Bronx Commissioner of Public Works
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, the construction of a new Bronx House of Detention and the construction of Major Deagan Boulevard, the easterly approach to the Triborough Bridge, in time for the 1939 Worlds Fair. This approach would later be expanded to become the Major Deagan 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 in fact they were engaged in the construction of an antique Belgian courtyard at Flynn’s Lake Mahopac home, using second-hand city paving blocks. A grand jury would later clear everyone involved in the matter of any wrongdoing
Read more about this topic: Robert L. Moran (politician)
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