The man who pushed the Dodgers to California with the Giants following. The man who wanted to build a highway through Greenwich Village. The man who F.D.R. called too arrogant to hire for the New Deal reconstruction. The man who never saw a neighborhood that shouldn't be gutted by a highway. A man who loved highways but couldn't drive.
And he built countless parks, cleaned up the civil services, created clean beaches. Was he a good man no, was he a bad man no he was human who made countless mistakes destroying lives and improved many lives as well
@@TimesFM4532 He made sure bridges were just short enough so that the communities of colors that relied on public transportation for movement around the city couldn't access these amenities.
Yup. Pretty sure they destroyed Bunker Hill here in Los Angeles to construct a music center very similar to Lincoln Center. Happened 10 years after Moses destroyed San Juan Hill on the UWS
As much as I am a child of NYC, and I love the City as is, I totally agree that he could have set the stage for greater things with the power he wielded
I-290 in Chicago destroyed the city's West SIde. Ironically, it was named for Dwight D. Eisenhower, who had pushed for the Interstate Highway System but was opposed to freeways slicing through cities and had never intended for Interstate Highways to be built through urban areas. But at least the EIsenhower Expressway - I-290 - has a mass transit rail line running down its median with stations that are accessible by stairs from overpasses. The City of New York asked Moses to leave a right of way for a future rail transit line along the Van Wyck Expressway (I-678) in Queens so more people could take a train to Idlewild (now JFK) Airport. He refused to do so.
If you want to learn more about Robert Moses and the dramatic impact he had on all of NY, and really the US, I highly recommend you sit and read the entirety of the Power Broker. All 1,300 pages. It’s probably one of the best books that I’ve ever read.
I am three quarters through it. Agreed! Magnificent book that shows the monstrous things RM did in his arrogance. Robert Caro wrote deeply impressively. But also try David Cairns's two volumes on Hector Berlioz. I believe it is greater--in part for the wondrous writing, but in large part for the story of the truly good man Monsieur Berlioz was.
If Robert Moses had his way, he would have destroyed the iconic Washington Square Park. He wanted to continue 5th Ave by running it straight through the park. He had no interest in the park's incredible history of protests, politics, or music.....or what it meant to the large community of people who loved and used the park regularly, including travelers from afar who came to visit WSP. Thankfully, several people opposed him, including the magnificent Doris Deither, a self taught, city planning and zoning maven. She took Moses on and beat him. From that time on, she was regarded as the Queen of Washington Square Park. She was there almost everyday, greeting people, listening to the music, feeding the squirrels and birds, right up to her death at age 92. The 1 year memorial of her death was just celebrated, and a bench in the park was designated in her honor.
He certainly did. The South Bronx was a working-class neighborhood in the 1950's (the Honeymooners was set there). Thanks to his Cross Bronx Expressway, there was now no reason to traverse the South Bronx, causing most of the businesses in the area to shut down. By the 1970's, it was a crime-ridden hellhole. Imagine the Washington Square area transforming in a similar fashion.
@R A R Clearly we see the spirit of WSP very differently. Were there communists at one time...sure, might even be some now, I don't know. But it's about values, caring about others, keeping our country out of ill conceived wars. You think it's about hating the rich? You've entirely missed the point about what that park stands for. Your comment about John Lennon made me laugh out loud. Yes....John was a 1% er, but his songs, and the values he represented, have been played in the park since the 60's by nearly every group of musicians and singers who have been there. His song Imagine is a treasure. I suspect if you walked through the park today, someone will be singing it. He and the Beatles are heroes for their talent and the value system they sang about. Sorry you don't get that.
His plans for the park were really foolish, but other aspects of his work through the yrs were a mix of necessary changes & moving NYC to the next level. It's tough for a person as influential as Moses was to not to do bad things along with the good. His Lincoln Center & world's fair gave the city more cultural prowess & a huge PR/civic boost. Do various New Yorkers themselves display the best judgment?. BTW, aspects of the newly revamped Geffen Hall (of Moses's Lincoln Center) show "uh-er-oo-okay" judgment.
Remember "We had to destroy the village to save it"? Thank you for this. How wonderful that somebody found a way to put on this play. This history needs to be learned from.
Robert Moses did enormous damage to the natural estuaries and public health of Manhattan with his unchecked freeway building and developments (he nearly went over Central Park until public outcry stopped him). This was sort of covered in Ed Norton's Motherless Brooklyn, with Alec Baldwin as Moses. Not sure Fiennes a good fit, but he should've won his Oscar for Schindler's List (other movie tips: Clooney goes into 'Burn After Reading' mode in Paradise. Good sad monologue, beautiful Bali recreations, touching. And Black Adam surprisingly good; dignified Middle Eastern characters, beautiful cinematography, costumes, Brosnan good as Dr. Fate, didn't run too long. Just a fun super hero movie. Recommended.
Marble Hill in Manhattan is the only part of the borough on the North American mainland. That's because Moses rerouted the Harlem River and straightened it out for one of his projects - I think it was the Henry Hudson Bridge. The re-driecting of the river put Marble Hill on the wrong bank.
We don't have freeways . You from LA or SF? Bob Moses creations were and still are called "Parkways". Back when he created them they were landscaped with lots of trees and grass borders or pushed through Long Island's estate country with lots of mature trees lining the roadways. In later years expansion to add lanes took away some of the lushness. But not concrete soul-less "freeways". Moses added winding curves and low hills and gentle grades for variety. The low bridges excluded working class persons of all races who were often carless back then. Jones Beach was a nautical themed wonderland with clean tiled pools and diving boards, changing areas, white sand, pitch and putt golf, tennis courts refreshment stands, Umbrella rentals, and within the bay side of the barrier island a performing waterside venue for musicals back then and pop/rock later. Guy Lombardo's big band. Now it is "improved" with much of the old decorative elements gone. But still his gift to Long Island and surrounding areas. Then we have Lincoln Center, and the absolutely necessary long suspension bridges which would have been built anyway had he never lived. All cities with waterways have bridges. Yes I read Caro years ago. Yes RM was a curmudgeon and a man who enjoyed his power, sometimes in destructive and highly objectionable actions. But his best creations still stand, and his critics forget those Parkways opened up farmland to be developed for the post-war vets of WW II and houses of their own. The fact that Mr. Caro charted Moses journey from Al Smith (Democrat) friendly bureaucrat to conservative is what really gets under the skin of his car-hating (even electric) urban naysayers.
