Does New York need another master builder? asked The Times’ Jennifer 8. Lee yesterday. As nothing big grows in the city year after year, city planners and reporters often wonder if we need someone who can, like Moses did, Get Things Done. Of course, one would hope in the 21st century, Getting Things Done would include transit, but for now, we’ll just have to ponder the question: Will New York remain in stasis, with gaping holes and aging infrastructure, until someone else with a grand vision, a la Moses, reemerges? The possibilities are both frightening and fascinating.
In search of the next Robert Moses
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That’s just trolling. If it weren’t, Lee would at least mention Jane Jacobs’ work, or note that China’s growing at 12% a year while the US barely manages 3%.
When people say they want another Robert Moses, they are imagining a hypothetical figure who has all of Moses’ strengths, but none of his weaknesses. That’s a tall order to fill. By the time Moses was formally named Construction Coordinator for New York City, he already had an impressive record for Getting Things Done. I can’t think of anyone even remotely like that alive today.
Even if you find a plausible candidate, the climate for infrastructure development has changed considerably since the Moses era. Moses never had to write an Environmental Impact Statement for any of his projects — the requirement didn’t exist. If it had, Moses’ projects would have taken a lot longer to get done, and perhaps some of them wouldn’t have happened at all.
People remember Moses as a master planner and builder, but they forget that he was also a genius at manipulating the political process. Time and again, he was able to persuade the legislature (sometimes through trickery) to give him what he needed. Contrast that to Mayor Bloomberg, who has twice been stymied on key infrastructure projects (the West Side stadium and Congestion Pricing).
Finally, Moses worked in an era when people trusted government to get big things done. The Federal government doesn’t invest in infrastructure today on anything like the scale it did in Moses’ time. There was a lot of money available then, and administrations friendly to New York sent a lot of it our way.
In short, it’s a problem much larger than one highly-qualified individual—even if you could find him—could solve.
I’m working on getting the position.
Not if I beat you to it 🙂
[…] So by the time this project is completed — if the Port Authority can meet its ambitious timeline — at least 15 years will have elapsed since the 9/11 attacks. No wonder people are clamoring for someone who can Get Things Done. […]