“Robert Moses, the construction of the Cross-Bronx Expressway and its impact on the Bronx” Around this time, Moses' political acumen began to fail him, as he unwisely picked several controversial political battles he could not possibly win. The BRONX Historic Streets Of 1900 to 1980s - Duration: 6:28. Robert Moses’ official biographer, Roger Cleveland seemed to imply in his book, Robert Moses, Builder for Democracy, that both Moses and the landowners got what they wanted in the end, even though the Northern State Parkway’s five mile detour looked unusual from an aired or map point of view. The expressway acts as a boundary that solidifies the cultural and economic differences of the north and south Bronx. Moses is blamed for having destroyed more than a score of neighborhoods by building 13 expressways across New York City and by building large urban renewal projects with little regard for the urban fabric or for human scale. Robert Moses’s projects were so numerous that he wound up picking a fight with virtually every demographic category in New York City and Long Island from the wealthy elites of the Gold Coast to the working class of the Bronx. After the World's Fair debacle, New York City mayor John Lindsay, along with Governor Nelson Rockefeller, sought to direct toll revenues from the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority's (TBTA) bridges and tunnels to cover deficits in the city's then financially ailing agencies, including the subway system. [28], Moses knew how to drive an automobile, but he did not have a valid driver's license. [6] He spent the first nine years of his life living at 83 Dwight Street in New Haven, two blocks from Yale University. O'Malley vehemently opposed this plan, citing the team's Brooklyn identity. Moses succeeded in diverting funds to his Long Island parkway projects (the Northern State Parkway, the Southern State Parkway and the Wantagh State Parkway), although the Taconic State Parkway was later completed as well. (Max Ulrich/City of New York-Parks & Recreation Photo Archive) Moses’ construction of the 7-mile Cross Bronx Expressway involved destroying a mile of the East Tremont neighborhood – a mile that held 54 apartment buildings, which totals to 1,530 homes. By 1959, he had overseen construction of 28,000 apartment units on hundreds of acres of land. Through these authorities, he controlled millions of dollars in income from his projects, such as tolls, and he could issue bonds to borrow vast sums for new ventures with little or no input from legislative bodies. explores the disconnect between the actuality of Bronx neighborhoods and how Moses presented them. His decisions favoring highways over public transit helped create the modern suburbs of Long Island and influenced a generation of engineers, architects, and urban planners who spread his philosophies across the nation despite his not having been trained in those professions. Concept renderings of Robert Moses' proposed LOMEX (Lower Manhattan Expressway). This is just one example of many ways in which New York City can help (at least in part) solve issues that arose from the expressway. No suit was filed. The blasting commenced in ’48. A spokesman for Good Samaritan Hospital said he had been taken there … By using the … 2019   In the 1970s the Bronx was burning, but some residents were rebuilding. Known as the "master builder" of mid-20th century New York City, Long Island, Rockland County, and Westchester County, he is sometimes compared to Baron Haussmann of Second Empire Paris, and was one of the most polarizing figures in the history of urban development in the United States. The massive trench created during construction (Figure 1) is the result of the destruction of Bronx homes. "It could be that The Power Broker was a reflection of its time: New York was in trouble and had been in decline for 15 years. If there’s one thing most people attribute to Robert Moses it’s highways. Created with Sketch. Robert Moses, who played a larger role in shaping the physical environment of New York State than any other figure in the 20th century, died early yesterday at West Islip, L.I. [51][43] However, no other source has corroborated the claim that heaters in any particular pool were deactivated or not included in the pool's design. Ryan, Allyson Moses, more than anyone else, linked the boroughs with bridges. According to City Journal, in the early 1930s, Robert Moses lived on Riverside Drive with a view of the massive construction project that … "[55], American urban planner and public official, Robert Moses with a model of his proposed Battery Bridge, Post-war influence of urban development and projects, CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (, Learn how and when to remove this template message, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Presentation by Robert Caro on Robert Moses and urban development at the Brookings Institution, September 28, 1998, Robert Moses State Park – Thousand Islands, proposed expansion of the New York City Subway, Federal Power Commission v. Tuscarora Indian Nation, "Robert Moses, Master Builder, is Dead at 92", "The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York by Robert