The power broker : Robert Moses and the fall of New York
Page 197
RM rounding up new exhibits: NYT, Feb. 5, Feb 18, Mar. 10, Apr. 21, 1965. Almost pleading: For example, Moses, "The Fair, the City and the Critics," Oct. 13, 1964, spends nine pages cataloguing "slanted headlines," etc., but ends: "We badly need the press. . . . With . . . agreement on main objectives, differences in detail will be entirely consistent with mutual respect, and there will be a new dawn when the Fair reopens next April. Why not try this formula?"
Moore photo: Life, May 14, 1965, p. 13. Can't repay loan: RM, in NYT, Jan. 2 7> 1965. $17,540,000 deficit: Peat, Marwick audit. Can't repay notes: NYT, Feb. 6, 1965. Dec. 31 financial situation: Peat, Marwick audit; HT, Jan. 24, 1965; Witt memo, Feb. 15, 1965, Schedule II, WF Corp. internal document. Threw in escrow account and other desperate measures: Newsday, various articles, Dec.
1964. Loan difficulties: Nichols, Voice, Dec. 17, 1964; Newsday, Feb. 20, 23,
1965. Ferretti's overplay: HT, Feb. 22, 1965. Newsday article; Mar. 13, 1965-Beame: NYT, Nov. 24, 1964; HT, Feb. 1, 3, Sept. 10, 1965. Escrow stories: HT, Jan. 21, 1965.
Newsday ridicule: Jan. 13, 1965. Schaap: HT, Jan. 14, 1965.
NYT editorial: Feb. 7, 1965.
Wagner's feelings and resignation moves: Wagner, Screvane, Coleman; the author's interviews at the time with city and state officials who demanded anonymity. IRS investigation: Moses, Dangerous Trade, p. 606. Panama Canal: Gimbel, quoted in Welles, Life, p. 150. "A sad thing": McMorran.
Notes for pages 1109-1127
1244
Screvane's overtures: Screvane. Coleman's: Coleman. Bankers': Wagner, confidential sources. Executive committee maneuvering: Screvane, Wagner, Shapiro, confidential sources. Gaveling Za-retzki: HT, June 23, 1964. Feb. 24 meeting: Newsday, Feb. 24, 25, 1965. One reporter: The author.
Newsday column: Mike McGrady, May 11, 1965. His auditors told him: One Fair official, not a Moses Man, was feeding the author the daily memos on the situation being circulated within the Fair Administration Building; see, for example, Newsday, Mar. 15, 1965.
Last-minute attendance boom: Various newspapers, NYT, Oct. 14, 1965. $13,-000,000: Internal WF Corp. memos.
RM meeting with bankers: NYT, Oct. 18, 1965. Legal action and compromise: NYT, Nov. 17, 1965. Triborough funds made available: NYT, Sept. 1, 1965. Quiet Park Department appropriations: Nichols, Voice, Dec. 17, 1964; Morris to Felt, Mar. 8, 1962, Wagner Papers ($675,000 for trees). "One of the very great municipal parks": Moses, Dangerous Trade, p. 543. He also called it "the city's finest park": Newsday, Oct. 18, 1965. $142,674,000: Moses, FM-Corona Park, p. 33.
48. Old Lion, Young Mayor
SOURCES
Books and documents:
Klein, Lindsay's Promise; Moses, Dangerous Trade.
Levitt TBTA Audit (see "Sources," Chapter 33).
TBTA, "Memorandum in Opposition to Legislation Providing for the Merger of TBTA with the New York City Transit Authority and Other Transportation Facilities," Jan. 21, 1966.
Author's interviews:
Henry Barnes, Harold Blake, Peter J. Brennan, Thomas E. Dewey, Perry B. Duryea, Jr., Thomas P. F. Hoving, Joseph McC. Lieper, J. Burch McMorran, Edward J. Maloney, Arthur E. Palmer, Jr., Robert Price, Richard M. Rosen, Sidney Schanberg, Sidney M. Shapiro, Bertram D. Tallamy, Robert F. Wagner, Jr., Norman K. Winston.
NOTES
(All dates 1966 unless otherwise noted)
"Matinee idol": RM was to repeat this in print later; the first time he said it
was to his aides that day: Blake, Shapiro, confidential source.
