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| Re: Robert Moses (466471) | |||
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Re: Robert Moses |
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Posted by SMAZ on Thu Jul 26 03:36:48 2007, in response to Re: Robert Moses, posted by Wallyhorse on Wed Jul 25 07:47:09 2007. One of the many "crimes" attributed to the late-era Moses is the devastion brought by the construction of the Verrazzano Bridge. Kevin Walsh's great site www.forgotten-ny.com has a lot of pics and comments on that topic and I think he lived there as a child. This was a true tragedy for those residents but Moses' thinking was right on target. At a time of middle-class flight to the suburbs and a shrinking tax base it was only logical to funnel some of these would-be fugitives to a perfectly fine underdeveloped part of NY that was within city limits and with a suburban lifestyle to boot. Why lose the tax base to Nassau or New Jersey? Of course the lost oppurtunity for a rail link is no small matter but that wasn't anybody's priority at that time. More car lines were priority #1. As for Trumpland or whatever it's called, I must say that we have been reduced to this. An upscale development for the wealthy with a waterfront ribbon of green is the best we can do in this era of lowered expectations and political mediocrity and timidity. I don't resent Trump for trying to make a buck. He and his investors are taking the risks in a difficult city and they deserve the money. That's much better then unproductive vacant land. The problem is the lack of vision by our elected leaders. Moses would have made a greatly expanded park with ballfields and perhaps even stuck a swimming pool that would have been open to everybody. I was born in 1969 and the saddest part of all is that in my view, Bloomberg is the best mayor in my lifetime. It probably will not get any better then the elitist and somewhat out of touch Bloomberg in the near future. At least he tries and doesn't owe anybody any favors. That's how far we have fallen since Moses. A truly visionary leader would have at least used tax increment financing to finance bonds backed by future taxes from that and future developments along the 11th Av corridor that would not otherwise materialize without the rezoning and use it to pay for an (L) extension to the north. And Bloomy's transit friendly!! He is doing something similiar to pay for the (7) extension. No MTA or State and federal money. |
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