As a fellow user of the expressways, parkways, and bridges of New York City, I strongly believe that Robert Moses was not only an intelligent man, but a great one. The invention of the highway systems and public work projects revolutionized the internal structure, transportation, and efficiency of New York City. The amount of power Robert Moses obtained to achieve all of these the accomplishments without holding political office is astonishing. Robert Moses was basically above law and democracy, which was unfortunately necessary in order to complete such a massive feat. Having solved the physical and technological problems, Moses only had to face the politics that made it difficult to build such entities. Although politicians were only trying to protect those from being evicted from their homes, these actions were a necessary evil in order to achieve a greater good.
Democracy was unable to achieve what was necessary, which is why Robert Moses took up a semi-totalitarian role in order to accomplish his tasks. By accumulating the popular opinion of the majority of the people, politicians were forced to take the view of Moses. Some might say this seems to be unjustified, but a number of highly regarded individuals took this sort of approach in reshaping New York City into the city it is today. Individuals like Paul Stuyvesant and DeWitt Clinton each had to take an absolute role in order to achieve what was necessary. Stuyvesant had to set strict laws in order to clean up the mud hole of a city New York had become, and Clinton had to go around the Governor’s opinion to not build the Erie Canal in order to make New York City the most profitable city in the world. In Moses’ case, he had to evict thousands from their homes in order to build these highways, and the homes he did rebuild were, cost-wise, only available to the upper class, which in the eyes of the politicians is unjustified. Although utilitarianism is not always justified, in this case the loss of thousands of homes justifies the advancement of the city as a whole.
Highways are necessary. In the fast paced world we live in today, New York City would not be able to thrive if it weren’t for Robert Moses’ accomplishments. Although it’s unfortunate that thousands of individuals lost their homes to highways and gentrification, it helped make the city a better place. From using the Long Island Expressway almost everyday, I can say for a fact that it cuts down my travel time dramatically (when there is no traffic). And for that I would like to personally thank Robert Moses for making traveling for myself so much easier.
