New York City shouldn’t work. Not like this. If you’ve ever sat in the back of a yellow cab, staring at the taillights on the Cross Bronx Expressway while the driver mutters in four languages, you’ve felt the phantom hand of a man who died over forty years ago. That man is Robert Moses. Honestly, it’s hard to overstate how much he messed with—and made—the world we live in.
Most people know him through the lens of Robert Caro’s massive biography, The Power Broker. It’s a 1,200-page brick that basically every person in New York politics uses as a monitor stand or a badge of honor. But here’s the thing: while the book is a masterpiece, the real story of Robert Moses is even weirder and more complicated than the "evil genius" narrative you see on TikTok.
He was never elected to anything. Not once. Yet, he held enough power to tell mayors to shut up and presidents to back off. He built 13 bridges, 416 miles of parkways, 658 playgrounds, and the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. He also systematically destroyed neighborhoods and, according to Caro’s meticulous research, deliberately built low bridges over his parkways to keep buses—and the poor people who rode them—away from his pristine beaches.
Why Robert Moses: The Power Broker Still Drives Us Crazy
If you want to understand why your commute sucks or why your rent is $4,000, you have to look at the "Master Builder." Moses wasn't just building roads; he was building a specific vision of the future. A car-centric, middle-class, suburban-leaning dream that didn't really have room for the people already living in the way.
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The 1974 Pulitzer-winning book by Robert Caro changed everything. Before that, Moses was largely seen as the guy who gave New York its parks. After? He became the ultimate villain of urban planning.
The Omelette and the Eggs
Moses famously said, "You can't make an omelette without breaking some eggs." The problem was, the "eggs" were usually low-income neighborhoods or communities of color. Take East Tremont in the Bronx. He plowed the Cross Bronx Expressway right through the heart of a thriving Jewish and immigrant community. He could have moved the route by one block to save thousands of homes. He didn't. He didn't because he didn't have to.
The Magic of the Public Authority
How did a guy who couldn't win an election stay in power for 44 years? He figured out a glitch in the system: the Public Authority. By heading the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority, Moses controlled the tolls. Every time a car crossed a bridge, Moses got a dollar. He didn't need the city's budget. He had his own bank. He used that money to issue bonds, which funded more projects, which created more tolls. It was a self-perpetuating power machine that nobody could touch.
The Modern Reassessment: Was He Truly a Monster?
In 2026, we’re seeing a bit of a shift. Some urbanists are looking at the nightmare of trying to build anything today—a single subway elevator can take ten years—and they’re feeling a tiny bit of "Moses envy." Not the racism part, obviously. But the "getting stuff done" part.
Critics like those featured in the 2024 New-York Historical Society exhibit celebrate the 50th anniversary of The Power Broker by noting that New York might have simply crumbled without Moses. Without his massive pools and the WPA-funded parks, the city might not have survived the Depression.
But then you look at the human cost.
- San Juan Hill: Wiped out to build Lincoln Center.
- The Lower Manhattan Expressway: A project that would have leveled SoHo and Little Italy.
- Public Transit: He hated it. He actively starved the subways of funding to prioritize his highways.
Jane Jacobs is the hero of this part of the story. She was the neighborhood activist who finally stopped him. She realized that cities aren't just collections of buildings and roads; they are ecosystems of people. When Moses tried to run a highway through Washington Square Park, she started a riot—figuratively and almost literally—and won. It was the beginning of the end for the "Master Builder."
What Most People Get Wrong About the Legacy
We tend to think of Moses as a uniquely New York problem. He wasn't. He was a consultant for cities all over the world. The "Moses Model" of urban renewal spread to every major American city. If your city has a giant highway cutting off the downtown from the waterfront, you can thank the influence of Robert Moses.
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Also, people think he was in it for the money. He wasn't. He lived relatively modestly and died without a massive fortune. He was a power addict, not a cash addict. That’s actually much scarier. You can buy off a greedy person. You can't buy off someone who just wants to see their name on a bridge.
How to Actually Use This History
Understanding the "Power Broker" isn't just for history buffs. It’s a blueprint for how power works in 2026. If you want to change your neighborhood, you have to understand the ghosts in the machine.
1. Look at the "Authorities" in your city. Often, the most powerful agencies aren't the ones you vote for. They are the utility boards, the transit authorities, and the development corporations. Find out who sits on those boards.
2. Follow the "Bond" money. Projects aren't built with taxes anymore; they are built with debt. Understanding how bonds work is the key to stopping—or starting—major infrastructure.
3. Don't underestimate the "Jane Jacobs" approach. Small, organized groups of neighbors can stop billion-dollar projects if they understand the PR game. Moses lost because he stopped caring what people thought.
4. Question the "Omelette" logic. Next time a developer says a project is "good for the city as a whole" but destroys a specific block, ask who is actually eating the omelette and who is getting cracked.
The legacy of Robert Moses is written in concrete. You can see it from space. But the lesson of his life is that power, no matter how absolute it seems, eventually runs out. We’re still living in his New York, but we don't have to live by his rules anymore.
To really dive into this, go find a copy of Caro's book at a used bookstore. It’s heavy, it’s long, and it will change the way you look at every road you drive on. Start by reading the chapter on Jones Beach; it shows Moses at his best and his most manipulative. After that, look up the "Battle for Washington Square" to see how the people finally pushed back.