Noelia I have to say I really enjoyed reading your blog post because I could tell that you seriously considered the question of whether or not Robert Moses was an ‘Evil Genius’ or a ‘Master Builder’. I also loved the fact that your arguments and opinions were so well developed that it made me question my own.

When I finished reading ‘Wait Until the Evening’, I believed that Robert Moses was an ‘Evil Genius’. After reading your blog though, I started to question my opinion. You focus on two of the main arguments against Moses: whether his work was really done for the greater good, and the racial prejudices that may have been behind some of his actions. I loved how you discuss these but then disprove them with sound reasoning that for a moment had me in agreement with you that Robert Moses was indeed a Master Builder.

However, after reading everything and thinking about it, I realized that I still believe that Moses is an Evil Genius. You say that he is a master because of his amazing plans for the city and that we don’t need to attribute the argument of greater good towards him. I disagree, when Robert Moses set out to implement his ideas he did so without looking at the repercussions of his actions. In my Urban Studies class we read a passage from the book “The Stickup Kids” entitled “The Rise of the South Bronx and Crack”. The passage discusses how as a public official, Moses cleared slum neighborhoods in Manhattan causing the displacement of many poor Blacks and Puerto Ricans who later relocated to the South Bronx. Then with the idea of ‘urban renewal’ that Caro describes, many manufacturing plants and factories in the Bronx were shut down and hundreds of thousands of people were left without jobs. The reading goes into further detail how this led to a chain of events that would lead to the rise of drug use and violence in the area. Yes, I know that there is absolutely no way Moses would have known that these things would happen. Yet you must consider the effects his actions had when deciding whether or not you can deem him a Master Builder or Evil Genius.

I believe that at first Moses really did have the best interests of the city at heart but I cannot look past the people he displaced and provided no help for, and the consequences that followed. Once again, I understand, our city would be very different today without Robert Moses, this is why I consider him a genius. However, the ruthless determination he had to make the city what it is without looking back, makes him in my opinion, an Evil Genius.