Robert Moses Discussion Questions
Robert Moses has become a controversial figure in urban planning. He has built many important buildings, roads, and parks that make New York City the special place it is today. However, he has destroyed many old neighborhoods and created a different sense of community. Do you think he will be remembered as a positive or negative influence on the growth and development of NYC? Robert Moses has become such an influential figure in urban planning by creating one of the most popular cities in the world today. New York City is known for its diversity when it comes to the people who reside there and the business’s. Robert Moses will be remembered in a positive outlook for being the one who influenced
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The traffic today in NYC is hectic enough and imagine how it would look like without the highways that were built in the city today. The traffic would be ten times as worse as it is today. Robert Moses was guiding NYC in the right direction when it came to elevating the traffic coming in and out of the city by building or proposing more highways.
Do you agree with Moses that the end justifies the means in city planning?
Yes, I agree with the end because it does justifies the means in city planning. New York City is known for being one of the main spots for tourism in the world. Everyone from all over the world come to visit the famous city that does not sleep for its exquisite elegance. There is so much to see and many forms of transportation to get around the city today. Everything that Moses worked for justifies the end in the means in city planning because it is the most famous cities in the world for its skyscrapers, parks, and restuarants.
What makes Jersey City different from NYC as far as growth and development is
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Jersey City is now the place to be by offering business opportunities,living, and PATH transportation. Jersey city has become a family friendly environment that attracts all compared to the hectic NYC.
Can the automobile and the city of tomorrow coexist? Explain. The automobile and the city of tomorrow can coexist although it is not preferred due to the difficulty of driving into a hectic crowded city. NYC rarely ever has parking, which people will pay more than $40 to just park their car for less than six hours. Driving a car in the city is expensive, and people risk the chances of accidents due to the un-experienced drivers who drive in the city. Moreover, public transportation is mainly common in means of transportation in and out of NYC due to the convenience, cost, and efficiency of public transportation. It has become more easily accessible due to having subways in nearly every other block,which is cheaper and faster. Public transportation is faster than driving into the city at times since it escapes the traffic on roads since it is underneath. Public transportation contains buses,trains,and light rails as well. Once again, automobile and the city of tomorrow can coexist, but it is not ideal in today’s
Then in 1838, tragedy struck and the building was consumed by flames leaving everything totally destroyed except for the wrought iron fence that enclosed the grounds. Luckily, congregation member Moses Levy was able to rescue the torah and scrolls from the burning building just in time, “saving the heart of the Jewish community” (Ackermann 176). Following the destruction of the old building, a new plan for a replacement synagogue was drafted up by builder and congregation member, David Lopez. Lopez followed a design made by architects Tappan and Noble in the Greek revival style. After the great fire destroyed much of Charleston’s buildings, this type of neoclassical architecture became extremely popular in Charleston during the pre-Civil
In response to the rise of shantytowns precipitated by the unemployment, the New York City Housing Authority constructed the Red Hook East Development in 1938, the first high-rise public housing complex in New York City. As time would show, this would be the beginning of the end for Red Hook. Red Hook really changed and came into its own in its modern, post-WWII era, but this was not a good thing. The first seminal event of Red Hook’s modern history was the construction of Robert Moses’ I-278 in 1946, specifically the portion of the highway where the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and the Gowanus Expressway meet. The I-278 quite literally cut off Red Hook from Brooklyn, and even from a part of itself (the eastern section of Red Hook would become known as Carroll Gardens).
No man changed the physical landscape and the social fabric of New York more than Robert Moses. It was probably a fair assumption nobody as ever changed any city in the way Robert Moses changed New York.
The United State has always been weak in public transportation and mass transit tools. California was once supposed to be different and revolutionized. Trolleys connecting the suburbs to the city and business districts was the main reason why cities expanded vertically. These mass transit tools organized the transits in an extremely environmentally friendly way. But the venue of cars and the thought of independence flattered americans pushing them to each buy a car, synonym of their independence. Now the trains and connecting public transportations have practically disappeared and are irrelevant.
