i read some more of the power broker today and I'm going to tell you about it <3
gotta keep it quick though because I'm almost out of battery.
the end of chapter 11 focused on the legal and political fight for the Taylor Estate appropriate - moses had tried to grab this chunk of land on long island but was sued (i guess?) for it because it is Not Legal to just take land like that.
governor al smith does a lot of speeches to drum up public interest in the long island park projects, and it works. people don't really care that moses took the land illegally; if anything, they liked the idea of the government stealing land from the rich to use as public parks.
in large part, this was due to the new york times constantly running stories in favor of smith/moses; the owner of the times at that moment, aldoph s. ochs, was a friend of al smith and a huge fan of public parks. caro describes the times at this point as a "supposedly impartial news column" (caro 197). the journalism really hammers home that the park battle was one of robber barons vs the masses, and they gloss over any issues of illegalities or power trips committed by moses.
despite the good press, and despite the hundreds of letters supporting parks that piled up in the mailboxes of republican senators, the legislature was still unmoved in appropriating funds for moses' park dreams. even after schmoozing with other park commissioners and republican reforms, approximately zero dollars were appropriated to fund the long island park plan.
since there was no money, smith and moses knew they'd face trouble in the upcoming court session because there's no way they'd be able to defend themselves from taking land, illegally, with absolutely zero funds to even pay the person who owned it. they decided to go for outside help for funding; belle moskowitz suggested August Hecksher, a multimillionaire philanthropist: "the two men turned to mrs. moskowitz, who had been sitting quietly in the corner, her head bent over her knitting. 'august hecksher,' she said." Care describes him as "an elf of a man---so short that when he sat on a chair his shoes dangled several inches above the floor" (caro 202).
belle moskowitz was kinda a badass to be honest. i hope we hear more about her.
anyways they get the money they need from hecksher, which is cool, but it doesn't really go over well in court. the first appropriation was illegal anyways, and the money was supposed to come from the legislature, not some random donor. plus, moses completely did not show up to his court dates. and when he did come in later, he straight up lied.
the other thing that was going on at this time was that moses was trying to secure Jones Beach in long island for use of a public park. three townships---hempstead, oyster bay, and babylon---had to approach his plans in order for them to go through. and like two thirds of each town was profoundly against the idea of giving up their land for use of public beaches. he also had no money to buy them, and no money was going to be approved for at least another year. the only thing the publicity from the times really did was encourage more land developers to buy private stretches of jones beach and work on developing property. moses had to act fast if he wanted his public park dreams to come true.
of course, we know that they do because jones beach is a thing that exists now. how it happens, though, i am interested in finding out.
one of the other things I really like about this book is all old, forgotten names that pop up. cool names from this section:
alphonse - the only judge in upstate new york who was in support of parks
iphigene - the daughter of adolph s. ochs.
lastly, words. every time i read this book, I'm learn new words or am reminded of words that I think sound nice. here are this section's selection :
smote
dilatory - slow to act
precipice
somber
serene
raptly
terse
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