Brooklyn journalist Norman Oder, a veteran newspaper reporter and magazine editor, has covered Atlantic Yards (dubiously renamed Pacific Park in August 2014) since 2005 in his watchdog blog and as a freelancer, and followed it since its December 2003 announcement. In December 2023, upon the 20th anniversary of the project's launch, he added the Learning from Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park newsletter on Substack.
He has contributed essays and reporting to the New York Times, Salon, City Limits, City & State NY, Gotham Gazette, and other publications. He's appeared on the NewsHour (PBS) and been praised by Malcolm Gladwell for "brilliantly obsessive coverage." He has a Master of Studies in Law degree from Yale Law School.
Contact me: AtlanticYardsReport(at)hotmail.com. The blog is published multiple times a week; subscribe by clicking the three parallel bars at the top right. Also subscribe to my Substack newsletter, Learning from Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park, which is published at least weekly.
I'm available for interviews but...
I prefer 1) specific questions and 2) that anyone querying me has tried to search the blog, checked the main FAQ/image page, skimmed the newsletter, and looked at the Culture of Cheating overview page.
Tips for students: How Not to Be A Networking Leech.
Why those policies? I'm an unpaid volunteer, not someone with a salary supporting the time it takes to respond.
He is "the only reporter to continue to follow the events of this project closely," as sports business reporter John Brennan wrote 9/24/14. Still true.
Contact
Contact me: AtlanticYardsReport(at)hotmail.com. The blog is published multiple times a week; subscribe by clicking the three parallel bars at the top right. Also subscribe to my Substack newsletter, Learning from Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park, which is published at least weekly.
I'm available for interviews but...
I prefer 1) specific questions and 2) that anyone querying me has tried to search the blog, checked the main FAQ/image page, skimmed the newsletter, and looked at the Culture of Cheating overview page.
Tips for students: How Not to Be A Networking Leech.
Why those policies? I'm an unpaid volunteer, not someone with a salary supporting the time it takes to respond.
Yes, I'm available for speaking engagements, guest teaching, and even a virtual "webinar" regarding Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park.
I typically lead an annual free walking tour of Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park on the first Friday of May, as part of the Jane's Walk weekend, in honor of the urbanist Jane Jacobs. I also offer tours for groups and classes, for a fee.
Accountability journalism
I discuss watchdog journalism further below, but first point to Dan Froomkin's observation in Nieman Reports:
So I've broken some significant stories over the years, by paying attention, digging, and seeking accountability. Among them: the rigged process for finding blight; problems with modular construction; how affordable housing is wrangled; the anatomy of a shady EB-5 deal; what might be coming to Site 5; the real math of a housing lottery.
My background
I've been a journalist for 35-plus years--as a daily reporter, and later as a freelancer for publications from The American Lawyer to Columbia Journalism Review to the Village Voice. I still freelance. From 1996 through 2010, I worked at the trade magazine Library Journal, unrelated to this project. My final position was Executive Editor, News.
I decided to leave Library Journal to work on a book about Atlantic Yards, while continuing the blog, freelancing, and working as a tour guide. Yes, the book is slowly getting closer to completion. But the story is complex.
Before I began Atlantic Yards coverage, I won a Silver Gavel Award (while at the Charleston Gazette, WV) from the American Bar Association. I also won a year-long fellowship for journalists at Yale Law School, where I earned a Master of Studies in Law, or MSL.
Praise from observers/interviews
My Atlantic Yards awards are described further below, but my work has been praised by:
In April 2009, this blog was cited in a debate between pundits Paul Starr and Steven Johnson about the future of news.
I've been interviewed twice by the New York Observer, on 2/7/07 and 9/21/10. I was interviewed by Metro on 8/20/07.
In the New York Observer, Matthew Schuerman wrote 9/5/07, "Journalist Norman Oder... has repeatedly questioned Forest City’s ability to complete all phases of the work by 2016." (I was right.)
The New York Post's Rich Calder wrote 12/14/09, "In fact, one blogger, Norman Oder, has reported the subject to death over the past four years through his Atlantic Yards Report site, pissing off developer Bruce Ratner and the state and exposing various funding anomalies that have been picked up by the major media."