My parents knew the pre-Robert Moses NYC. I only knew the post-Robert Moses NYC. You can't really miss what you never had...but you *can* be aware it was there and realize what's missing.
I met Robert Moses with my grandfathers neighbor at Oak beach in Babylon Ny and he was a extremely kind person to my family and if it wasn't for him they would have turned long island in a shipping port ,so he built the bridges low to keep long island a community and not a Newark new jersey dump site Port
As a native and former New Yorker, I whiled away many hours on many of the 627 miles of highways, toll plazas, Jones Beach and Robert Moses State Park, the 1964 NY World's Fair, Lincoln Center, the Auto Shows and the United Nations Delegates' Dining Room. For many, life is a Spectator Sport and a few select individuals have determined our quality of life for better or worse.
An interesting observation, from my perspective, as I was born in Jamaica, Queens County in 1966, and I have also driven many of the same miles - my first early remembrances are of the Worlds Fair globe, visiting the science center there, with my grandmother (via mass transit) and as a child watching my immigrant father playing soccer in the shadow of the very same globe - interesting how perspectives are perhaps different
The efficiency and the perils of unelected bureaucrats. Fascinating story of an unelected powerbroker. Parallels the "empire citys" contradictions and struggles with elitism and democracy.
Never had a driver's license, never could legally drive on any of his parkways, bridges or tunnels. Story is he once tried running a bulldozer or front end loader but did so awkwardly.
Reading the power Broker you read how Moses would have Gutted most of Staten Island for a a high down the middle of the island. Staten Island Said no, and before the overpasses were torn down, they were stark reminders to how close he got to gutting the island for his highways.
Fascinating. In graduate school, I looked at another city impacted by urban renewal's blunt tools-Oakland California. Significant historic and thriving Black neighborhoods like West Oakland were destroyed to build freeways and links with the Bay Bridge. The West Coast cities were taking a page out of Moses's book. Now in the 21st Century, we are trying to undo much of what was done to make us a car-dependent culture. We're still grappling with inequality and the Working-Class and people of color being shoved around with little concern from the movers like Moses.
@@RockPaperScissors13 umm maybe you're not aware, but there is already plenty of fictional portrayals of Hitler and other evil dictators in media. I wouldn't call this play a "heart warming story" either.
Great video CBS. Although I really wished that you went into how Robert Moses also irreparably ruined New York City's subway system. In fact, you can totally blame the MTA's woes on Moses himself. His decisions neglecting the subways which lead to DECADES worth of mass transit underinvestment and decay directly lead to the absolute madness and almost Third World levels of inefficiency and frustration that plague the NYC Subways today.
Obviously he was totally enthralled by car culture (if not directly in GM's pocket) - just look at what GM did to undermine the Rochester public transit system during the same era - they buried a nascent subway system due to GM payoffs, and got away with a piddly fine from the federal government of the time
How come on give me a break he did some things that were inconvenient to other people I understand but this is just how it is you need Bridges you need roads unless you want to ride horses
He offered both clubs what became Shea Stadium. 🏟 Walter O'malley said I can't take the Brooklyn Dodgers to Queens, He can take them to Los Angeles he can't take them to Queens. 👸🏻 👸 👸🏼 . The Giants left as well.
I've read that O'Malley wanted to build what would have become the very first domed stadium at the location where Barclay's Center is currently located in Brooklyn, but Moses nixed the plan.
@@chriskelvin248 *transformed a city for the worse. Transformed/destroyed...doesn't matter what word you use. He did harm to NYC and countless other American cities.
@@EvanAntes Great public works will always have a cost beyond money. You can't not displace what was there before with something completely different and not completely change what was there before. That's life. Did he wield great power and not let anything/ anybody stand in his way of his great ideas? Absolutely. Could someone do now what he did then? No way. But I'm thankful for the things he got built and wouldn't have it any other way. They wouldn't exist otherwise. My only gripe is that many of the roads and bridges should be better maintained.
@@chriskelvin248 Actually you can give those people the money they were promised to relocate. That is the issue. They were promised money and housing and never got it. You just saying "thats life" shows how heartless and cruel you are. This also contributed to the horrible housing crisis we still have today in 2022.
@@chriskelvin248 I guess you're one of those people that is thankful we had infrastructure built by slaves too, right? Wouldn't have it any other way, right?! Just unbelievable people still think this way. Unable to reflect.
I used to drive on the Robert Moses Parkway in the Niagara Falls area (I think they changed the name of it). A very odd parkway to say the least. They removed a portion of it because it was used so little so now it is two separate sections.
Love him or hate him, nobody but Robert Moses could have pulled off the 1964-65 World’s Fair. Yes, like all public extravaganzas like this (think Olympic Games) it lost money. But the lasting impact it had on visitors is immeasurable.
The American Experience series on NYC by PBS is awesome, and speaks to Moses's efforts in detail in the latter episodes. I think it was to be published just before 9/11, but I could be wrong. Anyway they included 9/11, and went into detail on the WTC history, and Moses' involvement. Apparently the project was not economically successful initially. They showed a picture of him in a wheelchair in the WTC Plaza, seemingly wandering what he created.... Worth a look...
Yes, Ric Burns’ New York documentary features almost an entire episode dedicated to Robert Moses plus he is featured in the posthumous WTC final episode as well. Robert Caro is brilliant as is Marshall Berman in their analysis and critique of the megalomaniacal Robert Moses - a man that tried to bend the city to his will in worship to the automobile and didn’t even know how to drive. Essential viewing.
