alternatehistory.com

“CITY CLOSES STATEN ISLAND RAPID TRANSIT LINES DUE TO LACK OF FINANCES”


“It is simply unacceptable that the government has let issues as important as infrastructure and transportation fall to the hands of incompetent city governments and poorly run state boards, it is time for the federal government to use its power for the national good.”


“The Secretary or one of his aids was soon a main stay of my office. He was constantly pushing for a larger budget, expanded jurisdiction, or most importantly the passage of one of his pet bills. I suppose I wasn’t alone though as these plans soon came up on the Congress floor and with a large amount of support.”

“The American City is the hub of enterprise and the center of American business. I stand before you representing the shining city on the hill, the City of Boston and I wish to ensure that these benefits only grow and expand, to the benefit of all Americans. To the benefit of the worker who must get to the city center to work each morning, to the businessman who commutes to his office building, to the farmer whose wares are ferried from the city harbor, it is to the benefit of all that the American city grow, and that is why I have presented this bill.”


“-What can possibly justify the massive cost of renewal? [At the time the bill cost 15 million or about 142 million in 2018 dollars]

--America must accept we either pay the costs now or lose much more later.

-What do you mean by that?

--Without this bill, the American city will lose millions due to a slow and aging system, a slow and aging system someone will have to keep paying thousands to continually patch.”


“The bill earmarked the money to be used to: help metropolitan commissions maintain and expand current networks, help finance and offer loans to city and state corporations for infrastructure and help offer planning and assistance for development. Ignored at the time was the federal takeover, called a conservatorship, of the two Staten Island lines which set the precedent for the Department of Public Works to incorporate other state-run boards when they saw them as ‘failing’ or in ‘financial danger’. This precedent was rarely pressed during the Moses era though as the department kept steady financial control of any corporation they had given a loan to.”


“The Urban Infrastructure Renewal Act had a stringent application process and the Department of Public Works openly said that not all applications would get the funding requested. It was soon accused of favoring cities that followed Moses’s model for city planning, accused of favoring Republican run cities, and accused of denying much needed funding to African American neighborhoods. The whole system was decried as an example of a poorly run administration, but Moses was quick to reply that he personally oversaw the majority of projects and ran a tight ship. But it may be telling that it was Moses and not Warren who oversaw the Department’s projects.”


“Moses fought tooth and nail to keep his Department independent of much oversight or investigation. Every committee hearing on his funding was met by heavy lobbying on his part and the part of urban planners who flourished under his watch. Every press question was met with a lofty response on the importance of efficiency and meeting tomorrow’s problems today. In short, the Department of Public Works became the private domain of Robert Moses and he continued to lobby and push to see it grow.”


“The slow expansion of the Department of Public Works also saw the expansion of the Moses plan for urban planning. The, now notorious in some circles, ‘wheel and spoke’ model for freeways around cities was pushed by the Department and projects that implemented the model were far more likely to get the funded and loans they needed.”


“Despite the fact that the original spark for the bill had been the Staten Island Rapid Transit Line shutdown, those lines were soon shut down regardless, the Department announcing that they simply were not tenable. This soon became a trend, with the department killing many of the public transit, particularly rail, projects that came under their management.


“Despite being given the power to basically play architect of any American city he so chose, Robert Moses was hardly satisfied, and soon, alongside the President, began to push for even larger projects, which would of course likely fall under his jurisdiction.”


“Moses was used by the opposition Democrats in a variety of ways. Many from urban centers or those who had the backing of steel or other affiliated unions attacked him due to perceived opposition to public transit and many Democrats began to push for intraurban rail as an alternative to Moses’s highway corridor plans. Others, rural and Southern Democrats attacked him as a ‘Big Wig Yankee’ who had little quarter, or even a penny, for the interest of the Southern farmer or even for Southern cities. He was, and often is, used as a symbol of the oft broken progress offered by the Warren administration.”


“Robert Moses soon became a symbol of many things. To some he represented the ideals of development and rule by the technocrat that many believed Warren had come into office to assert. To others, he represented the corruption of the large cities and the misguided ideology of the progressive. No matter what he was symbolic of though, it cannot be denied that Moses was a giant that dominated not just his own Department but the 83rd Congress, cities around America, and indeed the future of the American city as a whole. While many opposed him, far more fell into line. “


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