The Legacy of Robert Moses
August 14, 2011 at 7:24 PM
Lynch Mechanical was an established Boston based contractor who was anxious to start an office in New York City. After submitting 10 or more bids spanning two years for NYC’s public works, Lynch Mechanical never received so much as a reply. Then, in 1974, Ed Lynch, their president, was notified to attend a meeting with the City of New York regarding a recent project he had just bid. He assumed that the purpose of the meeting was to review his bid and discuss his qualifications.
To his surprise , when he arrived on time at the place established for the meeting, he was led into a conference room where shouting could be heard all the way down the hall. As he walked through the door, Robert Moses was screaming at a general contractor with cuss words that would make a sailor blush. Moses’ face was red with rage as he threatened the general contractor with personal injury and worse for failing to perform according to his mandates. Ed Lynch was shocked to find out that the job Moses was enraged about was the same one he had just bid. The project had already started.
All eyes turned on Ed as he entered the conference room. About 15 strangers were staring at him with faces flushed from the brow beating given by Robert Moses. Now it was Ed Lynch’s turn. Moses motioned for him to come up front and sit down next him at the head of the table. Moses introduced him by saying:
“This is Ed Lynch from Boston. Ed will do the mechanical work on this project for three million ($3,000,000.00)”
As Ed Lynch flinched, then went flush red, Robert Moses leaned over, and in a fatherly way whispered in the ear of the bewildered Boston contractor:
“Son, nobody turns down a three million dollar deal in this city.”
With those words, Ed Lynch just lost $300,000. (His bid was $3,300,000.)
Once again , Moses the terrible, Moses the power broker, Moses the intimidator won his place in the sun. Ed Lynch was too embarrassed to protest.
There was considerable bitterness in Ed Lynch’s voice when I first heard this story. He later confided to me :
“I got my $300,000 back in changes from that SOB, but I’ll never do another job in that city.”
As I look back over a 50 year career starting with Bechtel, I find that this same attitude has infected many firms. My nine years’ experience in NYC with NICO Construction Company, New York City Transit and New York City School Construction Authority has left indelible impressions of similar Robert Moses type management styles.
Sometimes I wonder whether or not this same attitude will ever change. It appears to prevail today in the upper reaches of many organizations.
For the story of NYC contracts and corruption, read the award winning “ The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York” , Robert A. Caro, 1975.