Big Apple History . Building the Big Apple . City Parks and Playgrounds


	An aerial view of Central Park, circa 1934.

Mayor La Guardia put New York's financial house in order and ensured that a virtual river of federal dollars was flowing into New York City. Now he had most of the resources he needed to re-build the city. But before he could begin, he had to get Robert Moses to agree to join his government. Moses agreed to become a member on certain conditions. He demanded that he be allowed to keep his position as State Parks Commissioner, a post that he had garnered under the governorship of Al Smith. He demanded that he be appointed head of the Triborough Bridge authority. And he further demanded that, as New York City Parks Commissioner (the only post La Guardia originally intended to grant him) he be given complete control over every park in the city. La Guardia agreed to all of Robert Moses' terms.

When Moses took over as City Parks Commissioner, the parks were in complete disrepair. The most dangerously run-down of the city's park system was the Central Park Zoo. The cages were so rotten that city officials were afraid the animals might escape. Rather than invest in repairs, the Tammany government's solution had been to post guards with weapons at the zoo's edge so that, if the animals actually made a break for it, the guards could save the city by shooting them dead.

To renovate the Central Park Zoo, Moses brought together the same team of men he used in Long Island. In all he gave work to 600 previously unemployed architects, relief workers, and triple shifts of construction workers, who labored around the clock. Unveiled at a public ceremony, which was caught on newsreel film, the beauty of the new Central Park Zoo staggered New Yorkers. By May 1934, 1,700 renovation projects -- all the parks in the city -- had been repaired. Moses' park renovations made him incredibly popular with the people of New York. He noted, "As long as you're on the side of parks, you are on the side of the angels. You can't lose."