Robert Lawrence Moran

Robert Lawrence Moran (October 3, 1884 – August 19, 1954), was a Bronxite 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.

Early life Moran was born on October 3, 1884, in Manhattan on East Twentieth Street. He was the second of six children born to Eugene (b. 1856) and Delia Moran (formerly Fitzpatrick, b. 1860 in Brooklyn). His father, a native of Greenwich Village, was a member of the New York Parks Police Department, 21st Precinct, where he began as a gatekeeper in 1879, and was subsequently promoted to park-keeper on June 9, 1886, and to roundsman the following year. He retired as a sergeant on pension in March 1912, dying not long afterward during the typhoid epidemic of 1912. After his father's death, the family moved to 1486 St. Lawrence Street in The Bronx. The family later moved to 1565 Leland Avenue in The Bronx, where Moran resided until his death in 1954. and presided over the amending of the New York City Code of Ordinances to allow for the playing of baseball games and showing of movies on Sunday. He made possible the condemnation and acquisition of the principal street-surface railroad companies by New York City and opposed the introduction of "transfer charges" and higher subway fares. He created the Bureau of Steam Heat Supply and established a municipal steam heating plant to supply heat at reasonable prices to the citizens of New York. Moran was also instrumental in approving construction of the 125th Street Bridge in Harlem, the construction of a public boathouse at Central Park, and public bathhouses at Pelham Bay Park and Coney Island.

Golfing at Lake Placid, left to right, Judge John McInery (with sons), Robert L. Moran, Governor Smith, Judge W.F. Haggerty and Senator J.J. Hoey.

He retained the Daylight Saving Law in New York City after it was repealed as a federal measure, amended the code of ordinances relating to prices charged by public carts and cartmen,

In addition, Moran led numerous attempts to dismantle the monopoly in milk production and distribution held by the upstate Co-operative Association of Farmers and Dairymen and advocated for the establishment of a municipal Department of Milk Supply and Distribution to be run by New York City.

1919 Aldermanic election

In 1919, Moran was chosen by Tammany Hall to run as the Democratic candidate to succeed himself as president of the Board of Aldermen in the November election. Kelly was a war hero and recipient of the Distinguished Service Cross and Croix de Guerre. His campaign was supported by the notorious Jeremiah A. O'Leary and a small group of Irish Americans who opposed the League of Nations and advocated recognition of the Irish Republic. Tammany looked with alarm upon Kelly's entrance into the campaign and tried to persuade him to withdraw his candidacy and throw his support behind Moran. When he refused, the Tammany chiefs went to the New York Supreme Court to remove Kelly's name from the ballot, pointing out that 547 of the 3,491 signatories to Kelly's nomination petition had failed to register or otherwise comply with election laws. The Supreme Court agreed and ordered that Kelly's name be stricken from the ballot, a ruling later upheld by the Appellate Division. and Moran left the hospital on October 26, 1919, carrying over 15,000 cards and letters sent to him by friends during his illness. He recovered completely, but the crucial last days of his election campaign against LaGuardia found him confined to a sickbed. and despite the absence of Kelly's name on the ballot, when Election Day arrived, more than 3,500 of Kelly's supporters wrote his name on the ballot.

County Clerk and Bronx County Sheriff A cartoon from "On The Pan". On January 3, 1920, Governor Smith appointed Moran as Clerk of Bronx County to fill the unexpired term of Joseph M. Callahan, who had been elected to the City Court. Governor Smith appointed Moran with the understanding that Moran was to become a candidate for the remaining year of the term as County Clerk at the November 1920 election. In 1921 Moran's supporters had been urging him to seek the Democratic nomination to succeed the ailing Henry Bruckner as Bronx Borough president. When Moran offered himself for re-election to a full term as County Clerk, he was elected by a large majority and was re-elected again in November 1925.

In 1929 Moran was elected sheriff of the Bronx, taking office on January 1, 1930. As sheriff, Moran gained notoriety for refusing to jail members of the National Guard who had been sentenced to serve short prison terms for failing to appear at drill. The jail's lack of accommodations for non-criminal prisoners meant that guardsmen, some just 17 years old, had to be confined with violent felons. Moran argued that "in time of peace and especially now, with distress and unemployment, the military law should not be enforced to extremes" and that no consideration had been given as to whether the boy prisoners were ill, had dependents or might lose their jobs.

Seabury Commission investigations

In January 1932 a civil injunction suit was filed against William J. Flynn, the Bronx Commissioner of Public Works since 1918, alleging that Flynn was using the influence of his office to steer city construction contracts to his political friends. The suit further alleged that Flynn, acting as borough president during the frequent absences of Henry R. Bruckner, manipulated the issuance of construction contracts to establish himself as a "virtual dictator of the building trades in the borough." One such contract was a $100,000 contract on the new Bronx County Municipal Building awarded to United Sand and Gravel, a company owned by Moran, waterfront power broker William J. McCormack (businessman), and former assistant district attorney Edward J. Chapman.

Although the civil suit was ultimately dismissed, the allegations led to a citywide investigation of borough governments by Samuel Seabury, counsel to the Hofstadter Committee.

The Seabury investigation continued for two years and lead to the indictment of Deputy City Clerk James J. McCormick, the arrest of State Senator John A. Hastings, and the eventual resignation of Mayor James Walker.

Bronx Commissioner of Public Works The former Bronx House of Detention. It is currently the site of the Gateway Center at Bronx Terminal Market. 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.

Commissioner Moran addresses the crowd, The Bronx, N.Y. 1943 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.

Later life and death

After his resignation, Moran returned to his previous occupation in real estate. His offices were in the Busher Building, 349 East 149th Street in the Bronx. Moran was an active member in The Bronx Board of Trade as well as The Bronx Catholic Club, The Knights of Columbus, The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and The Bronx Rotary Club, where he was elected president. He also served as a member of the New York State Home Rule Commission, and helped to frame laws establishing home rule for municipalities in New York State.

Moran died in the Westchester Square Hospital on August 18, 1954, at the age of 69 and is buried in Queens, New York. He was survived by his wife and seven children.