New York Magazine's Chris Smith wrote 12/7/10 about my EB-5 coverage: "Norman Oder recently began his sixth year of reporting on the Atlantic Yards saga at his website, Atlantic Yards Report, and his best work may have just begun."
On 9/6/12, I was interviewed by MetroFocus (WNET/WLIW): The Beat Goes On: Q&A With Atlantic Yards Watchdog Journalist Norman Oder.
In the 9/23/12 issue of New York magazine, Haunts, Mark Jacobson, observed that the Atlantic Yards saga "has been detailed in many places, most trenchantly in Norman Oder’s singularly obsessive website, Atlantic Yards Report."
In the 10/2/12 New York Observer, Kevin Baker cited "Norman Oder’s meticulously researched website, Atlantic Yards Report, a sterling example of civic service."
In the 9/2/15 TreeHugger, Lloyd Alter wrote, "Norman Oder has done just an amazing, almost obsessive job covering this story."
TV/radio/podcast/lecture appearances
I was a guest on the TV show Brian Lehrer Live in May 2006, October 2007, and June 2009.
On 9/5/12, I was interviewed (second hour) on the WBAI Talk Back! show. (The link is dead.)
On 1/7/15, I appeared on BK Live, Brooklyn Independent Television, talking about gentrification and affordable housing.
On 12/8/15, I was interviewed by the PBS NewsHour about Atlantic Yards and EB-5 immigrant investor program: Should Congress rein in this controversial visa program?
On 4/14/16, I was interviewed on the WBAI morning show.
On 4/22/16, I appeared with New York Daily News Sports I-Team reporter Michael O'Keeffe on a New York Daily News Sports podcast, talking about the impacts of the Barclays Center and project.
On 4/20/17, I was interviewed on the WBAI morning show.
On 6/15/17, part of my December 2015 interview with the PBS NewsHour was used in an update about the EB-5 immigrant investor program: Kushner family’s real estate dealings land foreign-investor visa back in the spotlight.
On 10/4/17, I led a discussion, Learning from Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park, at CUNY's Center for the Humanities.
Freelance articles on Atlantic Yards and Brooklyn
In July 2006, I began writing regularly for the weekly Brooklyn Downtown Star; my last piece was in 2008.
June 2008: Atlantic Yards: This Generation's Penn Station? for Places Journal.
The Spring 2010 issue of the Urban Lawyer, a law journal devoted to urban issues, includes an article I co-authored, with Amy Lavine, Urban Redevelopment Policy, Judicial Deference to Unaccountable Agencies, and Reality in Brooklyn’s Atlantic Yards Project.
6/22/10: An op-ed in the New York Times Sports section headlined A Russian Billionaire, the Nets and Sweetheart Deals.
9/30/10: An op-ed in the New York Observer headlined KPMG's Fuzzy Math on Atlantic Yards.
10/11/10: An article for Huffington Post: Green Cards for Sale? Atlantic Yards Backers Seek Chinese Investors.
11/10/10: An article for Huffington Post: Atlantic Yards: Judge Slams State Development Agency for “Failure of Transparency”.
12/8/10: An article for Huffington Post: Anatomy of a Green Card Pitch: In China, Atlantic Yards Backers Rely on the Distraction of Basketball.
12/27/10: An article for Huffington Post: Reuters Nails Promoters of Green Cards for Investments as Liars, Gets Dubious Excuses on Brooklyn Arena.
1/21/11: A New York Times "Complaint Box" essay headlined Powerless in Brooklyn.
3/6/11: A Park Slope Patch review/interview, headlined How Brownstone Brooklyn Emerged.
3/7/11: An article for Huffington Post: Brooklyn BP Markowitz’s Atlantic Yards Falsehood (Video).
3/18/11: A Columbia Journalism Review online essay headlined A Sports Myth Grows in Brooklyn.
6/3/11: A Dissent review of the film Battle for Brooklyn, headlined The Epic Battle Over Atlantic Yards.
