Word: triborough
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ROBERT MOSES dominated New York City like no man before him. Though never elected to any public office. Moses converted his many appointed posts--most important among them the chairmanship of the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority--into control of every major construction project in the city from the late 1920's to the early 1970s. He built highways, bridges, parks, housing, and a vast array of public edifices among them Lincoln Center, the United Nations. Shea Stadium, and Co-op City...
...which would allow him the freedom he wanted. Called a public authority, it was based on a simple idea. Because the government could not always afford the huge expenditures necessary to build major construction projects like bridges and highways. Moses set up quasi-public corporations--beginning with the Triborough Bridge Authority--which would sell bonds, build the projects with the funds, and pay the investors back with revenue from tolls. A mayor might select the members of the authority's board of directors, but once the bonds were sold the government could not interfere with construction because of the sanctity...
...quit cold turkey is cold turkey." She notes how hard it is for parents to write newsy letters to their mature offspring: "It's too bad that the kid isn't interested in your bronchitis or the fact that the Chevy broke down on the Triborough Bridge and had to be towed home...
...Quick Profit. What gave Moses even more power was the fact that the city was going broke. Because Triborough had money-an endless stream of toll receipts-the authority could float new bonds and become New York's big builder. Powerful men came as suppliants to Moses. Leaders of the building trades unions wanted jobs-thousands of jobs. Moses could provide them...
Bankers wanted to invest in Triborough's low-risk bonds or underwrite new bond issues for a quick profit. Moses could help. He could grant premiums to insurance companies, contracts to architects and builders, fees to lawyers. But in return he wanted total support, and he exacted it from all his petitioners...