The Battle for Gotham

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The Battle for Gotham Page 1

by Roberta Brandes Gratz




  Table of Contents

  ALSO BY ROBERTA BRANDES GRATZ

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Epigraph

  Acknowledgements

  Preface

  Introduction

  Chapter 1 - THE WAY THINGS WERE

  THE PUSH-PULL EFFECT

  PUSHED TO LEAVE

  SUBURBIA IN FORMATION

  DEFINING PROGRESS

  THE SHOCK OF THE NEW

  SUBURBS ARE DIFFERENT

  BACK TO NEW YORK FOR GOOD

  THE NEWSPAPER

  DIVERSITY IN THE CITY ROOM

  THE LUCKY BREAK

  PROMOTED TO REPORTER

  THE APPEAL OF HISTORIC PRESERVATION

  THE 1960S

  THE 1970S

  FROM BAD TO WORSE

  SMALL STEPS, BIG CHANGE

  REBIRTH’S BEGINNINGS

  Chapter 2 - LANDMARKS PRESERVATION

  THE TIDE TURNED

  PRESERVATION ACCELERATES CHANGE

  A PROBLEM GROWS IN BROOKLYN

  MOSES INCREASED MAYOR WAGNER’S PROBLEMS

  A MOVEMENT GROWS

  A LOT LEFT UNPROTECTED

  PROTECTION CAME SLOWLY

  THE MANHATTAN FOCUS

  A WEST SIDE LANDMARK

  THE LAW CHANGES, BUT THE COMMISSION DOESN’T

  JACKIE KENNEDY ONASSIS MAKES THE DIFFERENCE

  SIGNIFICANT LANDMARK BATTLES WERE MANY

  TWEED COURTHOUSE: AN OLD CONTROVERSY

  RAISING PRESERVATION AWARENESS AMONG STUDENTS

  Chapter 3 - GREENWICH VILLAGE

  THE STATE OF THE NEIGHBORHOODS

  A DIFFERENT KIND OF CRIME

  LITTLE ITALY TODAY

  AS MUCH AS THINGS CHANGE . . .

  STILL A WORLD APART

  LANDMARK PROTECTION WORKS

  THE PARK

  THE MOSES ROAD

  TRAFFIC DISAPPEARS

  TIDE TURNING AGAINST CARS?

  NEW YORK UNIVERSITY

  ENHANCING THE STREET, OR NOT

  THE POE HOUSE CONTROVERSY

  THE WEST VILLAGE

  EIGHTH STREET

  WEST VILLAGE HOUSES: KNOWN AS THE JANE JACOBS HOUSES

  FARTHER WEST

  JACOBS MAKES THE CASE AGAIN

  THE EAST VILLAGE—ANOTHER WORLD

  Chapter 4 - SOHO

  THE DEATH-THREAT SYNDROME

  THE EXPRESSWAY FIGHT

  NEW AMENITIES PROMISED

  ARREST

  THE IMPACT OF ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS

  EXPRESSWAY KILLED; SOHO EMERGED

  INDUSTRIAL USES DISPLACED

  CHANGING ART

  JANE JACOBS VERSUS ROBERT MOSES

  SOHO BROADENED THE HISTORIC PRESERVATION MOVEMENT

  SOHO’S EXPORTS HELP REJUVENATE OTHER PLACES

  ONE LAST STAND ON A NEW YORK CITY CONTROVERSY

  Chapter 5 - RECONSIDERING ROBERT MOSES

  THE PARK DEFENSE

  HIS WAY OR NO WAY

  THE URBAN RENEWAL BULLDOZER

  THE HUMAN TOLL

  LEARNING BY LISTENING

  THE HUMAN TOLL

  A REFORMER TO START

  THE IMPACT OF THE WORLD’S FAIR

  THE COUNTRY FOLLOWS MOSES

  NEW ORLEANS

  PORTLAND, OREGON

  HARTFORD, BALTIMORE, DETROIT

  PITTSBURGH

  SAN FRANCISCO

  MOSES LISTENED TO NO ONE

  MOSES IS BUILT INTO THE SYSTEM TODAY

  WHOSE URBAN VISION?