Caro review – a landmark study", "New York City Parks Commissioners : NYC Parks", "Revisiting The 11 Pools Whose Gala Openings Defined 1936", "Feb. 4, 1974: Portland kills the Mount Hood Freeway", "Revising the Revisionists: Walter O'Malley, Robert Moses, and the End of the Brooklyn Dodgers", "Environmental and Urban Economics: Robert Moses: New York City's Master Builder? Language in its Authority's bond contracts and multi-year Commissioner appointments made it largely impervious to pressure from mayors and governors. Federal interest had shifted from parkway to freeway systems, and the new roads mostly conformed to the new vision, lacking the landscaping or the commercial traffic restrictions of the pre-war highways. Der ursprüngliche Name der Brücke war Triborough oder Triboro Bridge, sie wurde aber am 19.November 2008 zum Gedenken an den ehemaligen New Yorker Senator Robert F. Kennedy umbenannt. One direct consequence of the expressway is that Bronx communities were literally split apart (Ryan 2018). Study into the South Bronx shows a history of neglect of immigrant, Jewish, and African American residents. This was in apparent retaliation, based on specious claims that the proposed tunnel would undermine Castle Clinton's foundation. ... From LBJ to Robert Moses: Robert Caro on Writing About Political Power & Its Impact on the Powerless - Duration: 39:40. One subordinate remembers Moses saying the pools should be kept a few degrees colder, allegedly because Moses believed African Americans did not like cold water. Moses was one of the few local officials who had projects shovel ready. Despite the impact of expressways and highways, and Moses’ contribution to the bustling region that is NYC today, he absolutely could have approached the construction of the Cross … [22] Moses allegedly fought to keep African American swimmers out of his pools and beaches. There will be two speakers this month, Doug Hearle, a retired reporter from the New York Times and Thomas Vasti, the vice president of the forum who also serves as a docent with both Gracie Mansion and the Bartow-Pell Mansion. Mr. Moses, whose long list of public offices only begins to hint at his impact on both the city and state of New York, was 92 years old. 2017   Robert Moses, the Construction of the Cross Bronx Expressway and its impact on the    Bronx. One of these was the Parkside Houses, formerly eleven acres of granite outcropping in the north Bronx. Robert Caro beschreibt in seiner, mit dem Pulitzer Preis gekrönten Biografie über den dafür verantwortlichen Bauherrn Robert Moses, wie das von ihm durchgesetzte (Mega-) Bauprojekt die Bronx zerstörte und in die Verwahrlosung trieb. [37][10] Upon its publication, Moses denounced the biography in a 23-page statement, to which Caro replied to defend his work's integrity. I would recommend the construction of perhaps less extravagant versions of Manhattan’s High Line. Robert Moses, instead of parting the Red Sea, he parted the Bronx with a six-lane highway and redlined my community. His other projects included the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and Staten Island Expressway, which together constituted most of Interstate 278; the Cross-Bronx Expressway; many New York State parkways; and other highways. There are other signs of the surviving appreciation held for him by some circles of the public. [10] Other critics charge that he precluded the use of public transit, which would have allowed non-car-owners to enjoy the elaborate recreation facilities he built. October 7, 2001. http://dcmny.org/islandora/object/bronxbusiness%3A249, https://www.jacobinmag.com/2019/08/decade-of-fire-film-south-bronx-nyc, A deeper dive into the South Bronx by the New York Times:  https://www.nytimes.com/1999/02/14/realestate/a-south-bronx-very-different-from-the-cliche.html. But its real inspiration lies with author Robert Caro’s work on Robert Moses, the visionary yet ruthless “master builder” who shaped modern New York City in the first half of the 20 th century. Moses' projects were considered by many to be necessary for the region's development after the Great Depression. Select an option below to see step-by-step directions and to compare ticket prices and travel times in Rome2rio's travel planner. [10], Moses had influence outside the New York area as well. [34] This plan and the Mid-Manhattan Expressway both failed politically. Caro's 1,200-page opus (edited down from 2,000 or so pages) showed Moses generally in a negative light; essayist Phillip Lopate writes that "Moses's satanic reputation with the public can be traced, in the main, to ... Caro's magnificent biography". There are 5 ways to get from The Bronx to Robert Moses State Park by subway, train, bus, taxi or car. Moses was instrumental in the construction of the Triborough, Throgs Neck, Bronx-Whitestone, Henry Hudson, and the Verrazano Narrows bridges, as well as the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, Staten Island Expressway, the Cross-Bronx Crossway, the Belt Parkway, and Laurelton Parkway, just to name a few. Now, for a whole host of reasons, New York is entering a new time, a time of optimism, growth and revival that hasn't been seen in half a