6/15/11: An article for Huffington Post: Battle for Brooklyn Recasts the Atlantic Yards Narrative
07/18/11: An article for Huffington Post: Atlantic Yards Twist: Judge Agrees State Agency Catered To Developer Forest City Ratner
8/1/11: An article for Urban Omnibus on Atlantic Yards Watch: Tracking Daily Impacts.
09/27/11: An article for Huffington Post: Beyond the Hype of Jay-Z’s Brooklyn Nets Announcement.
10/24/11: An article for City Limits, The Unfulfilled Promises of Atlantic Yards.
I typically lead an annual free walking tour of Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park on the first Friday of May, as part of the Jane's Walk weekend, in honor of the urbanist Jane Jacobs. I also offer tours for groups and classes, for a fee.
Accountability journalism
I discuss watchdog journalism further below, but first point to Dan Froomkin's observation in Nieman Reports:
To many people, watchdog reporting is synonymous with investigative reporting, specifically, ferreting out secrets. But there’s another, maybe even more crucial form of watchdog reporting, especially in this age of relentless public relations and spin. It involves reporting what may well be in plain sight, contrasting that with what officials in government and other positions of power say, rebuffing and rebutting misinformation, and sometimes even taking a position on what the facts suggest is the right solution.Jay Rosen of PressThink writes of the journalist's job: "Try to hold powerful figures accountable for what they do and say.... Equip the users of news to participate in their own democracy."
So I've broken some significant stories over the years, by paying attention, digging, and seeking accountability. Among them: the rigged process for finding blight; problems with modular construction; how affordable housing is wrangled; the anatomy of a shady EB-5 deal; what might be coming to Site 5; the real math of a housing lottery.
My background
I've been a journalist for 35-plus years--as a daily reporter, and later as a freelancer for publications from The American Lawyer to Columbia Journalism Review to the Village Voice. I still freelance. From 1996 through 2010, I worked at the trade magazine Library Journal, unrelated to this project. My final position was Executive Editor, News.
I decided to leave Library Journal to work on a book about Atlantic Yards, while continuing the blog, freelancing, and working as a tour guide. Yes, the book is slowly getting closer to completion. But the story is complex.
Before I began Atlantic Yards coverage, I won a Silver Gavel Award (while at the Charleston Gazette, WV) from the American Bar Association. I also won a year-long fellowship for journalists at Yale Law School, where I earned a Master of Studies in Law, or MSL.
Praise from observers/interviews
My Atlantic Yards awards are described further below, but my work has been praised by:
- Chris Smith in New York Magazine: "a skeptic in the tradition of I.F. Stone"
- The Brooklyn Paper "Call him a blogger or a journalist, but no one did better shoe-leather reporting than Oder did"
- David Smith of the Affordable Housing Institute: "Give this man a Pulitzer"
- journalist Tim Sohn: "one of the finest pieces of local journalism on the internet"
- Malcolm Gladwell in Grantland: "brilliantly obsessive coverage"
- Brian Berger of Who Walk In Brooklyn: "the Quincy of this developmental malfeasance mess"
- Matt Chaban in the New York Observer: "incomparable Atlantic Yards watchdog"
- journalist Colin Brayton: "simply one of the best one-note samba public policy blogs I know of"
- Brokelyn: "Local pain-in-the-ass (and we mean that with tons of respect)"
- TreeHugger's Lloyd Alter: "Norman Oder has done an extraordinary job of covering this [modular construction] story"
(Then again, pundit and now NY1 anchor Errol Louis dubbed me the "Mad Overkiller.")
 |
| Malcolm Gladwell in Grantland |
I've been interviewed twice by the New York Observer, on 2/7/07 and 9/21/10. I was interviewed by Metro on 8/20/07.
In the New York Observer, Matthew Schuerman wrote 9/5/07, "Journalist Norman Oder... has repeatedly questioned Forest City’s ability to complete all phases of the work by 2016." (I was right.)
