page_title: Robert L. Moran
section_title: Bronx Commissioner of Public Works
hierarchical_section_title: Robert L. Moran / Bronx Commissioner of Public Works
caption_attribution_description: English: RLM Speaking to the crowd 1943
context_page_description: Robert Lawrence Moran, was a Bronx politician who served as President of the Board of Aldermen of New York City from 1918 to 1920, filling a vacancy after Alfred E. Smith was elected Governor of New York. Nominated by the Democratic Party to succeed himself as board president, Moran faced Republican Representative Fiorello H. La Guardia in the election of 1919, losing by a plurality of 1,363 votes. Moran has the distinction of being the only citizen of The Bronx to ever exercise the authority of mayor of New York City, even though this honor came to him only in his capacity as acting mayor during Mayor Hylan's absences from the city.
context_section_description: Moran was named Bronx Commissioner of Public Works by Borough President James J. Lyons on December 31, 1933. As commissioner, Moran was instrumental in the dredging and straightening of the Hutchinson River, and the construction of a new Bronx House of Detention, and the easterly approach to the Triborough Bridge in time for the 1939 World's Fair. This approach was later expanded to become the Major Deegan Expressway.
  Moran retired from his position as commissioner in May 1942, under fire from District Attorney Samuel J. Foley in the Edward J. Flynn paving job investigation. Flynn, the Democratic National Chairman and Bronx party leader, had been nominated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to be ambassador to Australia. An investigation into his affairs revealed that timesheets of three employees of the Bronx Bureau of Sewer and Highway Maintenance had been altered to convey the impression that they were on "vacation" when they had been engaged in the construction of an antique Belgian courtyard at Flynn's Lake Mahopac home, using second-hand city paving blocks. A grand jury later cleared everyone involved in the matter of any wrongdoing.
caption: Commissioner Moran addresses the crowd, The Bronx, N.Y. 1943
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