Robert Moses was definitely a man of incredible complexity: he both helped and hurt the city in many ways during his time in power as well as, today. It’s evident that he did a lot for New York City during a time of economic recession by his development of bridges, expressways, parkways and parks, which helped bring New York City, back to its former glory of being the most efficient and powerful city in the world. However, it is also evident that he also did some questionable things that really didn’t show that he completely cared about the people he was “supposed” to be helping. I believe that Caro’s interpretation of Moses’ acts is extremely biased, but not inaccurate. Yes, Moses probably acted callously in many situations that questioned his complete power, the Tavern on the Green incident being just one of them. And yes, I believe that we he did to those families, was unquestionably wrong. But, I do think that there is some kind of merit for what Moses did for the city overall. He’s probably a large reason why we are all here today.
Caro does a great job in personifying the many facets of Robert Moses. He did great things for the City, which I believe were equally essential to the growth of it like, his role in the vast development of parks. Not only did he realize that it would help the city by creating jobs, but he also realized that they were essential in a place where so many people were crammed together. Maybe this is the Environmental major in me, but I wish he had created more parks for people to enjoy. I also wish that he had put as much effort in parks in lower-income areas like he did with Central Park, which was, at the time, only enjoyed by higher-class whites. This goes to show that although Moses did a lot of good for the city there was still a lot of bad that are not acceptable, yet still is a problem. The development of The Projects is the perfect example of an imperfect “democratic” system; where lower-class Americans are subject to live in slum-like conditions that hinder their educational and economic growth. This again, just goes to show that there is always someone or something that gets stepped on for development to happen. The question is: how far is too far?
