It's the Brian Larry Show on WNYC.

Good morning again, everyone.

Now we continue our WNYC Centennial series, 100 Years of 100 Things.

It's Thing 22 today.

And it's kind of a two-for-one. A hundred years of 100 things. It's thing 22 today. And it's kind of a two for one. A hundred years of Robert Moses, the iconic urban planner who designed so much of New York's infrastructure

for better and for worse. And 50 years of the power broker, the iconic book about Robert Moses, written by Robert Carrow.

Robert Moses grew up in New Haven and Manhattan.

110 years ago in 1914, he earned a doctorate in political science from Columbia.

He started out in public life as an idealist and a reformer a hundred years ago in 1924,

Governor Al Smith appointed Moses to several positions overseeing parks, including

president of the Long Island State Park Commission. And in that year, 1924, 100 years ago,

Robert Moses conceived of building Jones Beach.

He talked about it in a 1959 interview, I think this is from NBC News,

in a series titled Manufacturing Intellect.

Now, you take a thing like, a project like Jones Beach, for example.

Well, we've been at Jones Beach since 1924.

That's a long time.

The original plan is no different from the present plan.

We've carried out about maybe 70% of it, 75% of it in the course of 35 years. That's how long

it's taken. And it just happens to be our good fortune or luck or whatever you may call it that the

people who originally conceived the idea are still around. They're extant. And maybe a little groggy, but they're still here.

A little groggy, but they're still here. And in a way, that little clip of Robert Moses sets the scene for the larger story.

...