#SteveD: A slight correction on your comment regarding Moses. I have a solo DVD of that great NEW YORK documentary called CENTER OF THE WORLD when it became available in 2003. Still watch it every 9/11 anniversary. While Robert Moses was the unchecked architect behind the parks, highways, and bridges from 1925 to 1965, the wheelchair bound elderly man you referenced was actually Austin J. Tobin. The man who ran the NY/NJ Port Authority which help funded the construction of the Twin Towers complex. His name graced the plaza to which the WTC would be built on. He spent so many years defending the project that it practically killed him. You're right using that observation about the toll of buildings that displaced the poor. I just wanted to make sure you knew who the person you referenced really was.
He wasn't mean he was pure evil he destroyed neighborhoods dislocated poor people with nowhere to go so he can build his highways and bridges. The man didn't give a damn
@@Nighthawk-8050 Well, tbph, I wrote this comment roughly half way through the video, towards the end of it my opinion was actually closer to your judgement on him. ✌
@@jojopuppyfish I know you're not. Did he propose the Vine Street Expressway? Because that's a horrible drive. You feel like you're in a sewer conduit.
Rename City Field back to Shea Stadium so that the Mets can win again and pay respect to William Shea, the man who helped finance the Mets and the stadium in the 1950’s and 1960’s.
For everyone that is defending Moses and saying "Humans make mistakes." Then you have never driven before in NYC so tell me how useful all of those parkways are when you are sitting stand still on one of them. And if you say "oh NYC has terrible morning and afternoon drive ins" then again you have never driven in NYC or to NYC
From what I know he gutted neighborhoods and with too much power and money from the greedy tolls he collected he tyrannically ripped worlds apart for many. He was probably one of the greatest petroshills EVER !
Imagine what NYC transit could have been if the focus was placed there instead of roads and expressways. Local NYC trains/trolleys/trams would go everywhere including airports and throughout Long Island and all the boroughs instead of having majority of trains focused on entering/leaving Manhattan.
One of the best things I've ever read about Robert Moses is an essay written by the late great Gore Vidal 'What Robert Moses did to New York City. It can be found in Vidal's stellar collection of essays entitled 'United States'.
This piece reminds me of the PBS film, "The Rise and Fall of Penn Station" which is considered the poster child and sacrificial lamb which gave rise to the historic preservation movement. It's both edifying in its depiction of Penn Station's magnificence and tragically portrays its destruction. I see that there is a variety of feelings and opinions on what Robert Moses did to NYC and around the nation by imitation. I can't and don't want to imagine the Washington Square area as nothing but another stone cold, sterile, noisy multi-lane freeway. It seems like Moses was unbalanced in his view and perception of what human participation in life on this planet and interfacing with the natural world should be. His vision in one direction was strong and ruthless but he was sorely lacking balance.
Robert Caro's book The Power Broker is great. However, in talking with my parents who lived in NYC during this era, there was never a reason for either of them to go all the way out to Jones Beach when they had Brighton Beach in Brooklyn. And between many of my relatives who still live in NYC, I think only one of them went to Jones beach ones......why would any New Yorker care about going to Long Island?
I will build a new Ebbets Field Stadium in Brooklyn so that the Dodgers can come back. If they don’t come back I will sue California for corruption. I will also build the Oyster Bay Rye Bridge (NY 135/I-287) so that Long Island’s truck traffic can be improved. That’s why I was born.
Walter O'Malley will forever be considered one of Brooklyn's answers to "Does Satan exist?" for moving the Dodgers west, but after seeing the Brooklyn Dodgers documentary on HBO, one should find some room for Moses in that act. The footage of O'Malley and Moses meeting at the Mayor's recommendation is eye-opening because you can sense that Moses is sickened at having to breathe the same air as O'Malley, as he is making his case for building a new stadium.
He forced the Dodgers out of Brooklyn by refusing to allow them to build a new stadium. Walter O'Malley (the Dodgers then-owner) gets the blame for moving them to LA, but Robert Moses was the one who stopped the new stadium.
Moses was so ruthless,I heard from someone that he could’ve been friends with Hitler or Mussolini……..also learned that Fred Trump used some of Moses’ tactics 2 build up his empire!
I fully understand. The need for autonomous authority in planning and managing a project. For me, it was engineering software systems for business. When you allow multiple people to get involved, their petty opinions and ego come into play. Compromises and trade offs are made. Resulting in mediocrity. My systems were supreme in quality. Catapulting my clients into positions of leadership within their industry. Fortunately, I never had to tear down neighborhoods to build my masterpieces. They all occupied virgin territory in cyberspace.
@@pauly260 Moses had nothing to do with tearing down Ebbets field, that was done privately. O'malley sold the land to private developers. The Polo Grounds ? , yes Moses did tear that down to build public housing.
He made Jones Beach accessible by car but you still have to take the ferry to get to Fire Island - except for the western tip, which is the Robert Moses State Park, accessible by the Robert Moses Causeway. Getting to the towns on Fire Island from there requires a long, long walk along the beach. He developed Jones Beach State Park and Robert Moses State Park for straights. By "straights" I mean "squares." 😄
None of you Met Robert Moses and your making statements that are Lies , The only reason why New York is the best city in the World is because of Robert Moses and none of you can say you ever met him , I lived next door to him at Oak beach long island and he was a very kind man that loved his community and loved new york.
New York City peaked during the age of the robber barons. Moses had nothing to do with it. And it hasn’t been a contender for “greatest city in the world” for at least a century.
The FDR Drive is NOT one of Moses' projects. It was Stanley Isaacs that built it, supposedly with London Blitz debris brought over as ballast. Moses hated Isaacs. Probably he was too close to the Roosevelts.
