With urban areas across the nation facing increasing challenges, some are wondering if the old style of leadership displayed by New York City's legendary public official is required to actually get things done.
"Huge swaths of New Orleans are still devastated a year and a half after Hurricane Katrina. The effort to rebuild the World Trade Center site has sputtered for more than five years. Across the country, projects remain on the drawing board for years while studies, hearings and court cases play out in the bureaucratic equivalent of super-slow-motion.
Does America need another Robert Moses?
Moses, an unelected official who ran a bewildering array of New York public agencies for 44 years, built bridges, expressways, parks, playgrounds and housing developments that continue to define the way people move around and live in the nation's largest urban area. He is commonly reckoned America's greatest builder.
"We can learn from what he did," said Hilary Ballon, a Columbia University architectural historian who is the curator of three popular new exhibits at New York museums that are drawing renewed attention to the staggering scale of Moses' achievements, including the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge across the mouth of New York Harbor and significant roles in the construction of Lincoln Center and the United Nations headquarters. "That's what policymakers ask now: 'How did he get so much done?'"
But if a newfound interest in Moses bespeaks impatience with the seemingly glacial pace at which big infrastructure projects move forward these days, progress came at a high price when Moses was in charge."
FULL STORY: Does urban U.S. need new Moses to lead?

San Diego to Rescind Multi-Unit ADU Rule
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Has President Trump Met His Match?
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Study: London ULEZ Rapidly Cleaning up Air Pollution
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San Jose Mayor Takes Dual Approach to Unsheltered Homeless Population
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Atlanta Changes Beltline Rail Plan
City officials say they are committed to building rail connections, but are nixing a prior plan to extend the streetcar network.

Are Black Mayors Being Pushed Out of Office?
The mayors of New York, St. Louis, and Pittsburgh all stand to lose their seats in the coming weeks. They also all happen to be Black.
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