community councils slow down projects, Moses’s methods of building are not something we should use for New York City in its current state. After all, his actions were needed in the context of his time. In the 1920’s, New York (as well as the rest of the United States) was suffering from the Great Depression. New York was filled with corruption from robber barons, garbage, and “Hoovervilles” (refuges for the homeless). Alongside the Great Depression, New York City was also unable to meet the needs of its growing population. For example, in 1918, the city had 125,101 cars. By 1932, that number grew to 790,173. Due to how Tammany Hall controlled the city’s money and put almost all of it into “salaries,” there was barely any money for construction. Traffic was horrendous as cars could not get through narrow roads meant for horse carriages. It is undeniable that the city and its citizens needed an immediate solution, which ended up being Moses’s plans. Operating through a combination of public authorities known as “Triborough,” Moses was able to finance and build his planned bridges, roads, and parks. The fast pace of this construction and the heightened power of public authorities, however, was due to the fact that Moses kept Triborough’s records a secret and lied to the public that taxpayers would pay nothing for these projects. In reality, public authorities took loans from the state that would never be paid back. A vast majority of the public blindly supported Moses both politically and economically with this lie and allowed him to bulldoze a countless number of homes.

Even though it may have been ethically wrong for Moses to lie to the public and forcefully evict poorer populations, his actions allowed New York to transform out of its completely devastated state from the Great Depression and its growing population. Automobiles were able to travel across New York, and many “Hoovervilles” (or parks that were refuges for the homeless) were turned into new playgrounds and parks for children. The lack of citizen involvement in Moses’s actions allowed for quick changes in New York, which are still visible today. This sort of power was needed at the time for change, but if we look at New York today, the circumstances are completely different. New York itself is not in shambles as it was in the 1920’s, nor is there a financial crisis such as the Great Depression. Even though community councils and boards slow down projects today, they create a balance between public authorities and the citizens themselves as their voices are heard in important urban plans. Hence, neighborhoods today are not immediately destroyed like they were during the era of Robert Moses. One person cannot bulldoze areas on his or her own whim. Moses’s methods for building were thus needed in order to quickly pick up the city from its turmoil, and were needed in the context of that time. This system with a lack of citizen involvement should not be used until the circumstances call for it.

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.

Goldberg, Paul. “Eminent Dominion.” The New Yorker. Condé Nast, 5 Feb. 2007. Web. 17 Feb. 2015.

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2007/02/05/eminent-dominion

The mind is an incredibly powerful tool, though virtually useless if one doesn’t apply their thoughts to the real world. Robert Moses gazed over a wasteland once referred to as Riverside Park, and foresaw an elaborate parkway system running through it. Robert Moses took these visions and applied them to the real world, greatly contributing to the current shape of New York City. While many praised his ideas and accomplishments, many regard him with resentment for the unethical methods used to create his visions. While there is no refuting the fact that displacing so many poor workers and African Americans was unreasonable and harsh, we must look at how far we’ve come because of the improvements bestowed upon the city. We don’t need nor want another Robert Moses in the current day, but we must recognize his amazing contributions to the city. Robert Moses had the “magic” to push through one of the roughest times in NYC’s history (The Great Depression) and pull off such amazing feats. 

NYC was in a rough spot during the early 20th century. It was filled with half-built skyscrapers and closing factories. Parents could barely afford their normal standard of food, and slowly started skimping out on meals. The population was increasingly dramatically, and the per capita cost of the budget increasing by a whopping 200%. Parks weren’t in the greatest of conditions and became a haven for drunks. The walkways for citizens of the city were nothing but broken pavement. This didn’t stop Moses however, and starting with the completion of his first major project in 1929, the ball kept rolling, and Moses continued to progress and succeed.

With the population rising, what was to be done? Most of the roads at this time were still built for horse-driven carriages as opposed to automobiles. With an increasing population, we’d see an increasing amount of cars out for travel. Not only did we need an efficient way to house incoming New Yorkers, but an efficient system of travel was needed as well, which Moses introduced via constructing new homes and building highways.

In an article written by the New York Times, “Rehabilitating Robert Moses,” Robin Pogrebin discusses the good and bad to Moses’ approach to construction in the city. He refers to Robert Moses as “the bulldozing bully who callously displaced thousands of New Yorkers in the name of urban renewal.” Do we focus too much on those who Robert Moses victimize as opposed to what he actually accomplished? Hillary Ballon of Columbia University believes this to be true, and continues to states that “if it were not for Moses’ public infrastructure…New York might not have been able to recover from the blight and flight of the 1970s and ‘80s and become he economic magnet that it is today.” And it is true; New York had more productions of urban renewal that all other cities in America combined. 29 states didn’t have a single state park in the 1920s, yet Moses was able to have one finished in1929. One man had the power to advance one state above all of the others combined – what exactly does that say?

