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| Re: Brooklyn Dodgers (on topic) (464894) | |||
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Re: Brooklyn Dodgers (on topic) |
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Posted by Russ on Mon Jul 23 13:51:38 2007, in response to Re: Brooklyn Dodgers (on topic), posted by SMAZ on Mon Jul 23 00:16:24 2007. New York City would have died without the vision of Bob Moses. It would have ended up like Detroit and so many other formerly great American cities.<That's an opinion loaded with irony. Detroit embraced the automobile far more than New York did, and this accelerated the suburbanization of that city. The man may have been arrogant and stubborn but that is the only way to get things done in NY. Nothing of public importance has been built here since he left the scene. The reason why its so difficult to build great public projects is because of laws that were passed in reaction to Robert Moses, not because of the lack of a great man. Imagine NYC had Moses never existed. It would have become a dump. The pre-WWII Robert Moses left a legacy that supports your opinion. The post-WWII Robert Moses does not as he did turn parts of New York into "a dump." One of his worst legacies are the Le Corbusier inspired housing projects that he built. Functioning neighborhoods were replaced with architectural monstrosities that helped to institutionalize poverty. My only beefs with him is his contempt for mass transit and the overt racial implications of his housing policies. I'm glad that some of his projects like the LOMEX were shot done. Other then that I wish we had a modern day more sensible and transit oriented version of Robert Moses. There was never any whiff of malfeasence in his work. "The path to hell is paved with good intentions." It doesn't matter if there was no malfeasance. As I see it, he was either blinded by arrogance, or he was incompetent when it came to his implementation of social programs. His legacy stands the test of time. It seems that the biggest gripe here is that he didn't bend to O'Malley's blackmail. Any public servant who shuns requests of handouts to the rich and other corporate welfare should be commended instead of vilified. I agree that not bending to O'Malley was a good thing. Robert Moses' legacy, though, has definitely not stood the passage of time. Yes, Robert Caro's book was polemic and devoid of scientific discipline. After 30 years, where are the well regarded books challenging The Power Broker? Until that happens, Robert Moses' legacy is in the gutter. |
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