"The power brokers": Klein, p. 95.
It sounded so easy: NYT, Jan. 14, 15. Moving LaG's portrait: NYT, Feb. 19. Their feelings about RM: Hoving, Price, Rosen, confidential sources. RM's feelings about them: RM. "Lindsay Maps Plans": Post, Dec. 10, 1965. One RM aide remembers RM grinning grimly when he read that headline.
Lindsay confident: NYT, Newsday, Jan. 14, 18. Lawyers ignorant of bond covenants: The author spoke to several administration officials, including some in the Corporation Counsel's office, who were attorneys. Their ignorance of the covenants and their significance was striking. All would talk to the author only on guarantees of anonymity.
"The holders": Wood, Preusse and Lebwohl, Memorandum of Law, "Memorandum in Opposition," p. 9. "Poorly advised": RM quoted in NYT, Jan. 21. Media all but ignored: All area newspapers, Jan.-Feb.
Rallying call; and they saw it as such: Brennan, Tallamy. Didn't understand importance of arterial post: Price; interviews with anonymous Lindsay confidants. "Briskly striding Commissioner Hoving": NYT, Jan. 30. Palmer being sent to RM: Palmer. Their three meetings: RM, Palmer concur fully on their details. "You haven't got the power": Palmer, Price. Legislation no longer mentioned surpluses: Senate Intro. 795, Print 798 by Mr. Conklin compared with Senate Intro. 419, Print 419 by Mr. Mackell. "That goddamned whippersnap-per": Palmer.
Lindsay-RM meeting: RM, Palmer.
Boastfully confident: Various newspapers, Feb. 22-Mar. 10. The Rockefeller apartment meeting: Palmer, Rosen, confidential sources who also were present. Lindsay believed he had Rockefeller's support: Palmer, Price, Rosen. "The way you handle legislators": Rosen quoted in NYT.
"Harry Van Arsdale": Confidential source. Rosen's quote: To author, in interview, June 25, 1968. Playing games: Schanberg. Seriously believed: Palmer, Price, Rosen, confidential sources.
The hearing: Brennan, Dewey, Palmer, Rosen, Schanberg, Shapiro, confidential sources who were present; Newsday, DN, NYT, Long Island Press, HT, Mar. 11, 12. The handshake: Photos in Newsday, HT. "No one will buy": Robert Christie, vice president of Dillon, Read & Co.,
Notes for pages 1128-1140
1245
principal manager for all TBTA bonds. "Pro forma charade": Schanberg.
RM arranging mopping-up actions: Shapiro, Brennan; HT, Mar. 13. Chase: NYT, Mar. 13. Editorial: NYT, Mar. 12. Wood reply: Wood to NYT, Mar. 18. By the way: Newsday, Mar. 12; confidential sources. Lindsay telephoning Rockefeller, instructing Rosen: Rosen. "Never occurred": Lindsay quoted in NYT, May 14, Rockefeller support not forthcoming: Reported NYT on Mar. 16: "Over and over at the news conference the Governor praised 'John Lindsay's courage and forthrightness in stepping up to meet the city's problems.' But just as many times, he counseled the Mayor on the wisdom of compromise in the face of opposition."
Thirtieth-anniversary pageantry: NYT, Newsday, July 12. The letter: NYT, July 13.
Lindsay's instructions to Palmer: Palmer. Unable to accomplish anything: Palmer, Winston. Winston for RM on everything: RM, Winston.
Signs of awareness: NYT, June 18, July 14; Brennan, Palmer, confidential sources. Would take five years: Lieper. Lindsay's astonishment: McMorran, Moloney, Palmer, Price, confidential sources. $250,000,000: Levitt TBTA Audit (pp. 2-3) shows surplus running about $29,-000,000 per year. TBTA Annual Report, 1966, p. 13, shows cash, investments and receivables as $142,000,000. The combination of the two figures would, by the end of 1969, at then current interest rates, have enabled Triborough, by refinancing its outstanding bond issues, to raise an additional $250,000,000 for construction.
49. The Last Stand
SOURCES
(Certain crucial details of this chapter were supplied to the author by banking sources who would, out of fear of Gov. Rockefeller, agree to talk only on guarantees of anonymity.)
Books, articles and documents:
Moses, Dangerous Trade.