  DENSITY IS NOT THE PROBLEM

  THE SOCIAL AND PSYCHIC DIMENSION

  THE RESURGENT CITY

  Chapter 6 - THE FACTORY

  MANUFACTURING: EVER CHANGING

  THE CHANGING ART WORLD CHANGED US

  THE INDUSTRIAL NETWORK IS COMPLEX

  URBAN RENEWAL INTERFERES

  TO LONG ISLAND CITY

  INDUSTRIAL SPACE IS BEING NIBBLED AWAY

  INDUSTRY NURTURED AND SUSTAINED NEW YORK

  POSTWAR OPPORTUNITIES MISSED

  FALSE GOD OF EFFICIENCY

  LONG ISLAND CITY ESCAPES FOR A WHILE

  THE PAST IS PAST

  CREATIVE CONVERSIONS

  TRUE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IS A RENEWABLE PROCESS

  OFFICIAL LOGIC IS ELUSIVE

  Chapter 7 - THE UPPER WEST SIDE

  A NEW URBAN RENEWAL PARADIGM

  THE ERA OF FEAR

  URBAN RESETTLEMENT

  THE WEST SIDE: THE HAPPENING PLACE

  CATACLYSMIC CHANGE KICKS IN

  THE LINCOLN CENTER MYTH

  WEST SIDE STORY

  THE REAL DRAW OF THE WEST SIDE

  POSITIVE CHANGE, NEGATIVE CHANGE

  DEFINING PROGRESS

  Chapter 8 - WESTWAY

  THE HEART OF THE ARGUMENT

  FIGHTING CITY HALL

  HIGHWAY AS CURE FOR DECAY

  TIDE TURNING AGAINST CARS?

  THE INTERNAL CONTRADICTION

  PROPONENTS CHANGE THE ARGUMENT

  NEW LAND PLUS PLANNED SHRINKAGE

  MORE DIFFERENCES

  Chapter 9 - BIG THINGS GET DONE

  TRANSIT REINVESTMENT WAS HUGE

  REINVESTMENT PAYS

  SHOW ME THE MONEY

  THE BIG DIG FACTOR

  STEEL-WHEEL JOBS VERSUS RUBBER-TIRE JOBS

  BEYOND TRANSIT: REGENERATION OR REPLACEMENT?

  ORGANIC REGENERATION GETS A CHANCE

  THE NEW PARK—BIG IS BIG

  THE TRANSPORTATION DEBATE

  VEHICULAR DOMINATION STILL PREVAILS

  BIG PROJECTS DO GET DONE

  GOVERNMENT CAN DO IT BIG AND WELL

  LOW-DENSITY MISTAKES STILL HAPPEN IN A BIG WAY

  MORE BIG THINGS GETTING DONE

  DEFEAT WITH GOOD REASON

  CONCLUSION

  EPILOGUE

  Appendix: - Jacobs’s Arrest in Her Own Words

  Notes

  Bibliography

  Index

  The Center for the Living City

  Copyright Page

  ALSO BY ROBERTA BRANDES GRATZ

  The Living City: Thinking Small in a Big Way (1989)

  Cities Back from the Edge: New Life for Downtown (1998)

  A Frog, A Wooden House, A Stream and A Trail:

  Ten Years of Community Revitalization in Central Europe (2001)

  For Jane

  Never underestimate the power of a city to regenerate.

  JANE JACOBS

  Acknowledgments

  I have always relied on various urban thinkers and observers to inform and challenge my own observations and ideas. For this book, I am similarly indebted to a wonderfully patient and generous group who enriched the substance of this book.

  Until her death, Jane Jacobs was a critical sounding board. Ron Shiffman and Richard Rabinowitz have been key in both of my earlier books as well as this one. Mary Rowe has both challenged and encouraged the details of this book in the best tradition of Jane Jacobs. Anthony Mancini has been my first reader and essential critic for this, as well as the two prior books, often saving me from myself. Thomas Schwarz, another reader of both prior works, challenged an early iteration of this one that helped me rethink its direction. Victor Navasky, as well, offered insights at an early point that clarified and changed the direction I needed to follow.

  Nancy Milford, Nancy Charney, Laurie Beckelman, Stephen Goldsmith, Sandra Morris, and Margie Ziedler have been nurturing friends critical to the writing process. I am indebted to Robert Caro for opening my eyes and the world’s eyes to the overarching power of Robert Moses.

  I am enormously appreciative of Hamilton Fish, president of Nation Books, for being so ready and eager to publish this book and for turnin
g me over to an extraordinary editor, Carl Bromley. Carl exemplifies the best qualities of an interested, caring, insightful, and nurturing editor whose comments and observations about all aspects of this text were most useful and constructive. I am similarly indebted to Basic Books publisher John Sherer for understanding what I planned to do and for being so interested in publishing this book. Annette Wenda, the copyeditor, Sandra Beris, the production editor, and Brent Wilcox, the compositor, artfully steered this manuscript to life.

