As far as I’m concerned, the ultimate outcome of the Tavern-on-the-Green incident was an absolute victory for democracy. While it’s true that, as Tyler says, it was a victory for freedom of speech, that is one of the main principles upon which democracy is predicated, one of the very things which allows democracy to function at all. Democracy depends so strongly upon it that the two are inextricably tied up with one another. If the right to freedom of speech is being exercised, then, by extension, democracy is being upheld as well. Furthermore, and perhaps most to the point, the basic purpose of democracy is to restore “power to the people”. When the majority of the public expresses a wish for something, by the principles of democracy, it should be granted to them. So, yes: I do believe that the triumph of the Central Park Mommies was also one of democracy.
I like Jacobs’s approach—in theory. The idea of taking a holistic look at a city when designing it is appealing, if only for the fact that it would be fair. After all, if you take everything into account, you are much less likely to step on the toes of someone advocating one issue in order to mollify those who take a stand on another issue. I do wonder which approach works better in practice, however—and which is more popular today. I also wonder why, if she was clearly criticizing Robert Moses, she would not mention him by name.
I don’t like that much of Kenneth Jackson’s defense of Robert Moses comes from comparing him to the movers and shakers of other big cities; if you are going to judge a man, judge him on his own merits. Jackson did that, too—but most of what he said speaks to our discussion in class about the fact that hindsight is 20/20; we have different views about Robert Moses, being the beneficiaries of his works many years later, than did those who were displaced on account of them at the time that they were underway. I guess it is only fair to judge people in hindsight, in fact, when tempers are not quite so high, but I do feel it is difficult to refer to the Jackson piece as entirely objective.
