Long Island’s parks were blocked by local barons who controlled the state legislature

Evidence

Given the need, therefore, and the possibility that Long Island could meet it, the thoughts of reformers interested in parks had for years turned first to the Island. Here, they all saw, was the land of the greatest opportunity. … But they also saw, even the most unrealistic of them, that the amount of power with which they had to contend on Long Island was such that efforts to create parks there seemed, even to themselves, foredoomed. … In the past, the governments that created parks had been the governments of the areas in which the parks would be located. The township and village governments on Long Island would never create such parks. Conservationists had begun to talk about “state parks,” but a state park had to be created by a state, and New York State’s Legislature was controlled by the Long Island barons. A dozen proposals by the Good Government organizations for Long Island parks had been introduced in that Legislature; not one had ever made it out of committee. — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 688

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: North Shore barons hoarded land mainly to keep the public physically away — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the…, 659; Long Island’s North Shore robber barons staged parties of legendary extravagance — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the…, 657; Long Island estate barons converted private power into state legal authority to exclude outsiders — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the…, 669 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Park opposition came from wealthy estate owners protecting their private grounds #corroborates (0.95) — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 852
• Landowners’ resistance made large regional parks seem financially and legally impossible #expands (0.90) — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 691