I often see myself as progressive in the model of Robert Moses. I view cities as places on a map, that can be redrawn by a pencil to meet modern man’s needs — be it provide recreation, transportation  or housing needs. Progressives can’t be tied to past, they can’t get hung up on saving one historic building in removing a blighted 100 blocks to build a great new public space that will serve the needs of modern man.

There was a time when every city had a planner, who wasn’t afraid to redraw the city, or build monumental public spaces. Who wasn’t afraid to remove substandard housing in favor of something more modern. To create new green spaces and parks for children to play in. To build modern universities, where all New Yorkers could go to for free or very litle money. A time when people weren’t afraid to build or dream big.

In the recent debates over gun violence, almost nobody has called for urban renewal as the solution. Yet, if we are going to serious about our urban problems we got to think big. We got to build cities where people have access to public transit and modern transportation systems to get around. We have to get rid of blighted neighborhoods and blighted housing, and break up clusters of poverty.

Many nowadays view urban renewal as unnecessarily brutal and destroying of ethnic communities. But do we want any more children to live in blighted neighborhoods, surrounded by urban violence?

Where would be today without the progress made through urban renewal? Not all projects were successful, and many were badly designed, but we have a moral obligation to help shatter the cycle of poverty, and if it means bulldozing a few crime infested neighborhoods, then so be it.