The Whitestone Bridge is closed!

[Glitter Brunello Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Glitter Brunello]

It had to be Robert Caro I saw speak. The other book wasn't published until after the dinner.

[wackymother Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close wackymother]

Oooh la la, I'm going to read that. Sounds good and nasty!

[Glitter Brunello Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Glitter Brunello]

Oooh la la, I'm going to read that. Sounds good and nasty!

Yes! That's what I thought when I heard him speak. Let me know how it is. Here we've gone and taken a perfectly good crash thread and turned it bookish. History bookish, even worse

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

Well I guess I was lucky this did not happen last week when I was on that same road last Saturday.

[billymach4 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close billymach4]

Yes! That's what I thought when I heard him speak. Let me know how it is. Here we've gone and taken a perfectly good crash thread and turned it bookish. History bookish, even worse

Well not really.Moses was the planner and builder of the 3 East River Bridges, Triboro, Whitestone, and Throgs Neck. As well as all of the highways leading to and from these crossings. Moses is one of those guys I just love to hate. Parkways with short entrance, and exit ramps. Parkways that have those short underpasses that trucks get stuck under.

What the hell. I can blame him for today's mess!

What was mentioned earlier about the low bridges on the parkways so buses could not pass under is totally true. He did not want the inner city population (minorities) to use the state parks. Most notably Jones Beach, and his namesake Robert Moses State Park.

Urban planners at the time wanted Moses to include a rail link to run along side the LIE when he was plowing his way east on Long Island. The 7 train was to have a spur continue on east. Moses wanted no part of such a plan. He just continued his way to bulldoze on east. It was his way, the highway! The car was king. The most ironic part of Moses was that he never learned how to drive. He always had a chauffer take him everywhere!

[lawren2 Malibu Beach Barbie & A Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close lawren2]

Power Broker is a fabulous read. Moses also had his hand in all the housing projects. As beautiful as his parkways are how horribly depressing are those? Destroyed several neighborhoods in the Bronx with his Cross bronx Expressway and pretty much died a pauper.

He also never had a drivers license...

[Ann-Marie Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Ann-Marie]

Apparently with the Whitestone Bridge, a contractor forgot to put the bucket back down before moving the truck.

[lawren2 Malibu Beach Barbie & A Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close lawren2]

Apparently with the Whitestone Bridge, a contractor forgot to put the bucket back down before moving the truck.

Brilliant. Thankfully the contractor isn't a brain surgeon.

Oh yeah I totally forgot. Moses also designed the city pools and kept them at a colder temperature because he believed "people of color" wouldn't go in them if they weren't warm enough. As for the pool-cooling, Mr. Caro interviewed Moses’ associates on the record (“You can pretty well keep them out of any pool if you keep the water cold enough,” he quotes Sidney M. Shapiro, a close Moses aide, as saying)."


Truly a nasty man and probably the best biography I have ever read. I may try the newer one that Wacky mentioned. If it is half as interesting it would be well worth it.

I read one about Chicago's Daley that was also very well done. Also a class act.