Robert Moses (New York, Yonkers, Garden City: rent, coop, house)

[Ogden Assassin]

Originally Posted by apvbguy

caro and his book have been widely discredited as being a subjective and unfactual. Caro is a jealous man and his work reflects his biases, if you are basing your views from caro's distortion of reality, you're all wet

Dan Doctoroff welcome to the board

[SeventhFloor]

Originally Posted by jcladue

haha-It's called Edgemere, NY on the Rockaway Peninsula.

edgemere

google "arverne urban renewal" and you'll find out why that neighborhood turned out the way it is. then look up Arverne By The Sea

[scatman]

Originally Posted by holden125

I don't think Jacobs was oblivious to the problem of over-density in Chinatown or the old LES. She just thought the Village or Park Slope were better models than something like Battery Park City.

There are those who argue that Jacobs's ideals may have led to gentrification and hipsterism, with Park Slope and the Village as the prime models.

[scatman]

Moses wanted to build a causeway across the Long Island Sound into Connecticut to connect LI to NE. To be honest, that may have made sense.

[mead]

A private investor has been in the news lately. He plans on building a tunnel basically along the same route that the bridge would have been. I think it would connect Oyster bay to Rye. It would be the longest tunnel in the world, but the toll is crazy expensive ($25 each way).

Here's a news article: Tunnel vision for Long Island Sound

Originally Posted by scatman

Moses wanted to build a causeway across the Long Island Sound into Connecticut to connect LI to NE. To be honest, that may have made sense.

[jcladue]

It goes back to Moses' creation of public housing and his physical hand in development in that area. I googled the keyword you told me about, and I found this very quote from the New York Times;

"Nearly 4,000 deteriorated, often squalid, old buildings were demolished soon after the redevelopment effort was approved by New York City's Board of Estimate in 1968. But since little new construction followed, the site has largely remained a wasteland next to the boardwalk and beach that mark the renewal area's southern boundary, and that had been centerpieces of a thriving summer vacation area."

.....tracing back to Robert himself!

Originally Posted by SeventhFloor

google "arverne urban renewal" and you'll find out why that neighborhood turned out the way it is. then look up Arverne By The Sea

[mead]

I honestly don't know why they were so obsessed with knocking down tenements back in the day (maybe it was some Psychological/Freudian way of separating themselves from their immigrant ancestors?). Nowadays hipsters pay $2,000 a month to live in modern day tenanments in the Village. They should have saved those buildings!

[jcladue]

Def-tenements are great- I think I live a building that used to be a tenement building-it's awesome. But Moses designed those nasty, square, plane, looming, brown buildings that average 40 stories high and are razed and rebuilt every ten years.

Originally Posted by mead

I honestly don't know why they were so obsessed with knocking down tenements back in the day (maybe it was some Psychological/Freudian way of separating themselves from their immigrant ancestors?). Nowadays hipsters pay $2,000 a month to live in modern day tenanments in the Village. They should have saved those buildings!

[scatman]

Originally Posted by mead

I honestly don't know why they were so obsessed with knocking down tenements back in the day (maybe it was some Psychological/Freudian way of separating themselves from their immigrant ancestors?). Nowadays hipsters pay $2,000 a month to live in modern day tenanments in the Village. They should have saved those buildings!

1. No one cared about landmark preservation then! If they did, Penn Station would still be up!
2. Hindsight is 20/20!

[Moth]

Originally Posted by mead

I honestly don't know why they were so obsessed with knocking down tenements back in the day (maybe it was some Psychological/Freudian way of separating themselves from their immigrant ancestors?). Nowadays hipsters pay $2,000 a month to live in modern day tenanments in the Village. They should have saved those buildings!

I have read that the theory of poverty of that time stated that is was caused by substandard housing. The minds of the day felt that if you took a man out of the crumbling tenement and put him in a hyper modern building replete with plumbing and decent heat, he would emerge from poverty. Housing, not racism, lack of factory jobs, lack of education, whatever, was seen as the prime determinant of poverty.

Well, we all know how that turned out. It succeeded in simply changing the scenery. But that, and some other motivations, might help answer your question.

You also got to remember that "brand new" always holds an appeal in society. Examples abound. Post war Germany knocked down many damaged historical buildings that could have been saved. They were probably looking to break from the horrid past and embrace a better future. Or why else will someone wanting a drink usually choose a TGIG Fridays over a rustic dive if they are side by side?