There were three major players in what was the most transformative periods in the shaping of New York City. Franklin Roosevelt in Washington who allocated what became $1.5 billion funding for municipal welfare and public works projects.  Fiorello La Guardia, NY's 99th Mayor who provided the reformist vision, and his commissioner, Robert Moses, who implemented the projects.

Between the three of them they managed to get the West Side Highway, East River Drive, Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, Triborough Bridge, LaGuardia Airport, and Floyd Bennett Field, in addition to public pools, parks and artwork built.  This consisted of approx 20% of the entire US infrastructure budget from the New Deal programs.