Frank Lynn, "The Rockefeller Years," Newsday, Apr. 14-18, 1969-
Levitt TBTA Audit (see "Sources," Chapter 33).
Author's interviews:
Harold Blake, Peter J. Bfl Thomas E. Dewey, Perry B. Duryc -Joseph T. Ingraham, Lee Koppeln Arthur Levitt, Joseph McC. Lieper, Michael J. Madigan, Arthur E. Palmer, Jr., Jackson Phillips, Richard M. Rosen] Sidney M. Shapiro, Arthur V. Sheridan, Robert F. Wagner, Jr., Franklin S. Wood.
NOTES
$6.4 billion: NYT, Mar. 8, 1967. State's financial condition: Lynn, "The Rockefeller Years." $110,000,000 on hand, $30, 000,000-per-year surplus: Levitt TBTA
Audit, pp. 2-3. Rockefeller's thinking: Brennan, Dewey, Duryea, Levitt, Shapiro, confidential sources.
So little to fight back with: Ingraham, Shapiro, Madigan, Wagner.
"Straw in the wind": Palmer, Rosen, confidential sources. Didn't grasp extent of power: Author's impression from interviews with Lindsay aides, most of whom insist on anonymity. Driven to the wall, planning to use bond monies in budget: Levitt; Newsday, Mar. 21, Oct. 22, 23, Nov. 8, 1967. Tax increase: NIT, May 2, Nov. 7, 1967. Voter resentment: NYT, Nov. 7, 1967. Afraid RM would tip it: Brennan, Duryea. "Essential is the participation": Newsday, Mar. 14, 1967.
RM's figures: Duryea, Levitt, Shapiro, confidential sources.
First Rockefeller-Ronan conference with RM: Jan. 5, 1967. Letter to the Bahamas: World-Journal-Tribune, Mar. 12, 1967; Shapiro. Statement on return: NYT, Jan. 22, 1967. RM and Rockefeller meet: NYT, Mar. II, 1967. Nothing new: Ingraham, Shapiro. Rockefeller had promised RM power: Duryea, confirmed by another leader present; Levitt, confirmed by Shapiro, who was one of the coterie; Brennan. "It was learned": NYT, DN, Mar. 12, 1967.
No doubt: Blake, Madigan, Shapiro. Asks for appointment; "not a cent"; "guts," "a lot of courage and faith": RM, "Why New York Needs That Transportation Bond Issue," Newsday, May 26, 1967, quoted in Dangerous Trade. Rosenman: Confidential source. "He had a promise": Dewey.
Suit would have been successful: Phillips, Wood, confidential sources. Chase brief: NYT, July 1, 1967.
Meeting of the two brothers: NYT, Feb. 10, 1968. The author has been unable to obtain a copy of the stipulation. He did, however, hold detailed discussions with two individuals who did—
Notes for pages 1140-1162
1246
Ingraham, who obtained a copy only by promising he would never quote from it directly but would use it only for background (and who, in fact, never used it for anything at all), and a confidential source. The author's discussion of the stipulation is based on what they told him. On his instructions, Rosen man agreed: Confidential source; World-Journal-Telegram, Mar. 12, 1967; NYT, Mar. 20, 1967.
All was honey: Shapiro. The Governor "told me": Moses, Dangerous Trade, p. 257. Duryea's intercession: Duryea, Shapiro. Ronan's offer: NYT, Feb. 29, 1968. RM's salary was later raised to $35,000. RM's feelings: Shapiro, Wagner. Articles: Witkin, NYT, and Newsday, Mar. 2, 1968.
50. Old
SOURCES
Books and articles:
Moses, Dangerous Trade. Moses, "From the Bridge," Newsday column.
Author's interviews:
Harold Blake, Peter J. Brennan, Jane Moses Collins, Perry B. Duryea, Jr., Jacob Lutsky, Michael J. Madigan, Charles F. Rodriguez, Sidney M. Shapiro, Arnold Vollmer, Robert F. Wagner, Jr.
NOTES
Still swam: Author saw him do it.
Ronan's incompetence: Brennan, Shapiro, confidential sources.
"A couple of times": Confidential source.
RM fooled by Governor on Sound Crossing: RM's desire for it to be built— and his rationalizations as to why it wasn't—are summed up in Dangerous Trade, pp. 262-75; also "From the Bridge," Dec. 23, 1967, and Jan. 4, 1969.
