Whoever said getting there is half the fun, never experienced rush hour
traffic in New York. Thanks to Robert Moses a master architect we have many
bridges and highways to make our commute just a slight bit easier. Robert Moses
was one of the most influential figures in urban development. Best known for
shaping the modern cities, especially New York Robert remains for some a
stellar visionary in the building of a culturally and economically vibrant New
York City. Others have a different view, some may say that Moses promoted the
automobile over mass transit, building vehicular bridges, tunnels and roadways
that transformed the city without any consideration for what might be lost. The
result being huge gashes in established, densely populated and mostly working-class
neighborhoods. (Dim, 2012)
Born on Dec.18, 1888,
in New Haven, Conn., to Emanuel and Bella Moses., Robert Moses was the second
of three children. In 1897 after retiring from a department store Emanuel Moses
moved his family to New York City. Attending private school and graduating from
Yale in 1909, Robert Moses received a Master's degree from Oxford in 1911 and a
Ph.D. from Columbia in 1914. (Williams, 2007) After college, he entered the
working world fully educated and ready for the political world of New York
City. He started his career working for the Bureau of Municipal Research. (A
non-profit organization who served as the catalyst for the creation and
expansion of a professional public service). While there he met his first wife
Mary Louise Sims, whom he married in 1915, from this union Moses had two
daughters Barbara and Jane. (KIOLI, 2010)
Appointed
as the Technical Advisor to the Civil Service Commission by Mayor John Puroy
Mitchell, Moses proposed an unsuccessful and controversial reform plan for the
city, and soon after lost his job. After Gov. Al Smith was elected he appointed
Moses as Chief of Staff to Belle Moskowitz, during this time proposed building
a seaside park on Long Island and a system of landscaped parkways to get there
and the world's first highway system was developed. (Williams, 2007) In 1924,
Moses was appointed President of the Long Island State Park Commission and the
building of Jones Beach State Park began. From 1924 to 1968, Moses built parks,
highways, bridges, playgrounds, housing, tunnels, beaches, zoos, civic centers,
exhibition halls and the 1964-65 New York World's Fairs at Flushing Meadow
Park. (Goldberg, 1981)
Knowing that making
connections between Manhattan and the other boroughs would help with economic
growth, his goal was to knit the city together. Many agreed with the idea of
knitting the city together, but it came with the cost of breaking up
neighborhoods and uprooting families. Not catering for the working class whom
could not afford cars, or investing his money into the up and coming transit
system; Moses rather spend money on building highways and breaking up
neighborhoods in Brooklyn and the Bronx this bulldozing and rebuilding went by
the name “urban renewal.” (BG.25)
Many blame Moses for
the destruction of under established neighborhoods to build roads and moving
poor people from their homes into public housing projects. Some may say his
approach to urban planning had classist and racist undertones, his critics also
accuse him of steering the prime developments to predominantly white
neighborhoods and avoiding building in historically black neighborhoods like
Harlem.(Gjertsen, 2008) Although this may be true; Moses quotes states it best,
"I raise my stein to the builder who can remove ghettos without
removing people, as I hail the chef who can make omelets without breaking eggs.”
without these tactics many of New York beauties that we marvel over daily would
not have been exposed. With change there will always be opposition, I believe
that he was wise beyond his time and the people of his era were very complacent
with the economy.
When describing Robert
Moses a mouthful of ideas come to mind, some may praise him as a great
developer who help revolutionize NYC, while others say he was an engineer who
lacked a heart. Despite all the opposition Robert Moses legacy will forever
live on in New York City history from Robert Moses Parkway to Robert Moses
Beach, he was an iconic and important contributor to New York City development.
Many New Yorkers now would never be able to visualize a New York City without
the heartless, ruthless and skilled expertise of Robert Moses.
References
Dims, J. M. (2012, March 17). Did Robert Moses Ruin New York City? The
Long View, p. 1. Retrieved September 20, 2012
Gjertsen, L. (2008, June 26). Robert Moses: The controversial power
broker who built New York. In Historical
Bibliographies @ Suite 101. Retrieved September 20, 2012
Goldberger, P. (1981, July 30). Robert Moses,
master is dead at 92. New York Times. Retrieved September 17, 2012, from
www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/1218.html
Who was Robert Moses? (2010,
September). Keep It On Long island, 1-4. Retrieved September 20, 2012,
from www.kioli.org/longisland/interest/all-about-robert-moses/
Williams, J. K. (2007, October 22).
Robert Moses- New York's Master Builder. New York Post, 1-2. Retrieved
September 17, 2012, from
www.nypost.com/f/print/classroom_extra/item_oeKBSldoCDS1nAlieSuevK
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