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Article: The New York Approach: Robert Moses, Urban Liberals, and the Development of the Inner City.
- Article from:
- The Public Interest
- Article date:
- January 1, 1993
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1993 The National Affairs, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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NEW YORKERS GREETED the end of the Second World War with two housing demands. The first was for more housing: The previous fourteen years had left a painful shortage, made more acute by the formation of new families by young people who had lived at home before the war. The second demand was for an end to slums.
By slums, New Yorkers meant acres and acres of tenement houses built in the nineteenth century. Many were six stories high, none with elevators. Almost universally they lacked central heating and hot water. Most also lacked toilets; the overwhelming majority were out in the hall. Rooms were smaller than the minimum dimensions established by legal standards ...