Reading about Robert Moses gave me mixed feelings. I do agree with the statement in the intro about how New York would have been a different city if not for Robert Moses. However, I doubt that New York would have been a better place to live if Moses had never built anything or never lived. I see that he was a very stubborn, and seemingly cold-hearted person. I also read that he acted as a dictator, ignoring democracy and at times doing things just to assert his power, not to create better conditions for the people. On one hand, I strongly disagree with the tactics and methods he used in order to have things accomplished. But if these physical changes in New York City were truly so hard to accomplish with the ways of American politics, then perhaps the means that Robert Moses used can be overlooked. He did make New York into a better place to live and his influence on New York is unsurpassed. The number of parks, bridges, public housing, playgrounds, beaches, and expressways that he built is unbelievable and they changed New York greatly.
Although Robert Moses was a dictator who believed in the justification of the means by the ends, New York would not have turned out to be a better place to live in if not for him. He was an idealist who did not only dream but also put his ideas into action. He made sure everything happened the way he wanted it to. He did not compromise or settle for anything less than his ideal. It is true that he took these characteristics to the extreme, but the result was a better place to live in for the future generations. “He knew what should be done and he intended to do it the right way or not at all.” Such a mindset can be either good or bad but I think it resulted in something good. I liked that Robert Moses had such a vision for New York and worked hard to get things done. There may have been better and cheaper ways to accomplish the same things, but perhaps not as many goals would have been achieved. Robert Moses saw a spacious park and sunbathing place in the deserted land that was once Jones Beach. He did things not only in New York City but also in the suburban areas and upstate New York that no other individual could have done. Although his belief of himself to be “indispensable” was scorned by many, I am convinced that he was truly irreplaceable and valuable to New York.