The New York Post's Rich Calder wrote 12/14/09, "In fact, one blogger, Norman Oder, has reported the subject to death over the past four years through his Atlantic Yards Report site, pissing off developer Bruce Ratner and the state and exposing various funding anomalies that have been picked up by the major media."
New York Magazine's Chris Smith wrote 12/7/10 about my EB-5 coverage: "Norman Oder recently began his sixth year of reporting on the Atlantic Yards saga at his website, Atlantic Yards Report, and his best work may have just begun."
On 9/6/12, I was interviewed by MetroFocus (WNET/WLIW): The Beat Goes On: Q&A With Atlantic Yards Watchdog Journalist Norman Oder.
In the 9/23/12 issue of New York magazine, Haunts, Mark Jacobson, observed that the Atlantic Yards saga "has been detailed in many places, most trenchantly in Norman Oder’s singularly obsessive website, Atlantic Yards Report."
In the 10/2/12 New York Observer, Kevin Baker cited "Norman Oder’s meticulously researched website, Atlantic Yards Report, a sterling example of civic service."
In the 9/2/15 TreeHugger, Lloyd Alter wrote, "Norman Oder has done just an amazing, almost obsessive job covering this story."
TV/radio/podcast/lecture appearances
I was a guest on the TV show Brian Lehrer Live in May 2006, October 2007, and June 2009.
On 9/5/12, I was interviewed (second hour) on the WBAI Talk Back! show. (The link is dead.)
On 1/7/15, I appeared on BK Live, Brooklyn Independent Television, talking about gentrification and affordable housing.
On 12/8/15, I was interviewed by the PBS NewsHour about Atlantic Yards and EB-5 immigrant investor program: Should Congress rein in this controversial visa program?
On 4/14/16, I was interviewed on the WBAI morning show.
On 4/22/16, I appeared with New York Daily News Sports I-Team reporter Michael O'Keeffe on a New York Daily News Sports podcast, talking about the impacts of the Barclays Center and project.
On 4/20/17, I was interviewed on the WBAI morning show.
On 6/15/17, part of my December 2015 interview with the PBS NewsHour was used in an update about the EB-5 immigrant investor program: Kushner family’s real estate dealings land foreign-investor visa back in the spotlight.
On 10/4/17, I led a discussion, Learning from Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park, at CUNY's Center for the Humanities.
Freelance articles on Atlantic Yards and Brooklyn
In July 2006, I began writing regularly for the weekly Brooklyn Downtown Star; my last piece was in 2008.
June 2008: Atlantic Yards: This Generation's Penn Station? for Places Journal.
The Spring 2010 issue of the Urban Lawyer, a law journal devoted to urban issues, includes an article I co-authored, with Amy Lavine, Urban Redevelopment Policy, Judicial Deference to Unaccountable Agencies, and Reality in Brooklyn’s Atlantic Yards Project.
6/22/10: An op-ed in the New York Times Sports section headlined A Russian Billionaire, the Nets and Sweetheart Deals.
9/30/10: An op-ed in the New York Observer headlined KPMG's Fuzzy Math on Atlantic Yards.
10/11/10: An article for Huffington Post: Green Cards for Sale? Atlantic Yards Backers Seek Chinese Investors.
11/10/10: An article for Huffington Post: Atlantic Yards: Judge Slams State Development Agency for “Failure of Transparency”.
12/8/10: An article for Huffington Post: Anatomy of a Green Card Pitch: In China, Atlantic Yards Backers Rely on the Distraction of Basketball.
12/27/10: An article for Huffington Post: Reuters Nails Promoters of Green Cards for Investments as Liars, Gets Dubious Excuses on Brooklyn Arena.
1/21/11: A New York Times "Complaint Box" essay headlined Powerless in Brooklyn.
3/6/11: A Park Slope Patch review/interview, headlined How Brownstone Brooklyn Emerged.
3/7/11: An article for Huffington Post: Brooklyn BP Markowitz’s Atlantic Yards Falsehood (Video).
3/18/11: A Columbia Journalism Review online essay headlined A Sports Myth Grows in Brooklyn.