Desperate: Brennan, Duryea, Shapiro. "No Calvin Coolidge": RM, speech to "Fall Guy" luncheon, Garden City Hotel, Jan. 24, 1969, quoted in Dangerous Trade, pp. 258-59. Governor charming, Ron an not: The author saw this on several occasions. Blake's muttered comment was to the author on one occasion at which Ronan all but snubbed RM, the opening of the "Sunken Meadow" addition to Randall's Island, July 11, 1967.
Lutsky: Telephoned Lebwohl during interview with author. "Sorry for him": Wagner. Badillo incident: Rodriguez.
"Birthdays are to forget": DN, Dec. 16, 1969. "Hasn't changed": Confidential source.
Housing program: DN, Apr. 30, 1969. "Atlantic Village" proposal: Dangerous Trade, pp. 478-80. Citywide program: Discussed it with author.
So much left to do: RM to author in interviews.
"Dangerous Trade" written by staff: Author saw the drafts submitted by various staffers.
Fordham dedication: NYT, July 4, 1970. Building Trades dinner: Author present. "We'd just like to observe": DN editorial, 1969. "The glass of fashion": RM, quoted in NYT, Oct. 13, 1969.
Damrosch dedication: NYT, May 23, 1969; Moses, Dangerous Trade, pp. 532-33. "The finest short story": Moses, "From the Bridge" column, Newsday, 1969. Alley Pond Park: NYT, Sept. 8, 1969. Lindsay's accomplishments in housing: For example, NYT, July 5, 1969, Jan. 11, 1971.
Slim hopes: RM to author; Blake, Shapiro.
RM's attitude toward John Olds, Christopher Collins: Jane Moses Collins, Madigan, Shapiro. It was apparent in RM's interviews with author; he referred to John scornfully as "the banker," waving his hand disdainfully. Christopher's death: Newsday, Dec. 13, 1968.
Chauffeur, name dropping: To author. Why weren't they grateful?: The author was present at the Excedra ceremony.
11
Battery, the: real estate in, 645, 646
Battery Crossing fight: opposition to RM, 645-7, 653-4, 656-78
Battery Park, 332, 645-53, 658, 659, 666-7, 671, 676, 683, 685; Aquarium, 651, 653, 678-82, 686; Fort Clinton, 650-3, 658, 678-87, 696, 697, 766, 767; opposition to RM, 678-88
Battery Parking Garage, 689, 695, 696, 918
baymen, see Long Island
Bayonne Bridge, 924, 925, 926
beaches, grass for, 232-3, 831-2; L.I., 8, 151-2, 153-4- 155, 160, 169-70, 220; N.Y.C.. 7. 33i, 335, 778, 830; see also individual beaches
Beal. Frank P., 499
Beame, Abe, 1107, 1108
Beard, Charles A., 60, 107-9
Bear Mountain Bridge, 345
Becker, Stewart, 730
Bedford-Stuyvesant, 510, 512, 971, 1151
Beebe, William, 985
Bellevue South project, 1054
Bellonte, Maurice, 652
Belmont, August, 10, 170
Belmont. Mrs. Oliver. 151-2
Belmont Lake State Park, 8, 212, 220; L.I. State Park Commission headquarters, 212, 234, 270, 458, 814, 815, 820
Belt Parkway, 8, 341, 342, 343, 525, 639. 659, 676, 838, 896, 898, 905; cost of, 639: funds for, 639-41, 642-4, 675-6; traffic congestion on, 912
Bemelmans. Ludwig, 985
Ben-Gurion, David, 1101
Bennett. Col. John J., 793, 872, 966-7,
977, 978-9, 1044 Bergen Countv Expressway, 925 Berfe. Adolf A.. Jr.. 348,' 376-7, 427-8,
and n., 611-12. 613. 778 Berlin, University of, 55, 64 Berliner. Samuel, 411 n. Bernstein. Pearl, 500-1 Berry. Charles W., 346 Bethpage State Park. 8, 485, 816 Bethpage State Park Authority, 362, 616,
629, 764, 1061, 1074, 1133 Bethpage State Parkway, 485 Bikila. Abebe. 1107 Binger. Walter D., 502, 646, 658, 679,
684-5. 688, 702, 766 Binghamton, 409. 413-14 Binkerd. Robert S., 132 Bishop. Shelton Hale, 510-11, 512 Black. Elinor G., 966, 970. 974, 976 Blaikie. Robert, 718, 778, 1017 and n. Blake. Harold. 809. 1145. 1146-7, 1149,
1155. 1159-60 Blake. Peter, 561 Blanshard. Paul. 348 Blauvelt Engineering, 1090 Bloustein, Francis J., 793, 977
Blum, Robert E., 809
Bookbinder, Bernie, 824, 826
Boonville Gorge, 239
Booth & Weston, 209
Boston, 571, 772
Braestrup, Peter, 1022, 1049
Bragg, Gen. Edward S., 286 and n.