Robert Moses did tremendous things to advance New York, but we simply cannot ignore the things he did to people to accomplish such feats. “Rehabilitating Robert Moses” explains how the creation of some parkways paved way for new slums to be created, as the people Moses evicted had no place to go. Ms. Ballon explains that “he was perfectly positioned to recognized how any one thing had multiple consequences…yet he purposely chose to ignore these things.” He threw out over 250,000 people from their homes. It’s one thing to be ignorant of consequences, but Moses was fully aware and still went on with his projects. Does this represent his drive for improving the city for the public? After all, with the execution of 17 different urban renewal projects within a span of 9 years, Robert Moses took things incredibly seriously. Is this a worthwhile implementation of eminent domain? Most people would probably say yes.

With the creation of hundreds of playgrounds and miles of parkway, it’s fair to say that New York would be nowhere near as efficient and effective as it is today. You have to lose some to win some, and while Moses didn’t do everything in a moral manner, he did what was needed to be done to transform NYC into the powerhouse it is today. His successes in modernizing and revolutionizing the city still effect us to this day, showing just how important his contributions to the city were.

WORKS CITIED

Caro, Robert A. The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York. New York: Knopf, 1974. 5-21, 323-346. Print.

Pogrebin, Robin. “Rehabilitating Robert Moses.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 22 Jan. 2007. Web. 19 Feb. 2015.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/23/arts/design/28pogr.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Near the end of his Introduction to “The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York”, Robert A. Caro poses a question. He states, “Robert Moses was America’s greatest builder. He was the shaper of the greatest city in the New World. But what did he build? What was the shape into which he pounded the city?” Most of this chapter is spent praising Moses for how he transformed New York City. The last 1/3 or so, is spent questioning his methods and asking, “At what cost? What did Moses have to do to accomplish this? Who did he have to bulldoze over to get this done?” In his introduction, Caro presents us with two different “schools of thought”. One being that Moses greatly influenced New York City’s cultural and physical future for the better and the other being that Moses was a power hungry man who displaced tons of people to build highways, housing, parks, expressways, etc. taking down anyone in his path, without care for the consequences of his actions.

So, simply put, was Robert Moses a hero or a villain? I would argue that although Moses didn’t use the most ethical methods to get the job done, he should be remembered as a hero, as the man who single-handedly reshaped the infrastructural landscape of New York City.

Moses built major roads, the Major Deegan Expressway, the Van Wyck, The Sheridan Expressway, the Gowanus Expressway, the Triborough Bridge, the Throgs Neck Bridge, the Harlem River Drive, the Henry Hudson Parkway, Jones Beach, Lincoln Center, Shea Stadium, numerous lecture halls, apartment houses and cultural centers, and many parks, just to name a few. In total he built 13 bridges, 416 miles of parkways, 658 playgrounds, and 150,000 housing units.

Yes, he was aggressive and displaced thousands of people, mainly the poor and African Americans, but the builders of Central Park did the same thing (as did Trump and many others). While someone like Moses might not be acceptable in today’s society, it would be unfair to taint his accomplishments by focusing on his less than pleasant character and the methods he used to achieve a common good. (As Caro does in “The Powerbroker”). That was simply a matter of eminent domain. Millions enjoyed, and continue to enjoy all the various structures that Moses built. A PBS article entitled “The Legacy of Robert Moses” writes, “When asked directly in his interview with Thirteen if, ‘his methods had been perhaps a little gentler or less direct or perhaps [he] had been more circumspect, would he have gotten as much accomplished?’ Moses is classically steadfast ‘No, I wouldn’t have gotten anything done. I’m absolutely sure of that.'”

An article from Metropolis Magazine written by Phillip Lopate, also explains that many anti-Moses sentiments come from the fact that Caro unfairly blames Moses for numerous controversial urban policies. However, Moses was not his policies, he only implemented them. People copied them because Moses was able to carry them out so skillfully. Lopate believes those policies would have been pushed through, Moses or no Moses, and I would have to agree.

In conclusion, Moses did what he had to do to get the job done. We are too quick to judge his accomplishments by predispositions we have towards Moses. It would have been impossible for Moses to create as much innovation as he did, if he were to have taken into consideration the needs of all the people. He did more good than bad. Moses took a NYC that was failing from the Great Depression (and before it), turned it on its head and now we have him to thank for most of the great things New York City is famous for.

(If you’re interested in more details regarding the specific things Moses did that could be perceived as bad, but may not have been, click here and read the sixth paragraph.)