Robert Moses Destroyed a Neighborhood. Or Did He?

Robert Moses is often blamed for destroying East Tremont, a working-class neighborhood in the Bronx, by pushing the Cross Bronx Expressway straight through people’s homes. In Robert Caro’s famous biography The Power Broker, the story is presented as one of the clearest examples of Moses’ unchecked power: a highway route that could have been moved, but wasn’t. But was it really that simple? This documentary tells the story of the Cross Bronx Expressway, East Tremont, Robert Moses, and the historical debate that still surrounds one of New York City’s most controversial urban planning decisions. We look at the classic version from The Power Broker, the fight led by local residents like Lillian Edelstein, and the later argument by historian Ray Bromley that the route, the politics, and the decline of the South Bronx were far more complicated than the legend suggests. This is not a conspiracy story, and not a simple villain story. It is a story about highways, power, public planning, displacement, and what happens when decisions made on a map become the end of someone’s home. Topics covered: Robert Moses, Cross Bronx Expressway, East Tremont, The Power Broker, Robert Caro, Ray Bromley, New York City history, Bronx history, urban renewal, highway construction, urban planning, displacement, and the South Bronx.