The BQE is still terrible and I avoid it all costs!! Driving local on Park Ave is way faster…but thank you for the White Stone Bridge!! That’s a good one! lol
If you dont know who robert moses was you probably aren’t from NY and if you are from NY and still dont know who he was youre definitely not from Long Island
His greatest legacy is not in New York, thanks to Jane Jacobs and other activists NY "survived" the works of Robert Moses, the problem was ALL the other American cities that basically had New York (and consequently Moses) inspired for their urban renewals in the 20th century and became EXTREMELY car-centric cities
Robert Moses is, in large part, responsible for the greatness of New York City. Did he make mistakes? Of course! Chief among them was the emphasis on automobile transport, in a city that is based on public transport. It isn’t Moses’s fault that many of his projects are obsolete because of population explosion. And finally, I wish you wouldn’t put a 21st century outlook on mid-20th century life. No one then was thinking about diversity, and if you were Jewish or Irish or Italian, you were also restricted from many areas in Manhattan, Long Island, Westchester, Connecticut.
This video doesn't really balance Robert Moses. One of his many great successes is Riverside Park....before RM it was train tracks. Go there today and see how amazing it is.
@@stevenmaginnis1965 True. My point was he did good things for NYC and bad things. The triborough bridge was 3 pillings in the water for 10 years before RM took over and finished the project in 3 years.
Hey hey, not only did he single handly destroy more American heritage sites than any other man in history, lest we forget he made a killer villian in the Unsleeping City
Aside from the beautiful Jones beach, Ocean Parkway and the RM Causeway down to Fire Island, all this man did was slash and burn. The mere thought of having to drive somewhere via his highways like the BQE or Cross Bronx is enough to fill New Yorkers with dread, and he destroyed countless neighborhoods to build them. Also, he ensured that the Dodgers and NY Baseball Giants moved to the West Coast. Quite a "legacy" he left for himself
Robert moses was responsible for sunken meadow Park on long Island which claimed eminent domain and destroyed people's homes. He also made Jones Beach which is AWESOME. Genius builder but not the most ethical lol.
The man who pushed the Dodgers to California with the Giants following. The man who wanted to build a highway through Greenwich Village. The man who F.D.R. called too arrogant to hire for the New Deal reconstruction. The man who never saw a neighborhood that shouldn't be gutted by a highway. A man who loved highways but couldn't drive.
And he built countless parks, cleaned up the civil services, created clean beaches. Was he a good man no, was he a bad man no he was human who made countless mistakes destroying lives and improved many lives as well
@@TimesFM4532 Lives ruthlessly destroyed by one cannot be absolved by good deeds and favors bought to others. The ends do NOT justify the means.
@@TimesFM4532lmao clean beaches is the least of nyc worries
@@TimesFM4532 He made sure bridges were just short enough so that the communities of colors that relied on public transportation for movement around the city couldn't access these amenities.
The man who's only playground designed with monkeys on the gates was placed in Harlem
He didn’t just shape nyc, he shaped many American cities and has done irreparable damage to many, many US cities
Well, thank you Loma Preida earthquake. It got rid of our Embarcadero freeway in S.F.
Yup. Pretty sure they destroyed Bunker Hill here in Los Angeles to construct a music center very similar to Lincoln Center. Happened 10 years after Moses destroyed San Juan Hill on the UWS
As much as I am a child of NYC, and I love the City as is, I totally agree that he could have set the stage for greater things with the power he wielded
I-290 in Chicago destroyed the city's West SIde. Ironically, it was named for Dwight D. Eisenhower, who had pushed for the Interstate Highway System but was opposed to freeways slicing through cities and had never intended for Interstate Highways to be built through urban areas. But at least the EIsenhower Expressway - I-290 - has a mass transit rail line running down its median with stations that are accessible by stairs from overpasses. The City of New York asked Moses to leave a right of way for a future rail transit line along the Van Wyck Expressway (I-678) in Queens so more people could take a train to Idlewild (now JFK) Airport. He refused to do so.
Because of him, the Brooklyn Dodgers left New York and became the Los Angeles Dodgers
If you want to learn more about Robert Moses and the dramatic impact he had on all of NY, and really the US, I highly recommend you sit and read the entirety of the Power Broker. All 1,300 pages. It’s probably one of the best books that I’ve ever read.
It's staggeringly good.
I read the Power Broker many years ago and recommend it .one of the greatest biographies ever written.
I don't think I'll ever read a book better than it. Just a staggering achievement.
Read it in college, great book
Reading it now....its so detailed!!
As a native New Yorker my response to Robert Moses is - boooooo!
W comment, greetings from Poland.
Why do you say that?
@@Kim-Berly200 Moses did so much damage and divided neighborhoods, effectively creating ghettos and environmental damage alike. That’s why.
The Power Broker may be the greatest nonfiction book ever written. A stunning work.
I am three quarters through it. Agreed! Magnificent book that shows the monstrous things RM did in his arrogance. Robert Caro wrote deeply impressively. But also try David Cairns's two volumes on Hector Berlioz. I believe it is greater--in part for the wondrous writing, but in large part for the story of the truly good man Monsieur Berlioz was.
If Robert Moses had his way, he would have destroyed the iconic Washington Square Park. He wanted to continue 5th Ave by running it straight through the park. He had no interest in the park's incredible history of protests, politics, or music.....or what it meant to the large community of people who loved and used the park regularly, including travelers from afar who came to visit WSP. Thankfully, several people opposed him, including the magnificent Doris Deither, a self taught, city planning and zoning maven. She took Moses on and beat him. From that time on, she was regarded as the Queen of Washington Square Park. She was there almost everyday, greeting people, listening to the music, feeding the squirrels and birds, right up to her death at age 92. The 1 year memorial of her death was just celebrated, and a bench in the park was designated in her honor.
Thanks for sharing a magnificent lesson from history, Carole.
He certainly did. The South Bronx was a working-class neighborhood in the 1950's (the Honeymooners was set there). Thanks to his Cross Bronx Expressway, there was now no reason to traverse the South Bronx, causing most of the businesses in the area to shut down. By the 1970's, it was a crime-ridden hellhole. Imagine the Washington Square area transforming in a similar fashion.