Brandeis, Louis, 216
Brandi, Frederic H., 1112
Brandt, Willy, 1107
Brandwynne, Nat, 339
Brennan, Peter J., 735-8, 810, 1056, 1059, 1073 m, 1078, 1104, 1125, 1128, 1135, 1138, 1147-8, 1160
bridges: approaches to, 17, 626-7; designed too low for buses, 318, 546-7, 951-4; earnings of, 617-18; maintenance, 617, 796, 920; RM's plans for, 885, 1041, 1147; in N.Y.C., 330-1, 341, 342, 508, 517, 614, 760, 829, 830, 896; parkway, 230, 237, 546-7; traffic congestion on, 516-18, 519, 897, 930; see also individual bridges
Broadway drawbridge, 144, 330, 331,
535, 537, 554, 563
Bronx, 6, 62. 340, 508, 518-19; borough president o
f, 743, 749; Marble Hill, 534, 543; mass transit needs, 931; Mor-risania, 857, 890; planning for, 794, politics in, 734, 865, 868, 877-8, 1046; population growth in, 143, 338, 546-7, 765: South, 396, 493; traffic congestion in, 329-30; Triborough Bridge to, 386, 387, 388, 838; see also East Tremont
Bronx River Parkway, 144, 162, 211, 231, 288, 365, 564, 896, 918
Bronx-Whitestone Bridge, 6, 341, 518-20, 626, 627, 639, 672, 832, 1147; cost of. 657; earnings of, 698; rapid transit proposed for, 519; traffic congestion on, 519. 885, 897, 912, 950
Bronx Zoo, 381, 678-9, 682, 686, 853
Brookhaven Park, 829
Brookhaven Township, 147
Brooklyn, 147, 508; Bay Ridge, 331, 928, 1071; Bedford-Stuyvesant, 510, 512, 971, 1151; borough president, 743; Brooklyn Heights. 645; Brownsville, 965. 966. 971; developers in, 143, 338, 481, 898; mass transit needs, 929; planning for, 794; population growth, 145, 329, 330, 765, 898, 899; Red Hook, 375, 455, 524; roads, 339, 345, 522-4; Stuyvesant Heights, 490, 510, 511; traffic congestion, 329, 639, 944; water supply, 157: see also Sunset Park
Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel, 515, 520-1, 524/525, 639-47, 653-4, 657-75, 676, 678, 683, 689, 694, 695, 696, 844, 896; cost of, 639, 657, 665, 675, 698; earnings of, 698, 715, 911; funds for, 639-41, 674-5; traffic congestion in, 911
Brooklyn Bridge, 146, 330, 341, 674, 911
Brooklyn Eagle, 73, 263, 414, 432, 433, 512, 556, 991
Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, 6, 659, 709, 846, 896, 925, 949-50
Brooks, Samuel, 752, 879, 1009, ion, 1012, 1017, 1018
Brown, Howard D., 263
Brown, Peter Campbell, 997-1002, 1010
Browne, James J., 331
Brownell, Herbert, Jr., 361-2
Brownsville, 965, 966, 971
Bruckner Expressway, 6, 749, 841 and n., 866, 885, 896, 925, 928
Bruckner traffic circle, 886
Bruere, Henry, 60, 61, 63-4, 68, 70, 93, 103-4, 782
Bryan, Frederick Van Pelt, 685
Bryant Park: Bi-Centennial Celebration in, 332-3 and n. in disrepair, 332-3; renovation of, 371, 372, 373-4, 499