After reading the section of Equipping the Public Realm, by Marta Gutman, it easy clear to understand that in addition to Robert Moses’ craze for developing highway after highway, he also recognized the significant role that parks play in the development of the city as a whole. As we have discussed in class, there are many battles that the city is constantly have to fight in order to figure out what the greatest good for the greatest amount of people is. This is something that really has no answer. Whoever is coming up with certain decisions about what should be put into place will always have some sort of bias. This is seen through todays reading, and from any other plans that are set forth.
There is no doubt that Robert Moses shaped New York City. As we have gone through the various readings and documentaries in class we see that he and others have greatly impacted how certain structures are created today. In addition to creating new parks and expanding on others, Moses implemented the creation and addition of many public pools. The pools were meant to be a place that anyone could go no matter what their economic background or even gender was. I feel that although this was the goal it was not as successful as Moses thought it would be. Another point that Gutman makes is that all the ideas proposed were suppose to have “the ideal of providing leisure activities for all ages while retaining some segregation of uses for convenience and safety” (80). I think the latter part of this excerpt is very accurate; there are some things that adults and children should do separately in terms of safety. What I found to be missing from the selection is how exactly adults would be drawn to these attractions.
The ways in which they created the designs were, in my opinion, not as safe as they should have been; having “three tiers of diving boards” for people who might not have been athletic and in pools open to children could have potentially led to many unfavorable outcomes, although the reading selection does not mention any. Despite some potential dangerous, a lot of what they designed seemed to have been very practical. For example, having under water lights for those that cannot attend during the day was very thoughtful. An idea like this seems impossible today. Despite things supposedly advancing from the description of these parks it seems that we have only descended in terms of designs even as we constantly strive to create the next best thing. The great ideals of cleanliness and hygiene that had been put in place with things like the footbaths to use before going into pools, are rarely seen anymore (81). Now most of the public pools are far from clean, only within private pools will you find such cleanliness. Something like this must always be an emphasis and it makes me wonder why it does not appear to be considered.
Related to our reading selection for class is an article from Newsweek, De Blasio’s Battle for Equality Starts in the Parks by Victoria Bekiempis. In the article Bekiempis discusses the immense importance that parks have to the city and how each administration has struggled to tackle the issue of development and expansion, some with more success than others. Mayor Bloomberg was one of those that has been regarded as very influential in park development. Bloomberg spent tremendous amounts of money to the beautification of the city’s parks. This article exemplifies that this is an ongoing issue. Before Moses ever existed there were redevelopment projects going on, but it was not until he came along that everything became possible to put into action and complete. Since his time we have continued to struggle and just as mayor Fiorello La Guardia gave Robert Moses this role many others have done similar things. As seen in Newsweek article, mayor Bloomberg has passed the torch to mayor de Blasio that has to figure out how he can further improve the city’s parks.
Gutman does a good job of pointing out how hypocritical the attempts of keeping racial prejudice out of the framework of the creation of these facilities. As she questions if Moses’ plans actually just highlighted the privilege of the whites, I question that myself. By the end of the reading selection I find myself believing that Moses was completely racist. Moses directed people to put cold water in the pools because they supposedly did not like swimming in it. If this is a true statement then his creations were nothing but a statement about privilege. Planners were supposed to constantly find ways to include people, but ultimately someone always gets left out. Is there a way for everyone to truly be able to use the facilities of the city or is it just inevitable for some groups of people to always be left out?
The link to the article mentioned above:
http://www.newsweek.com/de-blasios-battle-equality-starts-parks-225310?rx=us
Also, a link to a wonderful timeline of the historical development of parks throughout the city: (It is really interesting to follow the time line all the way to today and see how over time things have been added and taken away, beginning from the time Robert Moses was made Park Commissioner).
http://www.nycgovparks.org/about/history/timeline/robert-moses-modern-parks