@@Duality-Mode 😊 You're welcome Edyson! PS: We can also thank Doris Deither for saving Shakespeare in the Park (Central Park).
@R A R Clearly we see the spirit of WSP very differently. Were there communists at one time...sure, might even be some now, I don't know. But it's about values, caring about others, keeping our country out of ill conceived wars. You think it's about hating the rich? You've entirely missed the point about what that park stands for. Your comment about John Lennon made me laugh out loud. Yes....John was a 1% er, but his songs, and the values he represented, have been played in the park since the 60's by nearly every group of musicians and singers who have been there. His song Imagine is a treasure. I suspect if you walked through the park today, someone will be singing it. He and the Beatles are heroes for their talent and the value system they sang about. Sorry you don't get that.
His plans for the park were really foolish, but other aspects of his work through the yrs were a mix of necessary changes & moving NYC to the next level. It's tough for a person as influential as Moses was to not to do bad things along with the good. His Lincoln Center & world's fair gave the city more cultural prowess & a huge PR/civic boost. Do various New Yorkers themselves display the best judgment?. BTW, aspects of the newly revamped Geffen Hall (of Moses's Lincoln Center) show "uh-er-oo-okay" judgment.
Such a time honored show each time on Sunday morning. Thank you for sharing.
Remember "We had to destroy the village to save it"? Thank you for this. How wonderful that somebody found a way to put on this play. This history needs to be learned from.
Robert Moses did enormous damage to the natural estuaries and public health of Manhattan with his unchecked freeway building and developments (he nearly went over Central Park until public outcry stopped him). This was sort of covered in Ed Norton's Motherless Brooklyn, with Alec Baldwin as Moses. Not sure Fiennes a good fit, but he should've won his Oscar for Schindler's List (other movie tips: Clooney goes into 'Burn After Reading' mode in Paradise. Good sad monologue, beautiful Bali recreations, touching. And Black Adam surprisingly good; dignified Middle Eastern characters, beautiful cinematography, costumes, Brosnan good as Dr. Fate, didn't run too long. Just a fun super hero movie. Recommended.
Why did you randomly vomit out movie opinions towards the end of your comment lmao
Black Adam was not good.
Don't have a blog, just reaching out to anyone interested. Thanks for your support! :)
Marble Hill in Manhattan is the only part of the borough on the North American mainland. That's because Moses rerouted the Harlem River and straightened it out for one of his projects - I think it was the Henry Hudson Bridge. The re-driecting of the river put Marble Hill on the wrong bank.
We don't have freeways . You from LA or SF? Bob Moses creations were and still are called "Parkways". Back when he created them they were landscaped with lots of trees and grass borders or pushed through Long Island's estate country with lots of mature trees lining the roadways. In later years expansion to add lanes took away some of the lushness. But not concrete soul-less "freeways". Moses added winding curves and low hills and gentle grades for variety. The low bridges excluded working class persons of all races who were often carless back then.
Jones Beach was a nautical themed wonderland with clean tiled pools and diving boards, changing areas, white sand, pitch and putt golf, tennis courts refreshment stands, Umbrella rentals, and within the bay side of the barrier island a performing waterside venue for musicals back then and pop/rock later. Guy Lombardo's big band. Now it is "improved" with much of the old decorative elements gone. But still his gift to Long Island and surrounding areas.
Then we have Lincoln Center, and the absolutely necessary long suspension bridges which would have been built anyway had he never lived. All cities with waterways have bridges.
Yes I read Caro years ago. Yes RM was a curmudgeon and a man who enjoyed his power, sometimes in destructive and highly objectionable actions. But his best creations still stand,
and his critics forget those Parkways opened up farmland to be developed for the post-war vets of WW II and houses of their own. The fact that Mr. Caro charted Moses journey from Al Smith (Democrat) friendly bureaucrat to conservative is what really gets under the skin of his car-hating (even electric) urban naysayers.
My parents knew the pre-Robert Moses NYC. I only knew the post-Robert Moses NYC. You can't really miss what you never had...but you *can* be aware it was there and realize what's missing.
I met Robert Moses with my grandfathers neighbor at Oak beach in Babylon Ny and he was a extremely kind person to my family and if it wasn't for him they would have turned long island in a shipping port ,so he built the bridges low to keep long island a community and not a Newark new jersey dump site Port
I'm one of those Folk musicians who has played music in Washington Square Park. Long after it was saved..🎶🎵🎶
As a native and former New Yorker, I whiled away many hours on many of the 627 miles of highways, toll plazas, Jones Beach and Robert Moses State Park, the 1964 NY World's Fair, Lincoln Center, the Auto Shows and the United Nations Delegates' Dining Room. For many, life is a Spectator Sport and a few select individuals have determined our quality of life for better or worse.
An interesting observation, from my perspective, as I was born in Jamaica, Queens County in 1966, and I have also driven many of the same miles - my first early remembrances are of the Worlds Fair globe, visiting the science center there, with my grandmother (via mass transit) and as a child watching my immigrant father playing soccer in the shadow of the very same globe - interesting how perspectives are perhaps different
The efficiency and the perils of unelected bureaucrats. Fascinating story of an unelected powerbroker. Parallels the "empire citys" contradictions and struggles with elitism and democracy.
Nassau County is full of bureaucrats
Ironically, Moses never learned to drive a car.
Never had a driver's license, never could legally drive on any of his parkways, bridges or tunnels.
Story is he once tried running a bulldozer or front end loader but did so awkwardly.
Reading the power Broker you read how Moses would have Gutted most of Staten Island for a a high down the middle of the island. Staten Island Said no, and before the overpasses were torn down, they were stark reminders to how close he got to gutting the island for his highways.
