Robert Moses the Power Broker and Zoom Celebrity
An unintended consequence of the prominence of Zoom, Teams, or other video chat platforms has been the impromptu games of “I-Spy” we play while listening and watching on these calls. For the uninitiated, this involves perusing the bookshelves and coffee tables behind the talking head. As our work from home life began in Spring 2020, a particular book was spotted in many a political pundits background. The nearly 2” wide spine with the bold red font of “The Power Broker” against the stark white background is easily lost in a low-resolution screen, but it’s become de rigueur for politicians and news reporters broadcasting from their living rooms or home offices.
“The Power Broker, Robert Moses and the Fall of New York,” was written by Robert A. Caro, first published back in 1974 – winning a Pulitzer Prize that same year. It is an autobiography of a man responsible with the car-centric infrastructure in the NY metropolitan area, both cursed and admired still. Moses was an urban planner, among holding other positions in government from Park Commissioner to Secretary of State and various Chairmanships from 1924-1975. The height of his power is often noted to be from the 1930s-1960s. During that stretch of time, he left a mark on the city and state that still resonates, and likely inspired a fair share of future planners, architects, and engineers. It is also a must read for politicians and others aspiring to wield clout and power in NYC.
Photo credit: Mike Elliott
He was an influential designer whose inclination was to bulldoze homes, blocks, and communities. His resume includes hundreds of miles of new parkways (32 expressways and parkways to be exact), many new public parks throughout NYS, public housing, Shea Stadium, the United Nations complex on the East River, the World’s Fair, seven new bridges, pretty much all the parkways that go out to Long Island, and the list goes on... It is estimated that a quarter of a million of NYC residents were displaced due to his handiwork.
Photo credit: Alison Perry
Photo credit: Josh Appel
These new roads cut off communities from the waterfront and from each other. Think of that tiered section of the BQE that cuts off the Brooklyn Heights promenade from the waterfront, as well as that below grade section that splits Cobble Hill. That was his doing. On the other hand, think of the scenic drives along the Belt Parkway, out to Jones Beach – also his work. On a side note – parkways were intended to be for passenger cars, not commercial trucks due to the intentionally placed low overpasses/bridges. Side side note – Robert Moses never obtained his driver’s license yet still knew how to drive.
In “The Power Broker,” it notes the reason for the low bridge/overpass on expressways were to unfortunately prevent lower-income bus riders from accessing those areas. The author does indeed call him a “racist human being.” Moses’ public pools benefited affluent white neighborhoods while scarcely located in the poorer minority communities. It’s also reported that Moses was one of the (many) reasons the Brooklyn Dodgers left for LA when he refused to acquire a plot of land in Brooklyn on their behalf.
Achievements of Robert Moses
Photo credit: OpticalNomad
There is much more to unwrap with the impact of Robert Moses, much more than this blog can cover. I’m slowly getting through the over 1,000 pages of my copy of “The Power Broker,” – but I can tell you, it won’t appear in the background of my Zoom calls.