re: #206 lawhawk

What’s amazing is that Moses was able to accumulate all that power in the first place, and each time he expanded his power, that gave him added incentive to gain still more.

IE: went from heading the NYC parks department to the state parks to the highway departments to link the state parks to the city, then bridges to link each to the other. It’s why he was a master building, but his vision was spectacularly lacking re: mass transit. And his influence was so widespread that it affected transportation practices for decades thereafter (and still) around the US.

Mass transit options are finally being incorporated in many places in a serious and integrated fashion, but the costs are huge.

He also managed to take over public housing —anything that had federal money attached to it basically. He got all the FDR Program money that came to NY, it seems and managed to make sure that NY got more than most.

I have to wonder how much of the eventual race relations issues were the result of his “urban planning”.