Fascinating. In graduate school, I looked at another city impacted by urban renewal's blunt tools-Oakland California. Significant historic and thriving Black neighborhoods like West Oakland were destroyed to build freeways and links with the Bay Bridge. The West Coast cities were taking a page out of Moses's book. Now in the 21st Century, we are trying to undo much of what was done to make us a car-dependent culture. We're still grappling with inequality and the Working-Class and people of color being shoved around with little concern from the movers like Moses.
What did you study in graduate school?
Read POWER BROKER by Robert Caro, the greatest and most revealing biography ever written.
Simon Callow's bio on Charles Laughton is marvelous. Better than his Welle's books.
Better than Issacsons Jobs?
If you are going to portray the villain that is Robert Moses in a broadway play you might as well hire Ralph Fiennes who played Voldemort.
@@RockPaperScissors13 umm maybe you're not aware, but there is already plenty of fictional portrayals of Hitler and other evil dictators in media. I wouldn't call this play a "heart warming story" either.
Bruh I love your comment so much
I didn't know anything about the legacy of Robert Moses until I watched this report.
There was a movie about him to with Ed Norton, but you know it was BASED/INSPIRED BY R. MOSES.
Read the Power Broker by Robert Caro. Fantastic book
Movie was called “Motherless Brooklyn”. Fictionalized story within a story.
There is a very good pbs documentary call new york that really sheds light on what this man did. You can find it on UA-cam
Great video CBS. Although I really wished that you went into how Robert Moses also irreparably ruined New York City's subway system.
In fact, you can totally blame the MTA's woes on Moses himself. His decisions neglecting the subways which lead to DECADES worth of mass transit underinvestment and decay directly lead to the absolute madness and almost Third World levels of inefficiency and frustration that plague the NYC Subways today.
His whole view of "urban renewal" was so backwards and harmful to American cities. What a shame.
Obviously he was totally enthralled by car culture (if not directly in GM's pocket) - just look at what GM did to undermine the Rochester public transit system during the same era - they buried a nascent subway system due to GM payoffs, and got away with a piddly fine from the federal government of the time
@@reneharde3459 And irony of ironies, he never drove a car.
All government underinvestment is the result of blacks taking welfare and not paying in.
Blacks take more than it costs to fund our military.
@@Shahrdad Stunning - thanks for that ;-)
The man who ruined NYC
How come on give me a break he did some things that were inconvenient to other people I understand but this is just how it is you need Bridges you need roads unless you want to ride horses
Most city planners think that they are Paris Haussmann but they are really just Robert Moses
We don't have a Haussmann. That's why Detroit, although founded by the people who founded Paris, looks a lot more like Newark.
The man who sent the Dodgers and Giants to California
He offered both clubs what became Shea Stadium. 🏟 Walter O'malley said I can't take the Brooklyn Dodgers to Queens, He can take them to Los Angeles he can't take them to Queens. 👸🏻 👸 👸🏼 . The Giants left as well.
You think? I still have an issue of Sport magazine with a story of Willie Mays months before he came out west. From that year.
I've read that O'Malley wanted to build what would have become the very first domed stadium at the location where Barclay's Center is currently located in Brooklyn, but Moses nixed the plan.
@@tonysustarsic5212 It had to do with cars
Bring Back the Dodgers back to Brooklyn!
Power tends to corrupt some people.
Or power attracts the wrong people.
He destroyed a city and we've been trying for years to fix it.
That's one way to view it. Another, that I lean towards, is that he transformed a city and we've struggled for years to maintain it.
@@chriskelvin248 *transformed a city for the worse. Transformed/destroyed...doesn't matter what word you use. He did harm to NYC and countless other American cities.
@@EvanAntes Great public works will always have a cost beyond money. You can't not displace what was there before with something completely different and not completely change what was there before. That's life. Did he wield great power and not let anything/ anybody stand in his way of his great ideas? Absolutely. Could someone do now what he did then? No way. But I'm thankful for the things he got built and wouldn't have it any other way. They wouldn't exist otherwise. My only gripe is that many of the roads and bridges should be better maintained.
@@chriskelvin248 Actually you can give those people the money they were promised to relocate. That is the issue. They were promised money and housing and never got it. You just saying "thats life" shows how heartless and cruel you are. This also contributed to the horrible housing crisis we still have today in 2022.
@@chriskelvin248 I guess you're one of those people that is thankful we had infrastructure built by slaves too, right? Wouldn't have it any other way, right?! Just unbelievable people still think this way. Unable to reflect.
Rebuilt??? He damaged almost every neighbourhood of NYC with his "rebuilding".
Good lord, how can CBS say things like "rebuild"???
Maybe watch the video. They show how he destroyed so many parts of the city.
BFDT So True
I once heard someone say that Robert Moses loved the public but hated people.
This play would be a great film!
The man who destroyed the Bronx. Left a major scar called the cross Bronx expressway
I used to drive on the Robert Moses Parkway in the Niagara Falls area (I think they changed the name of it). A very odd parkway to say the least. They removed a portion of it because it was used so little so now it is two separate sections.
Love him or hate him, nobody but Robert Moses could have pulled off the 1964-65 World’s Fair. Yes, like all public extravaganzas like this (think Olympic Games) it lost money. But the lasting impact it had on visitors is immeasurable.
an excellent segment
The man responsible for kicking out the Brooklyn Dodgers.
And bringing Willie Mays to San Francisco.
The Brooklyn Dodgers need to move back to Brooklyn and build a new Ebbets Field
If they don’t then I will build the new stadium and sue California for kicking the Brooklyn Dodgers out of Brooklyn. That’s why I was born
Sounds like a perfect Martin Scorsese movie
The American Experience series on NYC by PBS is awesome, and speaks to Moses's efforts in detail in the latter episodes. I think it was to be published just before 9/11, but I could be wrong. Anyway they included 9/11, and went into detail on the WTC history, and Moses' involvement. Apparently the project was not economically successful initially. They showed a picture of him in a wheelchair in the WTC Plaza, seemingly wandering what he created....
Worth a look...