6/3/11: A Dissent review of the film Battle for Brooklyn, headlined The Epic Battle Over Atlantic Yards.
6/15/11: An article for Huffington Post: Battle for Brooklyn Recasts the Atlantic Yards Narrative
07/18/11: An article for Huffington Post: Atlantic Yards Twist: Judge Agrees State Agency Catered To Developer Forest City Ratner
8/1/11: An article for Urban Omnibus on Atlantic Yards Watch: Tracking Daily Impacts.
09/27/11: An article for Huffington Post: Beyond the Hype of Jay-Z’s Brooklyn Nets Announcement.
10/24/11: An article for City Limits, The Unfulfilled Promises of Atlantic Yards.
10/25/11: An article for Salon, Jay-Z's hip-hop of distraction.
3/1/12: An article for New York Magazine's Daily Intel, Yonkers Corruption Trial Puts Forest City Ratner in the Spotlight.
3/19/12: An article for New York Magazine's Grub Street, Brooklyn Arena Will Sell ‘Brooklynized’ Water, Formulated (and Facing Legal Scrutiny) in Florida.
3/22/12: An article for New York Magazine's Daily Intel, At Yonkers Corruption Trial, the ‘Sugar Daddy’ Defense.
3/29/12: An article for New York Magazine's Daily Intel, Yonkers Politicians Guilty of Corruption Over Forest City Ratner Project.
4/4/12: An article for Streetsblog, Barclays Center Mysteries: Three Big Unknowns About Arena Transportation.
4/12/12: An article for New York Magazine's Daily Intel, Appellate Court Rebukes State Agency for Backing Atlantic Yards.
4/26/12: An article for New York Magazine's Daily Intel, Bloomberg Promises 2,000 Jobs at the Barclays Center, Sort Of.
5/7/12: An article for The Classical, Why the NBA Loves the Brooklyn Nets (and Why Bruce Ratner's Now Talking Up Hockey).
6/8/12: An article for Atlantic Cities, Fears of a Tight Fit for Brooklyn's Arena.
6/18/12: An article for City & State/NY: The "Volunteer" V.P. (about state Sen. John Sampson & EB-5)
8/8/12: An article for Urban Omnibus on Lifespan of a (Brooklyn) Fact: Can One in Seven Americans Trace Roots to Brooklyn?
8/26/12: An article for City Limits' Brooklyn Bureau, Agency, Developer Wrestle Over Atlantic Yards Affordability.
10/1/12: An article for Atlantic Cities, Why Reviewing Brooklyn's New Arena Before It Opened Was Premature.
11/12: An article for The Brooklyn Rail, A Brand Called Brooklyn, on the use of "Brooklyn" to sell the arena and team. (Republished in 2015 in the Brazilian journal AntropolÃtica as Uma marca chamada Brooklyn.)
11/6/12: An essay for City Journal, The Barclays Center's Media Enabler, on the New York Times's erratic, inadequate coverage. (And more here.)
12/6/12: An article for City Limits' Brooklyn Bureau, Are Brooklyn Nets' Promised Cheap Seats for Sale?
12/14/12: An essay for Reuters Opinion, Brooklyn's Vaunted, Tainted Barclays Center.
4/3/13: An article for City Limits' Brooklyn Bureau Former Gadfly Cop Nears Coronation as Brooklyn Borough President.
4/9/13: An article for City Limits' Brooklyn Bureau, For Next Brooklyn Borough President, What's the Agenda?
4/22/13: An article for Library Journal, For Brooklyn PL, Planned Sale of Branches Promises Opportunity, Provokes Concern.
5/8/13: An article for New York Magazine's Daily Intel, Barclays Center Has a Big Noise Problem.
6/7/13: An article for City Limits' Brooklyn Bureau, City Downplays Ratner's Role in Carousel Recovery.
7/29/13: An article for Boog City, The Barclays Center Emerges, Overshadowing Atlantic Yards Skepticism.
8/2/13: An article for City Limits' Brooklyn Bureau, Real-Estate Lobby Dives into Central Brooklyn Council Race.
