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ANY BABY BOOMER WHO grew up around New York City is probably familiar with the name Robert Moses. He was the city planner who wielded enormous power over the development of New York from the 1920s to the 1960s.
Having grown up on Long Island, I saw his work firsthand in two main highways, the Long Island Expressway and the Northern State Parkway. They were designed to appear park-like, with arched bridges, wide grass run-offs and trees alongside the entire route.
Then there’s Jones Beach State Park, another Moses project. Alongside wide expanses of sandy beach, there are swimming pools, a two-mile-long boardwalk, refreshment stands and enormous parking lots. I’m among the estimated six million people who visit the park each year. My wedding reception was held at a Jones Beach restaurant.
Moses couldn’t stop the Brooklyn Dodgers from moving to Los Angeles, or the New York Giants going to San Francisco. He did, however, build Shea Stadium on the World’s Fair grounds in Flushing, Queens, to house the New York Mets, a recent expansion team.
Moses’s contributions to the New York region are sweeping—and controversial. He bulldozed neighborhoods to make way for great highways and towering bridges. Few had the power to stand up to his far-reaching plans. I remember the expression used to justify his decisions: “the greater good.”
When you cross the George Washington Bridge into New York City, most of the traffic flows onto the Cross Bronx Expressway. You’ve probably been stuck on the Cross Bronx because its width is no match for the volume of traffic it now gets.
As the name implies, the expressway cuts right through the Bronx. In building the road, Moses leveled many old neighborhoods, sending the South Bronx into steep decline. Before, neighbors talked and played along the avenues. After, they were cut off, and property values fell nearby because of the din and pollution of the expressway.
The justification for this neighborhood’s destruction? It was “the greater good,” according to city planners like Moses. Neighborhoods were leveled so automobiles could pass through the city more rapidly. Drivers were the greater good, apparently, and the city’s residents—often poor and black—were not. This urban highway model was adopted by other cities, wrecking many older neighborhoods.
These roads might have been built above the streets, like the elevated train tracks in Chicago. This wouldn’t have disrupted the lives of so many city residents. The powers that be, namely Robert Moses, decided differently, however.
These overbearing policies still exist today in other forms. We all endured the COVID-19 pandemic. The powers that be decided that, for the greater good, we needed to stay home and shelter in place. I’m not arguing against the need for the lockdown. The public health measures saved many lives.
But what about the individual? We have to live under whatever rules are imposed on us, figuring out how to make these difficult situations work for us. By doing so, each of us can also contribute to the greater good.
Working within the rules and turning them to our advantage isn’t a selfish act—it’s a matter of survival. The more people take care of themselves, the better off we all are. If too many people rely on someone else to look after them, the whole community suffers.
Self-reliance isn’t selfish. It’s a strength. Saving a portion of what you earn is a strength. Learning what benefits your employer provides, and using them to your advantage, is a strength. Understanding how to get a higher Social Security benefit is a strength. Making the right health insurance choice is a strength.
No, we don’t get to decide everything in our lives. But it’s up to each of us to take responsibility for our own well-being, so we don’t become a burden to society. That’s helping the greater good.
Thank you David! Using rules to our advantage is a key strategy to our lives.
Some rules benefit certain economic fractions.
The COVID renters stimulus from the government is an example. Many individuals in the country had the sentiment that so many COVID affected tenants would lose their homes if something wasn’t done. Money was appropriated for the rent in arrears to save the poor tenants from eviction.
We know who the winners were in this decision as with this, rents were paid and there was no expense of wasted time and eviction incurred.
There were many many thousands of units’ rent taken care of by Mr. Taxpayer.
A lot of rules are written in favor of the business owner and having a few rental homes enabled me to ultimately benefit from this.
Excess deaths due to Covid 19- 1st year: https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2024/03/excess-mortality-during-covid-19.html
It happens in every big city, to accommodate the popularity of the automobile. Boston is trying to reverse the negative effects it imposed by dividing sections of the city. But I am not sure what your point is about each of us taking responsibility for our own well being. What can those whose neighborhoods were cut in half do for the greater good, other than just accept it?
I would argue that the problems in the Bronx weren’t due to Robert Moses, but to demographic changes.
Thinking,
What if Mr. Moses wasn’t born. How would N.Y. be different than it is now?
As former owners of one of the original SoHo warehouse to loft conversions in the 1980s, my wife and I will always be glad that Moses was unsuccessful in his attempt to put a freeway through Greenwich Village and SoHo.
Good essay, but the covid lockdowns did nothing but harm. No lives were saved, but many ruined, and for no reason.
There should not be any excuses made for one of the worst policies ever.
Curious about the downvotes on my comment – are there actually people who believe the lockdowns were for the greater good and saved many lives?
Don’t take down votes to heart Charles. It seems as any dissension in HD discussions is not looked upon favorably.
Thanks, but the downvotes don’t bother me. What obviously bothers a lot of people is pointing out how many of us here benefitted while others who are far less fortunate suffered horribly.
That cannot be easy to admit.
You cannot be serious as to questioning why you got down votes. Millions of people died in the US and worldwide. Shutdowns prevented it from being worse. They DID save many lives. You clearly are looking at this from a strictly political viewpoint. An incorrect one at that.
I’m quite serious. And how is my view political?