Yes, Ric Burns’ New York documentary features almost an entire episode dedicated to Robert Moses plus he is featured in the posthumous WTC final episode as well. Robert Caro is brilliant as is Marshall Berman in their analysis and critique of the megalomaniacal Robert Moses - a man that tried to bend the city to his will in worship to the automobile and didn’t even know how to drive. Essential viewing.
#SteveD: A slight correction on your comment regarding Moses. I have a solo DVD of that great NEW YORK documentary called CENTER OF THE WORLD when it became available in 2003. Still watch it every 9/11 anniversary. While Robert Moses was the unchecked architect behind the parks, highways, and bridges from 1925 to 1965, the wheelchair bound elderly man you referenced was actually Austin J. Tobin. The man who ran the NY/NJ Port Authority which help funded the construction of the Twin Towers complex. His name graced the plaza to which the WTC would be built on. He spent so many years defending the project that it practically killed him. You're right using that observation about the toll of buildings that displaced the poor. I just wanted to make sure you knew who the person you referenced really was.
Definitely need to check it out - I did not realize he was still alive at that point
Classic Documentary
I remember seeing it back in the day.
No doubt a glowing report of this man who leveled whole communities then kept the tolls for himself.
Did you watch it?
It’s not a glowing report about Moses
@@marytheresejacksonlutz2533 Mary I used to watch h Sunday Morning, I'm surprised
Despite his achievements he was a mean soul.
He wasn't mean he was pure evil he destroyed neighborhoods dislocated poor people with nowhere to go so he can build his highways and bridges. The man didn't give a damn
@@Nighthawk-8050 Well, tbph, I wrote this comment roughly half way through the video, towards the end of it my opinion was actually closer to your judgement on him.
✌
When Moses was doing his thing in New York Edmund Bacon was attempting similar things in Philadelphia.
They were geniuses
Kevin Bacon's father (No I'm not kidding)
@@jojopuppyfish I know you're not. Did he propose the Vine Street Expressway? Because that's a horrible drive. You feel like you're in a sewer conduit.
Rename City Field back to Shea Stadium so that the Mets can win again and pay respect to William Shea, the man who helped finance the Mets and the stadium in the 1950’s and 1960’s.
For everyone that is defending Moses and saying "Humans make mistakes." Then you have never driven before in NYC so tell me how useful all of those parkways are when you are sitting stand still on one of them. And if you say "oh NYC has terrible morning and afternoon drive ins" then again you have never driven in NYC or to NYC
What a monster. Full stop.
From what I know he gutted neighborhoods and with too much power and money from the greedy tolls he collected he tyrannically ripped worlds apart for many. He was probably one of the greatest petroshills EVER !
Niagara Falls is undoing some of his worst blunders there thank goodness by restoring one parkway to pedestrian and bike access
True that no single person was able to strip his power but the city council and/or the state legislature could have at any time
If you're in awe of the power he wielded, just remember nobody voted for him.
Thank you for sharing...
And I have family who has lived in New York since the 1960s.
And they still love New York..
Imagine what NYC transit could have been if the focus was placed there instead of roads and expressways. Local NYC trains/trolleys/trams would go everywhere including airports and throughout Long Island and all the boroughs instead of having majority of trains focused on entering/leaving Manhattan.
Robert Moses was a genius but a villain who eventually was stopped by the people who gave him the power not only to build but also destroy
Remove the word “genius”. Now you got it.
One of the best things I've ever read about Robert Moses is an essay written by the late great Gore Vidal 'What Robert Moses did to New York City. It can be found in Vidal's stellar collection of essays entitled 'United States'.
This piece reminds me of the PBS film, "The Rise and Fall of Penn Station" which is considered the poster child and sacrificial lamb which gave rise to the historic preservation movement. It's both edifying in its depiction of Penn Station's magnificence and tragically portrays its destruction. I see that there is a variety of feelings and opinions on what Robert Moses did to NYC and around the nation by imitation. I can't and don't want to imagine the Washington Square area as nothing but another stone cold, sterile, noisy multi-lane freeway. It seems like Moses was unbalanced in his view and perception of what human participation in life on this planet and interfacing with the natural world should be. His vision in one direction was strong and ruthless but he was sorely lacking balance.
He destroyed communities and razed homes for his big plans….
Good idea for
a play.🎉🎉🎉
Robert Caro's book The Power Broker is great. However, in talking with my parents who lived in NYC during this era, there was never a reason for either of them to go all the way out to Jones Beach when they had Brighton Beach in Brooklyn.
And between many of my relatives who still live in NYC, I think only one of them went to Jones beach ones......why would any New Yorker care about going to Long Island?
The salted cheese sticks.
They wouldn't. The goal was to carve up the city to convenience suburban car commuters.
I will build a new Ebbets Field Stadium in Brooklyn so that the Dodgers can come back. If they don’t come back I will sue California for corruption. I will also build the Oyster Bay Rye Bridge (NY 135/I-287) so that Long Island’s truck traffic can be improved. That’s why I was born.
No unelected official should ever have the power that this guy had. He was horrible.
His awful, awful Robert Moses expressway in Niagara Falls was the beginning of the end. DISASTER
Walter O'Malley will forever be considered one of Brooklyn's answers to "Does Satan exist?" for moving the Dodgers west, but after seeing the Brooklyn Dodgers documentary on HBO, one should find some room for Moses in that act. The footage of O'Malley and Moses meeting at the Mayor's recommendation is eye-opening because you can sense that Moses is sickened at having to breathe the same air as O'Malley, as he is making his case for building a new stadium.
In the podcast „99% Invisible“ they are currently breaking down „The Power Broker“ in several episodes. Worth listening to.
I think you will find this segment on CBS Sunday Morning on Robert Moses very interesting.
Everyone: Do you have a plan to build public transit?
Robert Moses: I have a concept of a plan
He forced the Dodgers out of Brooklyn by refusing to allow them to build a new stadium. Walter O'Malley (the Dodgers then-owner) gets the blame for moving them to LA, but Robert Moses was the one who stopped the new stadium.
