This is the rare book where I have a very strong memory of its introduction into my life. In the wee hours of the morning, when I was sixteen, I closed the door behind me, tried it one more, and let the storm door descend several times on its pump before crossing the yard toward an idling van where several people were waiting. This van was bound for a card tournament, and the back seat contained numerous items of the sort one might expect, knowing that the van’s driver, and his brother, were off the gaming persuasion. Small boxes of dice, papers, pens, pencils, and a shoebox full of CDs had to be moved aside so that I could sit. This book was amongst the items. It seemed ludicrously large, but the anonymity of its subject, along with the description I received of the subject’s significance, marked it as a thing of interest, and I procured the copy I read now not long after that, I am sure. The van carried us on to one of the most inane activities available in a geographical locale that was itself highly ranked in terms of overall inanity. I have read swathes of this, and the beginning several times over. My hope is that taking persistent notes can help me comprehend the biography. I have also read Caro’s Johnson books, but those struck me as somehow far simpler than the inner workings of Moses’s New York. I also have a particular interest in politicians with a knack for amassing power, especially if it is in subtle ways, like Michael Madigan of Illinois, in part because I find them reprehensible, in part because I cannot fathom how tortured their motivations must be, and in part because I find them to be useful material for characters in books.
Lyndon Johnson’s precocious political talent also took explicit form in collegiate organizations that, while ostensibly powerless, could be made to have power.
I expect Robert Moses, with his ideas for great highways, as well as little shelters, will be an implementer of pattern languages with an incredibly high polarity, good and bad, often in one and the same implementation.
I also want to say at this point that there is a rap on Caro that he may bend credulity in certain incidents. For the sake of narrative, or politics, or what, I do not know. I am I’ll-equipped to discover the merit of these accusations, and I forget where I have seen them, but it bears mentioning.
I am not wholly equipped to assess expressways on their merits. I know they are awful for traffic patterns and the circulation of cities. They were also built for a small fraction of the traffic that now utilizes them, and so require constant repair. Was the investment in expressways the right choice at the right time? I do not know.
The numbers often get slip comprehension when reading about spending on bills and programs in Caro’s books. I will likely make a note of them to try to keep the figures accessible and useful.
By 1957, $133,000,000 of public monies had been expended on urban renewal in all cities of the United States with the exception of New York; $267,000,000 had been spent in New York
At its height in 1960, Triborough controlled 103,071 acres with revenue of $213,000,000.
Insurance has long been a tool of political control in Chicago wards. Laws mandate insurance policies, and ward bosses or those connected with them offer these policies, using some of the funds to buy to community. In this case, it seems a similar principle has moved up the rungs of society, and Moses took out policies from firms controlled by people with political leverage as a way to bribe them.
These details of German law as it pertains to the Jews I somehow forgot. Those are some pretty severe covenants.
Mobile in the middle of the 19th century is an interesting place to wind up.
What was tuition?
durstig Geist
Organization and fundraising is a talent like any other. It can be precocious and tends to make itself apparent at an early stage of life.
This conception of the civil service on Moses’ part is one of ideals. This is ultimately a story of power and corruption, which the young Moses appears not to consider.
Perhaps there is a conception of corruption in this criticism of spoilsmen, but it is the result of interlopers to a perfect order, one to be rooted out by men of his breeding who are, he is sure, unimpeachable in their capacity and intentions.
261 Broadway looks to be a lot of apartments now.
This book became popular in tech circles because techies were interested in the dynamics of cities. One special area of concern was the lack of newly established cities in America. The problem of American cities lacking a pre-existing administrative structure created a malignant problem that techies looked to apply new solutions to, even if it meant establishing a new city. Not much seems to have come from that moment. They were ostensibly similar to the Progressives, but with a new filter, that the technological paradigm of problem solving, through which to view antique problems.
And here we see how the technological paradigm of the early 20th century in the form of the assembly line influences reform thinking.