  Kent Barwick, Eddie Bautista, Marcy Benstock, Mary Beth Betts, Maya Borgenicht, John Bowles, Al Butzel, Joan Byron, Sarah Carroll, Majora Carter, Carol Clark, Joan Davidson, Mort Downey, Coco Eisman, Alexi Torres Flemming, Adam Friedman, Charles Gandee, Michael Gerrard, Francis Golden, Dennis Grubb, Bill Gratz, Isabel Hill, Abbie Hurlbutt, Lynda Kaplan, Jared Knowles, Lex Lalli, Peter Laurence, Corey Mintz, Norman Mintz, Forrest Myers, William Moody, Greg O’Connell, Marianne Percival, Bruce Rosen, Michael Rosen, David Rosencrans, Gene Russianoff, Don Rypkema, James Sanders, David Sweeny, Calvin Trillin, Joshua Velez, Mike Wallace, Anthony Wood, Elizabeth Yampierre. Others are mentioned throughout the book.

  Sadly, my husband, Donald Stephen Gratz, did not live to see this publication. His ideas and influence, however, are woven throughout this text. I learned from him daily for many years and always appreciated his encouragement of my efforts. The legacy of his talent is reflected herein in the story of Gratz Industries.

  My daughters—Laura Beth and Rebecca Susan—fabulous mothers, teachers, environmentalists, and preservationists—have always been most important in my life and now their children—Halina, Frank, Stella, Isaac, and Danielle—are a source of great pride and joy. I have no doubt they will all grow to be caring, productive citizens. My son-in-law, Jon Piasecki, an innovative landscape architect and committed environmentalist, is an additional source of pride.

  Many people have let me know the value of my first two books and, I hope, they will find similar value here. They are the ones who will initiate the regeneration process wherever they live and work.

  Preface

  I was born and for the first decade of my life lived in Greenwich Village, the iconic urban neighborhood of crooked streets, historic buildings, diverse residents, and the occasional leafy, cobblestone street.

  When I walked to school each day, played in Washington Square Park in the afternoon, visited my father in his dry-cleaning store, bought candy at a nearby newsstand, ran an errand for my mom, and came in from Washington Square Park for dinner when she called me from the sixth-floor window of our apartment house, my life was a page out of urbanist, author, and advocate Jane Jacobs’s Death and Life of Great American Cities.

  When my father’s main store on West Third Street, where all garments were cleaned and pressed, was condemned to make way for an urban renewal housing project, when our apartment house on the south side of Washington Square also was condemned for another urban renewal project, this one for a New York University library, when my father was pushed to relocate his business and the family moved to a Connecticut suburb, my life was a page from the book of master planner and builder Robert Moses, who transformed New York City and State through the twelve appointed positions he held over forty years, from the 1930s to 1970s.

  Mine was a classic city childhood of the 1940s and 1950s. New York street life was robust and vibrant, offering a feeling of total safety. I rode the double-decker bus up and down Fifth Avenue to dance class, shopping, and an occasional outing to Central Park. I took the subway to visit friends and, somewhat foolishly, went all the way to Coney Island with two friends and no adult at the age of eight. Washington Square Park was the primary arena for play, hanging out, or roller skating, with a daily stop to say hi to my grandfather on his favorite bench.

  Our move to the suburbs was a distressing one. I had trouble fitting in. The difference between city and country was dramatic back then, and it was reflected in my classmates. I stood out like a sore thumb until I caught on to fitting in. The upstate girls’ college I started at was much the same, and I eagerly returned to New York midstream to complete my undergraduate studies at New York University. Even then, New York still offered a rich experience with endless choices, including city and national politics during John Kennedy’s election campaign,1 until I embarked on a newspaper career at the New York Post.

  I reveled in covering city life and couldn’t believe I was getting paid to learn something new every day. Marriage, children, and brownstone living on the Upper West Side came later, and that too revealed aspects of city life that informed my reporting. This was the 1960s and 1970s: New York was changing, incrementally, I thought, but in retrospect quite dramatically. I was part of and witness to a sea change in city life. On one level, I was oblivious to the major forces driving it. With the hindsight and experience of forty years, I understand those forces now and share that understanding in the pages that follow.

  I grew up in the shadow of Robert Moses and Jane Jacobs. Their clashing urban visions shaped postwar New York both directly and indirectly. In turn, that clash of visions helped shape the nation.