I will build a new Ebbets Field in Brooklyn and move the Dodgers back to Brooklyn.
The destruction of the character of NYC, not by one man but throughout is such a tragedy...
Greed and power- will continue to ruin the common person.
Moses was so ruthless,I heard from someone that he could’ve been friends with Hitler or Mussolini……..also learned that Fred Trump used some of Moses’ tactics 2 build up his empire!
Robert Mosses did both good & bad for City of New York.
mostly bad
He did a lot of bad things
CBS complains about "unelected bureaucrats" but is totally fine with Dr Fauci
Fauci didn't have administrative power
I fully understand. The need for autonomous authority in planning and managing a project. For me, it was engineering software systems for business.
When you allow multiple people to get involved, their petty opinions and ego come into play. Compromises and trade offs are made. Resulting in mediocrity. My systems were supreme in quality. Catapulting my clients into positions of leadership within their industry.
Fortunately, I never had to tear down neighborhoods to build my masterpieces. They all occupied virgin territory in cyberspace.
The man who lost the Dodgers for New York - Brooklyn. Walter O’Malley takes the blame, erroneously.
He had Ebbets Field torn down because (I’m not joking) there was not enough space near it for a large parking area.
@@pauly260 Moses had nothing to do with tearing down Ebbets field, that was done privately. O'malley sold the land to private developers. The Polo Grounds ? , yes Moses did tear that down to build public housing.
@@jefflewis4 Turns out you're right. Sorry 'bout that.
I just saw this play (movie) today. I did not know who Robert Moses was, but he clearly was not my kind of man.
Wow, this looks very interesting.
We have a Robert Moses parkway in Nigeria Falls NY
The man is the reason the Dodgers are gone !!!!
Moses was an evil man. He doesn’t deserve any praise.
There's no way I could go to a beach with that many people. 🤢 Gross!
He made Jones Beach accessible by car but you still have to take the ferry to get to Fire Island - except for the western tip, which is the Robert Moses State Park, accessible by the Robert Moses Causeway. Getting to the towns on Fire Island from there requires a long, long walk along the beach.
He developed Jones Beach State Park and Robert Moses State Park for straights. By "straights" I mean "squares." 😄
None of you Met Robert Moses and your making statements that are Lies , The only reason why New York is the best city in the World is because of Robert Moses and none of you can say you ever met him , I lived next door to him at Oak beach long island and he was a very kind man that loved his community and loved new york.
New York City peaked during the age of the robber barons. Moses had nothing to do with it. And it hasn’t been a contender for “greatest city in the world” for at least a century.
Robert Moses isn't respected at all. He's the most hated person in NYC after DeBlasio.
And now… the city is sinking😒 thanks Bob
demolished* there, I fixed it.
Silent Power
If you were born and raised on Long Island, you loved Robert Moses. If you were born and raised in the Bronx, you hated Robert Moses.
The FDR Drive is NOT one of Moses' projects. It was Stanley Isaacs that built it, supposedly with London Blitz debris brought over as ballast. Moses hated Isaacs. Probably he was too close to the Roosevelts.
The BQE is still terrible and I avoid it all costs!! Driving local on Park Ave is way faster…but thank you for the White Stone Bridge!! That’s a good one! lol
Fienes played Voldemort so he alreaddy has enough experience to play anothe villian Robert Moses.
If you dont know who robert moses was you probably aren’t from NY and if you are from NY and still dont know who he was youre definitely not from Long Island
Ironically, Moses never learned how to drive, not even when he was bulldozing neighborhoods.
His greatest legacy is not in New York, thanks to Jane Jacobs and other activists NY "survived" the works of Robert Moses, the problem was ALL the other American cities that basically had New York (and consequently Moses) inspired for their urban renewals in the 20th century and became EXTREMELY car-centric cities
The same thing happened in the 19th century with the construction of Central Park.
Robert Moses is, in large part, responsible for the greatness of New York City. Did he make mistakes? Of course! Chief among them was the emphasis on automobile transport, in a city that is based on public transport. It isn’t Moses’s fault that many of his projects are obsolete because of population explosion. And finally, I wish you wouldn’t put a 21st century outlook on mid-20th century life. No one then was thinking about diversity, and if you were Jewish or Irish or Italian, you were also restricted from many areas in Manhattan, Long Island, Westchester, Connecticut.
He was an evil man who destroyed so many neighborhoods
Now let's talk about Jane Jacobs.
RIP queen Jane jacob’s
This video doesn't really balance Robert Moses. One of his many great successes is Riverside Park....before RM it was train tracks. Go there today and see how amazing it is.
But when he got to Harlem, he stopped.
@@stevenmaginnis1965 True. My point was he did good things for NYC and bad things. The triborough bridge was 3 pillings in the water for 10 years before RM took over and finished the project in 3 years.
Hey hey, not only did he single handly destroy more American heritage sites than any other man in history, lest we forget he made a killer villian in the Unsleeping City
They shot Sonny on the Causeway.
Robert Moses, the man who was responsible for the Brooklyn Dodgers leaving Brooklyn.
Aside from the beautiful Jones beach, Ocean Parkway and the RM Causeway down to Fire Island, all this man did was slash and burn. The mere thought of having to drive somewhere via his highways like the BQE or Cross Bronx is enough to fill New Yorkers with dread, and he destroyed countless neighborhoods to build them. Also, he ensured that the Dodgers and NY Baseball Giants moved to the West Coast. Quite a "legacy" he left for himself
Robert moses was responsible for sunken meadow Park on long Island which claimed eminent domain and destroyed people's homes. He also made Jones Beach which is AWESOME. Genius builder but not the most ethical lol.
What about redlining?
Robert Moses cut through The Bronx with the Cross Bronx Expressway like it was nothing. Yes, East Tremont. He didn’t care & he didn’t live there.