November 13, 2003
AR and Robert Moses
Another story from the AR file, this one from the NY Times on May 9, 1939, p. 25
Title: Bridle Path Dust in Park Denounced
"Park Commissionar Robert A. Moses was sharply criticized and his chief aide, Allyn R. Jennings, general superintendent of parks, was accused of 'perfectly impudent conduct' by a group of equestrians known as 'the Early Riders' that met last night to protest the conditions of the bridle paths in Central Park."
"At a vehement session at the Tavern on the Green in Central Park at Sixty-seventh Street, the riders appointed a committee to call upon Mr. Moses to 'rectify the dusty condition of the bridle paths' and another to visit Health Commissioner John L. Rice to apprise him that 'paths consitute a distinct public menace.'"
"On Saturday the group sent a telegram to Mr. Jennings inviting him to the meeting. He sent his regrets and a letter that Aaron Rabinowitz, one of the protestants, called 'smart-alecky and impudent.'"
The article continues on to discuss how doctors had advised several members of the group "that to continue riding on the bridle paths was inviting sinus trouble and conjunctivitis." Tenants of the apartment buildings facing the park were also apparently affected by the clouds of dust, apparently because the paths hadn't been watered for months.
I've heard stories about AR riding his horse on the Merit Parkway as it was being built, but not about riding around in Central Park and protesting the dust on the bridle paths!
The Bridle Path at Central Park and Bridle Path Arches
Here's a Newsday article about Moses as Park Commissioner: A Crown Jewel Of the City Has A Messy Past
A NYC Parks article about Robert Moses and the Modern Park System (1929-1965)
According to Design-Build magazine, "His lone major setback came in 1939, when he proposed that the Brooklyn-Battery Crossing should be a suspension bridge instead of a tunnel. Residents opposed the plan because it would level much of lower Manhattan, drop property values in the financial district and ruin views of the skyline. Finally, it took a decision by Pres. Franklin Roosevelt to halt Moses."
According to The Atlantic, Moses was busy in 1939: "One of Commissioner Moses's most striking miracles is the conversion of a vast swamp and a small mountain of odorous refuse in Queens into the site for the New York World's Fair of 1939. He was given the task of preparing this uninviting terrain for the great exposition and spent more than $50,000,000 effecting the change."
Posted by Emily at November 13, 2003 10:22 PM