  But I knew of neither of these overarching New York figures until adulthood and then only vaguely until well into my career as a newspaper reporter. Most New Yorkers were and still are similarly oblivious to either Moses or Jacobs. Yet these two giants of urban philosophy had enormous influence on the shape of American cities in general and New York City in particular.

  THE MOSES-JACOBS LENS

  To look at recent New York City history through the lens of the conflicting urban views of Moses and Jacobs is to gain a new understanding of the city today. This lens provides a small measure by which to evaluate the kind of big and modest projects outlined in this book. I did not have that lens either growing up or as a reporter for the New York Post from the mid-1960s until late in the 1970s covering city development issues. Eventually, I understood that in my writing I was immersing myself in the web of challenges personified in the conflict between the urban perspectives of Moses and Jacobs.

  Two things helped develop that lens for me: reading Robert Caro’s book The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York when it was published in 1974 and reading, meeting, and developing a lasting friendship with Jane Jacobs in 1978. My own urban vision had been shaped earlier during my fifteen years as a reporter, meeting and learning from people all over the city and watching positive and negative city policies unfold. But that urban vision was deepened and added to by that Moses-Jacobs lens and was expressed in my first book, The Living City: Thinking Small in a Big Way, first published by Simon and Schuster in 1989. Urban Husbandry was the term I coined in that book to describe a regeneration approach that reinvigorates and builds on assets already in place, adding to instead of replacing long-evolving strengths.

  From the mid-1960s to the late 1970s, I reported for the New York Post on the impact of the great social and economic dislocations in the city. There were the urban renewal projects in Greenwich Village and the Upper West Side and, most dramatically, the opening of Co-op City that vacuumed out so many residents from the Grand Concourse and accelerated the decay of the South Bronx. I covered school decentralization battles in Ocean Hill and Brownsville and urban renewal on the Lower East Side, and I learned the fascinating evolution of Washington Heights while working on an in-depth series about newly appointed secretary of state Henry Kissinger, whose family settled there after fleeing Germany in 1938. There were public housing conflicts, landlord scandals in Times Square and on the Upper West Side, and middle-income apartment shortages. New urban renewal projects and battles to save landmarks all got my attention. But I had no knowledge of the role of Robert Moses in shaping urban renewal policies, locally and nationally, until Caro’s extraordinarily well-researched and thorough opus.2

  I had heard a little about Jane Jacobs’s activism in Greenwich Village, particularly fighting the West Village Urban Renewal and the Lower Manhattan Expressway projects, but I had not read The
Death and Life of Great American Cities. When I finally did read it, just before I was heading to Toronto to meet her, I discovered a way of understanding the city that I could relate to, a way that I had instinctively come to believe during years of reporting on community-based stories, an understanding that Jane believed all keen observers are capable of developing on their own. Over the years she challenged me, broadened my thinking, and encouraged me to look, observe, and understand beyond what I had already learned.

  This book now looks back on the city as I first experienced it growing up and then wrote about it as a reporter. By using the Moses-Jacobs lens to examine some of the issues I wrote about in the late 1960s and 1970s, I come to a different conclusion from many experts on how the city reached the ultrasuccessful and constantly adapting condition of today—even if suddenly tempered by a colossal national economic meltdown.

  The perspective of time is very useful. My time as a reporter was a trying period for the city. Bankruptcy loomed. Crime hit its peak. The infrastructure was crumbling. Vast swaths of neighborhoods lay abandoned. People were leaving. Fear was pervasive.

  PAST IS PROLOGUE

  For many, the memory of the depth of the city’s troubles back then has dimmed over time. Through the lens of a newspaper reporter I observed this period firsthand. Many of the stories I wrote reflected both the trends of the day and hints of the future. Some directly mirrored my personal experience.

  As a native New Yorker, my life and the life of the city are one. I have watched the changes in the Greenwich Village of my birth, lived the ascent of the Upper West Side with my husband and children, felt the impact of dubious city economic policies through the ups and downs of my husband’s family-owned manufacturing business. All these experiences informed my observations and reporting and add focus to today’s debates. Many of the issues I covered were of the moment—historic preservation, planning, community rebirth, the Westway fight. Most people have forgotten our recent history; some have never learned it. Looking back offers an interesting picture of the period and helps recapture that lost memory. I draw from those stories herein, in part, to look at where we were and how we evolved from that negative era, how New York City “repaired” itself, to borrow Jane Jacobs’s word.

 

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