LETTER: The lessons of history
July 29, 2022
Robert Caro’s Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of New York’s master builder Robert Moses,” The Power Broker”, is the compelling story of a brilliant young idealist who became tragically consumed by power, arrogance and self-delusion. Despite its imposing 1,300-page girth, it reads like a dime novel.
The most insightful chapter is the one on the building of a single mile of the Cross-Bronx Expressway in the early 1950s. It was the most expensive mile of highway ever built, both in terms of dollars and human misery.
For reasons that made no sense to anyone but him, Moses insisted on running his highway right through a heavily populated area even though there was a far less costly and destructive option only two blocks south. Citizens groups arose to protest his planned devastation, but Moses used his unchecked power and influence within the engines of government to run roughshod over them.
Sadly, Moses ignored every reasonable appeal and alternative, and the South Bronx was transformed from a vibrant community into the blighted area it remains to this day. As was later discovered, there were improper motives and undue influence behind his intransigence.
Does this story sound familiar? Those following the Robert Moses model by doggedly pushing the Prince William Digital Gateway proposal despite all evidence of its needless ill effects should consider whether it might be better to learn from history rather than repeat it. How will their decision be remembered and what legacy will they leave?
Bill Wright
Gainesville
Comments
Post a Comment