Derek Johnson

Everyone knows Robert Moses, but Austin Tobin had about as big an impact on NYC and should be better known. The head of the Port Authority for the 30 years after 1942, he built the World Trade Center, Battery Park City, most of the Lincoln Tunnel, and the Port Authority Bus Terminal. He containerized the ports in NJ and NY. He assumed control of all 3 NYC airports and the PATH subway system. He provided the backing for both the Throgs Neck and Verrazano-Narrows Bridges. When he was PA general counsel, he was perhaps the most important voice in the country defending tax-exempt muni bonds from FDR's efforts in the 30s to end them. The story of Tobin complicates the typical Moses-dominated story of NYC in three ways. 1st, Tobin was a big mass transit fan, supporting subways, creating bus only lanes and so forth, which counters the image that NY government just starved mass transit at the time. 2. Tobin built big but generally got community support. As a former real estate lawyer for the PA, he was careful about eminent domain 3. Most importantly, Tobin won most of his direct battles with Moses, which contradicts the story of Moses's omnipotence. Moses's Triborough Authority was supposed to control the airports but Tobin rallied airline support for the Port Authority. Moses tried to sabotage the bus terminal but Tobin pushed it through. Moses wanted to redirect PA bridge and tunnel funds to his roads but was rebuffed. Thus, there was not 1 but 2 big, unelected bureaucrats who controlled the built environment of NYC in the 20th century, but Tobin if anything was the more successful one.