Second, the development of new public transit systems, was important in shaping the design of our cities and the growth of our cities by enabling people to move further away from the inner city. Early on, large cities had very little and inadequate transportation. Their main source of transportation were horse drawn wagons and walking. As a result, most people lived or took housing near downtown, which was where most of the working establishments were located. This made the big cities very congested. However with the breakthrough of the “el”, electric streetcars, and subways, around 1867, cities began to open up more. Those who were fortunate enough to move out of the slums and into better surrounding neighborhoods, did so. The more affluent of the white-collar classes moved into the suburban areas. In contrast, many of the very wealthy continued to live in city mansions. The new transit systems in most cities allowed people to escape the chaos of urban life and provided potential for growth of our cities.
Robert Moses, aka the “Master Builder” of the mid-20th century, is best known for shaping development in and around New York City. Robert Moses was born on December 18, 1888 in Connecticut. His family relocated to New York City in 1897. After Robert’s graduation from Yale in 1909, he went on to study political science at Oxford and Columbia Universities. He began his career at the municipal research bureau in New York, proposing and implementing ambitious restructuring of New York City’s civil-service system. Moses was made Chief of Staff of New York State Reconstruction Commission by Governor Al Smith in 1919.
Driving. There is a lot that goes into driving. For starters you have to be awake, alert and focused when driving – crazy right!? After working for nine hours getting into a car and having to put all my energy into thinking about the skill of driving in New Jersey can be a lot on my body, mentally and physically. Also, while an hour might not seem very long that hour is contingent upon daily traffic flow. One day in the rain it took me two hours to get home, and just this past week there was an accident on the turnpike that caused major delays – I’m talking 5+ hours worth of a delay (I was sick this week so luckily I missed out on that one! Phew). Last, in the long run driving costs more. I sat down and wrote my driving expenses for work and NEWS FLASH: THEY ARE INSANE. Welcome to New Jersey.
Mayor Lindsay lobbied the New York state legislature for an increase in taxes like the municipal income tax and also wanted to increase water rates in the city to increase revenue. Some analyst believe that these policies agendas contributed to the “white flight” where middle and upper class white Americans were moving out of urban city centers like NYC and into suburban areas like Long Island or Westchester. Mayor Lindsay had initially instituted polices that would help lower income new Yorkers by shifting away money from the rich to the poor however at the same time the mayor was also pushing for commercial development in Manhattan and providing tax incentives to those developers. “Lindsay’s administration was thus rife with contradictions. In some ways the mayor was having his cake and eating it too. Even while addressing inner-city problems and speaking of the need to assist poor people, he was simultaneously looking to other levels of government to assist him in the creation of a restructured city, with an economy based in finance, fashion, the media, and advanced services.”(Fainstein,91). However, to achieve this goal of a restructured city the entire makeup/aesthetic of the city would have to be changed. This lead to the creation of planned shrinkage which is the withdrawal of city services in disadvantaged communities as
The New York transportation system existed much longer than the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA); it can be traced back to the 1800 when horses heaved oversize stagecoaches designed to transport
By the 1950’s, many private firms proposed that the area be reconstructed through landfill, which governor Nelson Rockefeller agreed with. The plan became complicated, as Rockefeller wanted to redevelop the land as a separate project. In 1966 Rockefeller proposed what would become Battery Park City, and hired Wallace K. Harrison as the architect in order to create a balance of residential
Hi, my name is Arthur Rubinstein. From the big piano on my board, you might guess I’m a pianist. Right, I’m a classical pianist.
The method in which this land was zoned by the city created a value surpassing millions of dollars, and allowed their estate tax debts to be paid. This example illustrates an extraordinary effect on the quality of life that uncontrolled spread of urbanization manifested. The pressures by land
With a city of over 10 million it means a lot of security. However, New York might not be the safest city. It might be hard to serve more people with more medical services.
There is not a segment of American society that does not benefit from public transportation. It is a fact of life that some portion of the urban population is comprised of those individuals who cannot use or do not have access to a car to travel because they are handicapped, elderly, or economically disadvantaged. Consider for a moment if your elderly mother or grandmother lived in this neighborhood and could not get about without the help of others. Now consider how much more self-sufficient she would feel if she were able to get out and about on her own when she needed or wanted. Some form of public transportation is necessary if the people in this category are to have the mobility essential for subsistence and satisfaction in their
Robert Moses and Jane Jacobs had totally clashing foreknowledge of New York City's future. Moses who was the effective organizer behind a lot of spouses that join the boroughs together, strived to create a New York City expressway through the Lower Manhattan that would uproot many neighborhoods amid his control as the city's expert manufacturer. He pictured a city assembled for the proficiency of cars.