I firmly believe the lockdowns initially were important. I work in a large medical center and heard personally from doctors what was going on. When I went back to work in May 2020, I walked along the refrigerator trucks full of bodies. However, reopening took far too long. Especially with new treatments and the vaccine plus the vociferous choice by many that the risks of covid were acceptable, extending lockdowns through 2021 was excessive. And the lockdowns were inconsistent and divided us politically. So I see this as yes, we needed lockdowns, they were overused, and we learned that remote work can be effective, efficient, and allow for far better work/life balance.
Suggest that you provide some actual data rather than an opinion with which many people will disagree.
The burden of proof is on those who believe lockdowns were effective.
Millions of lives were devastated, thousands of people died, for nothing.
I’m sure many of the people here were not harmed, or even benefitted, while those far less fortunate suffered horribly.
It is a very ugly reality that many people were and are totally fine with that.
The burden is on you. How did the shutdown kill thousands of people? Before the shutdown millions died. I suspect you have an ulterior motive and are simply in denial. Maybe do some research, and change the channels you watch. Also, tell us how we benefitted, other than the fact that we survived and did not die.
Lockdowns showed us that a lot of work does not require going in to offices every day and persisting with long commutes. This is an improvement in quality of life.
Also, my retirement accounts broke the million mark due to the bull market following the initial lockdown dip.
In my life, the lockdowns proved beneficial.
Hard data demonstrate this.
Congratulations on your retirement account. But you seem entirely unaware of the millions of lives that were devastated while you grew wealthy. This really is a remarkable lack of self awareness.
I know that Jonathan wants HD to be friendly, gracious, and non-political. So I’m going out on a limb here to say that your particular opinion stated above is erroneous and harmful. I believe you should update your sources of information. I’ll also say that I will not engage in a back-and-forth discussion on this. I’ll make no other comment on this topic.
No, Jeff, that is not my opinion, it is a fact that the lockdowns were horrifically harmful and did no good whatsoever. To state that they were for the ‘greater good’ is erroneous and harmful.
That is not unfriendly, ungracious or political. If people think the harms caused by the covid hysteria were worth it, we will get more of the same.
Feel free to not comment in response, but I will suggest in turn that you and the others who agree with you update your sources of information.
Lockdowns benefitted the few who were able to work from home while devastating millions of lives.
Many were inconvenienced by the shutdowns. But at least they lived. I think the alternative to being inconvenienced, dying, was the devastation. Check the facts please. The millions you say were devastated were all those that died. Shouldn’t you be posting on Newsmax or Truth Social (while it still exists)?
Is ‘inconvenienced’ the right word for those who lost their job, or were confined at home with abusive spouses? Or children who were denied schooling and now suffer learning and behavioral deficits?
And why the question about where I’m posting?
Your comments are not appreciated, nor appropriate for this site. This is a finance, not political based site.
Explain how this is a ‘political’ comment. Lockdowns were cited as a ‘greater good. There could not possibly be a worse example. Millions of people, especially children and the most vulnerable, were victims.
I do not appreciate your telling me what is appropriate.
Because this is a finance site, this is why I concluded my defense of the initial lockdowns with lessons we learned about remote work. Some jobs have to be on site, such a manufacturing or, in my case, in research laboratories, but a lot can be done off site and this is a huge improvement in quality of life for many. For many it has also caused a shift to fewer hours per week, and this has not harmed productivity and personal earnings. It took a crisis to create this new culture of work. At least so far, this has not harmed the greater economy. And during this period, the stock market has boomed.
David,
Thanks for another great essay!
A superb book about Robert Moses – and his controversial life and work – is Robert Caro’s biography of him: “The Power Broker”.
David-your mention of Robert Moses and the disruptions caused by his Cross Bronx Expressway construction reminds me that there are always two sides to every story. I remember the absolute pain in the neck traveling from the GW Bridge to get to visit my grandmother in the East Bronx used to be when we had to use surface streets. My parents rejoiced when the Cross Bronx finally opened in 1955 and cut the drive time to grandma’s in half!
Thanks, David, for your inspiring and also nostalgic words. I know just the restaurant where you had your wedding reception and its beautiful ocean view. Growing up in Queens, I watched Shea Stadium being built and had a taste of independence when I took the #7 Flushing line to the newly built station for the’64-‘65 World’s Fair. Your message about self reliance and sometimes controversial decisions made for the greater good is well taken. Living for many years in an Upstate NY city, I saw firsthand the devastation of city neighborhoods that were wiped out when the downtown was bisected by a highway, as had happened earlier in the Bronx. Even as some of these highways are now being removed, I’m not sure it’s possible to undo the damage.
In New Rochelle, NY, an entire neighborhood was removed when I95 was built. Many families and businesses were stripped of their financial security. Retirement and the possibility of passing on family wealth to later generations was obviated. There are discussions how to right these wrongs. I’m not optimistic we can except to recognize these wrongs and to provide fair opportunities for all going forwards.
I’ve always been an advocate of finding a work-around for obstacles that are immovable. One can either find a way make things work for themselves, or just whine about being a victim.
It’s a dangerous world out there on the roads. I avoid the heavily traveled roads to get where I need to be to keep my stress level down, therefore, it keeps me from becoming an alcoholic.