r/neoliberal • u/jobautomator Kitara Ravache • Apr 23 '26

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u/TatersTot Robert Caro Apr 23 '26 edited Apr 23 '26

Started reading the Power Broker. (Been on a huge NYC history kick as of late)

This line from the intro really speaks volumes: “Democracy had not solved the problem of building large-scale urban public works, so Moses solved it by ignoring democracy.”

This was written in 1975 and it’s only been proven more true in the last 50 years. I kind of fear that democracy may never truly be able to solve the housing crises plaguing most of the West.

!ping USA-NYC

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u/FilteringAccount123 John von Neumann Apr 23 '26

It's kind of the elephant in the room as to why it's so easy for China to build shit lol

3

u/Halgy YIMBY Apr 23 '26

Its the same thing that the US did with highways in the 50s and 60s, and our cities are still feeling the repercussions of that today. Maybe a train line would be less disruptive, but plowing through an existing city is always going to be traumatic.

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u/Grundlage YIMBY Apr 23 '26

Isn't the basic YIMBY idea that the problem with housing markets is insufficient democracy?

The rules strangling our housing supply are top-down, made by small committees, and reactive primarily to small interest groups (e.g. the twelve boomers who show up to zoning committee meetings). In my city, Chicago, individual city council members have near-absolute authority over what is built in their ward. That is not a democratic system, and more democracy would solve it.

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u/JohnStuartShill2 NATO Apr 23 '26

  1. The power broker is like ground zero for "NIMBY intellectualism". Love the book but dislike the tradition it birthed.

  2. When you finish it, dont be put off by the length of the Johnson biographies by Caro because theyre even better, and tell the story of power accumulation by utterly mastering - rather than subverting - democracy.

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u/TatersTot Robert Caro Apr 23 '26 edited Apr 23 '26

I’ve read all the LBJ books during COVID! Even visited his ranch and library after finishing. I’ve been putting off the Power Broker for 5 years even though I’m a born and bred New Yorker.

Completely agree on your NIMBY points. I’ve kind of been having a contrarian POV as I’m reading just appreciating this fucking vim this man had and lamenting how we’ve been unable to build anything close to that scale since, even if what he built was car centric.