century. As a result of Moses' work, New York has the United States' greatest proportion of public benefit corporations, which are the prime mode of infrastructure building and maintenance in New York and account for most of the state's debt. The major European democracies, as well as Canada, Australia, and the Soviet Union, were all BIE members and they declined to participate, instead reserving their efforts for Expo 67 in Montreal. Some might not know, however, of the displacement and destruction it created. Moses was also given powers over public housing that had eluded him under LaGuardia. [10] One of Moses's first steps after Impellitteri took office was halting the creation of a citywide Comprehensive Zoning Plan underway since 1938 that would have curtailed his nearly unlimited power to build within the city and removed the Zoning Commissioner from power in the process. [10] His building of expressways hindered the proposed expansion of the New York City Subway from the 1930s well into the 1960s, because the parkways and expressways that were built replaced, at least to some extent, the planned subway lines; the 1968 Program for Action, which was never completed, was hoped to counter this. By the time he left office, he had built 658 playgrounds in New York City alone, plus 416 miles (669 km) of parkways and 13 bridges. [27] He had raised the same arguments, which failed due to their lack of political support. None went very far, but Moses, due to his intelligence, caught the notice of Belle Moskowitz, a friend and trusted advisor to Governor Al Smith. During the last years of his life, Moses concentrated on his lifelong love of swimming and was an active member of the Colonie Hill Health Club. A 1941 publication from the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority claimed that the government had forced them to build a tunnel at "twice the cost, twice the operating fees, twice the difficulty to engineer, and half the traffic," although engineering studies did not support these conclusions, and a tunnel may have held many of the advantages Moses publicly tried to attach to the bridge option. While monetary reparations for the individuals impacted by the construction of the Cross-Bronx Expressway sounds just, I would argue that this is unlikely to happen. Public officials in many smaller American cities hired him to design freeway networks in the 1940s and early 1950s. Accessed December 8, 2019. Moreover, O'Malley's proposal — to have the city acquire the property for several times as much as he had originally said he was willing to pay — was rejected by both pro- and anti-Moses officials, newspapers, and the public as an unacceptable government subsidy of a private business enterprise. The Cross Bronx Expressway and the Ruination of the Bronx, https://www.nytimes.com/1999/02/14/realestate/a-south-bronx-very-different-from-the-cliche.html, http://fordhampoliticalreview.org/the-legacy-of-robert-moses. The legislature's vote to fold the TBTA into the newly created Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) could have led to a lawsuit by the TBTA bondholders. [11], Moses rose to power with Smith, who was elected as governor in 1922, and set in motion a sweeping consolidation of the New York State government. [52], Some scholars have attempted to rehabilitate Moses's reputation, contrasting the scale of works with the high cost and slow speed of public works in the decades following his era. The representative said “environmental racism” is a “pre-existing […] People Search, Background Checks, Criminal Records, Contact Information, Public Records & More Als Leiter der Long Island State Park Commission, einer nach seine… [20][21] One such pool is McCarren Park Pool in Brooklyn, which was dry for decades and used only for special cultural events but later reopened to the public. The expressway is ironically thought to be a factor in the extreme urban decay seen by the borough in the 1970s and 1980s. It W8. Robert Moses Papers (MS 360). These include two state parks, Robert Moses State Park – Thousand Islands in Massena, New York and Robert Moses State Park – Long Island, the Robert Moses Causeway on Long Island, and the Robert Moses Hydro-Electric Dam in Lewiston, New York. [10] A "Brooklyn Battery Bridge" would have decimated Battery Park and physically encroached on the financial district, and for this reason, the bridge was opposed by the Regional Plan Association, historical preservationists, Wall Street financial interests, property owners, various high society people, construction unions, the Manhattan borough president, Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, and governor Herbert H. The expressway acts as a boundary that solidifies the cultural and economic differences of the north and south Bronx. Three years later, in the spring of 1951, the first tenants, … The biography further notes that Moses fought against schools and other public needs in favor of his preference for parks.[10]. In 1947, with Robert Moses riding the bulldozer, the NYCHA announced the construction of fifteen new developments that would accommodate sixty thousand new tenants. 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