Seven years ago, Brooklyn Paper house ad touted "the most complete and honest coverage" of Atlantic Yards and "changing face of Brooklyn"

From a house ad in the 3/20/04 Brooklyn Papers (now the Brooklyn Paper):

2 massive Urban Renewal projects would change the face of Downtown Brooklyn forever — turning both quaint and gritty neighborhoods into high-trafficked walled communities, and massively impacting life in the surrounding residential neighborhoods.

The proposed Nets arena is just a small part of the master plan, the most expensive Urban Renewal and property condemnation in Brooklyn’s history.

Only The Brooklyn Papers has asked: Is this the Manhattanization of Brooklyn ... or the “depeopling” suburbanization of our streets?

Are these projects good for Brooklyn?

YOU'LL FIND THE MOST COMPLETE AND HONEST COVERAGE OF THE CHANGING FACE OF BROOKLYN ONLY IN THE BrooklynPapers.

Looking back

In retrospect, I'm not sure the question was Manhattanization vs. suburbanization, though it's more the former.

Rather, it's whether the public sector would prove to be a tenacious defender of the public interest, or whether the project would be steered by the developer, with cheerleaders like Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz bending over backwards to help.

The Brooklyn Paper did an aggressive job covering Atlantic Yards, though that's diminished since the newspaper was bought by Rupert Murdoch in 2009.