"The railroad tracks are covered at last," an editorial said.
Not exactly.
The railroad tracks were covered until they reached 125th Street - the beginning of Harlem.
Moses had decided to economize on the section of the West Side Improvement, between 125th and 155th streets, that bordered the city's Negro community, and one of the economies was dispensing with the track covering in that section. Uncovered tracks meant a never-ending clanking, from the couplings of railroad cars, and periodic bawling, from the cows and other animals being transported south to the slaughterhouses, unless the people who lived in the apartments above kept their windows closed. And in the summer, when it was too hot to keep windows closed, uncovered tracks meant not only noise but odors, the stench of animals, and they meant soot and smoke that spread a coat of gritty grime, confined to windowsills in winter, over walls and furniture. Now, thanks to the genius of Robert Moses, the white people who lived along Riverside Drive were freed from these annoyances.
But the black people weren't.
From The Power Broker, Robert Moses and the Fall of New York by Robert A. Caro, referencing the parallel Metro North Hudson Line (thanks, 33 1/3).
(top) Metro-North, emerging @ 96th St and Park Ave, Manhattan
(above) Metro-North, over FDR/Harlem River Drive, to/from Manhattan/Bronx
Free market capitalism -- when rules are fair and fairly enforced -- is inherently Darwinian, not inherently evil. In 'a perfect free market economy,' everyone would have a fair and equal shot at the dream.
But the rules aren't fair: The tax code isn't fair. The entire financial system isn't fair. Policing isn't fair. Justice isn't fair. Health care isn't fair. Education isn't fair. Opportunity isn't fairly available. The game is rigged from start to finish.
Presented here is the simple pairing of zip codes with their adjusted gross incomes (2011 agi's) along two of New York's three Metro-North rail lines. Income inequality is a fact of life, OK, but rarely seen to this extreme, as one insulated trainload of inestimable cumulative wealth after another barrel through communities a fraction of their comparative net worth.
It is neither the claim nor assumption that the staggering wealth ferried by these trains has been amassed by breaking rules (well...) The rules are the problem! As written, these rules -- laws -- funnel wealth to the wealthy, to immoral extremes.
The following, then, is a snapshot of distressingly pervasive, institutionalized economic inequality.
zip agi est pop
High: 06831 $467,709 14,225
Low: 10454 $22,675 38,523
(20.6x $ multiple)
Metro-North Stations (Southbound to Grand Central Station)
Harlem Line New Haven Line
Brewster
zip 10509
agi $80,519
Croton Falls
zip 10519
agi $91,811
Purdys
zip 10578
agi $79,461
Goldens Bridge
zip 10526
agi $113,407
Katonah
zip 10536
agi $221,472
Bedford Hills
zip 10507
agi $151,056
Mount Kisco
zip 10549
agi $175,074
Chappaqua ('ClintonTown')
zip 10514
agi $359,765
Pleasantville Stamford, CT
zip 10570 zip 06902
agi $142,441 agi $80,688
Hawthorne Old Greenwich, CT
zip 10532 zip 06870
agi $82,123 agi $355,983
Mount Pleasant Riverside, CT
zip 10532 (again) zip 06878
agi $82,123 agi $434,402
Valhalla Cos Cob, CT
zip 10595 zip 06807
agi $101,895 agi $184,049
N White Plains Greenwich, CT
zip 10603 zip 06831
agi $73,012 agi $467,709
White Plains Port Chester
zip 10606 zip 10573
agi $67,169 agi $81,775
Hartsdale Rye
zip 10530 zip 10580
agi $104,528 agi $441,584
Scarsdale Harrison
zip 10583 zip 10528
agi $325,439 agi $206,296
Crestwood Mamaroneck
zip 10707 (again) zip 10543
agi $93,755 agi $138,546
Tuckahoe Larchmont
zip 10707 zip 10538
agi $93,755 agi $292,942
Bronxville New Rochelle
zip 10708 zip 10801
agi $211,852 agi $59,575
Fleetwood Pelham
zip 10552 zip 10803
agi $67,663 agi $183,870
Mt Vernon West Mt Vernon East
zip 10550 zip 10550
agi $34,805 agi $34,805
/
Wakefield
zip 10466
agi $34,255
Woodlawn
zip 10467
agi $30,745
Williams Bridge
zip 10466
agi $34,255
Botanical Garden
zip 10458
agi $25,704
Fordham
zip 10453
agi $23,480
Tremont
zip 10457
agi $23,921
Melrose
zip 10454
agi $22,675
Harlem-125th St
zip 10035
agi $36,213
above ground (96th-115th & Park)
zip 10029
agi $43,781
underground (87th-96th & Park)
zip 10128
agi $265,482
underground (80th-87th & Park)
zip 10028
agi $252,750
underground (60th-80th & Park)
zip 10021
agi $381,895
underground (49th-60th & Park)
zip 10022
agi $342,667
Grand Central Terminal
zip 10017
agi $195,708
"If poor people knew how rich rich people are, there would be riots in the streets," Chris Rock with Frank Rich, New York Magazine, 11.30.14
We hope not. But fairness must come. From the voting booth. It's the only thing they fear.
(accompanying soundtrack)