9/11/13: An article for Moyers.com, In Brooklyn, Buzz, Hype and Distraction.
Fall 2013: An article for Progressive Planning: Construction Unions, After Years of Support for Atlantic Yards Megaproject, Finally Face Squeeze.
10/3/13: An article for the Brooklyn Rail, Barclays Center: Brooklyn’s “Community Arena”?
10/14/13: An article for City Limits' Brooklyn Bureau, Forest City Ratner Again Gets Extension from MTA.
10/31/13: An article for the Commercial Observer, Near Barclays Center, the Rave that Wasn’t (But Might Be).
11/4/13: An article for the Brooklyn Rail, Will James Challenge De Blasio on Atlantic Yards?
11/26/13: An article for the Commercial Observer, State to Pay $300,000 to Lawyers Who Won Atlantic Yards Timetable Case.
3/25/14: An article for City Limits' Brooklyn Bureau, Plan for Community Use of Barclays Center Emerges.
7/3/14: An article for City Limits' Brooklyn Bureau, Behind Atlantic Yards Housing Deal, Some Big Shifts.
8/21/14: An article for BKLYNR, When ‘Affordable’ Rents Push $3,000.
8/26/14: An article for Next City, After 11 Years of Controversy, Atlantic Yards Becomes Pacific Park Brooklyn.
1/21/15: An online op-ed for the New York Times, Holding the Democratic Convention in Brooklyn? Fuhgeddaboudit.
5/22/15: An op-ed in Newsday, Nassau must be wary about plans for Coliseum.
8/31/15: An article for City Limits, Documents Reveal Woes at Pioneering Atlantic Yards Building.
9/24/15: An op-ed in City & State, When Barclays Admitted a Felony, It Should Have Lost the Brooklyn Arena.
12/15/15: An op-ed for PBS's MakingSen$e site, Column: What’s really at stake in the EB-5 investor visa overhaul: honesty.
3/1/16: An op-ed in City Limits, Distorting Downtown Brooklyn's Past Can Only Obscure Its Future.
5/4/16: An essay in Gotham Gazette, James Takes Softer Stance on Atlantic Yards.
7/11/16: An article for City Limits, Fuzzy Plans for New Towers at Key Pacific Park Site
7/30/16: An essay in New York Slant/City & State: Why de Blasio's Probably Glad the DNC Didn't Come to Brooklyn.
2/22/17: An essay for TreeHugger: The World's Tallest Modular Building and the Phantom 20 Percent Savings.
3/20/17: An essay for City Limits: Emerging Kushner Deal Suggests What’s Wrong With U.S. Investor Visa Program.
4/19/17: An article for City Limits: The Real Math of An Affordable Housing Lottery: Huge Disconnect Between Need and Allotment.
5/8/17: An essay for City & State/NY: The Kushner Family and EB-5 Investor Visas: It's Worse Than Nepotism.
5/24/17: An essay for City & State/NY: How Jersey City Unemployment Was Gerrymandered to Help Kushner Pitch Investor Visas.
6/21/17: An essay for City & State/NY: Media Critic de Blasio Should Cop to How He Steers Coverage.
6/22/17: An essay in Gotham Gazette: Pacific Park Developer's Deceptive Affordable Housing Spin.
10/23/17: An article for City Limits: With 421-a Maneuver, Pacific Park Developer Could Save Buyers $50 Million More in Taxes.
10/25/17: An essay in Gotham Gazette, In New Books on Bloomberg and de Blasio, Unreliable Atlantic Yards History.
11/16/17: An essay for City & State/NY: Simplistic Math Mangles the Odds of Affordable Housing Lotteries.
12/5/17: A news analysis for The Bridge: The Uneasy Future of Islanders Hockey in Brooklyn.
12/20/17: An article for The Bridge: The Islanders Say Bye to Brooklyn, But Where Next?
12/30/17: A news analysis for The Bridge: How Fixing an Overstressed Region Could Change Brooklyn.
1/2/18: An essay for Shelterforce: Oft-Quoted Studies Saying Gentrification Doesn’t Cause Displacement Are “Glaringly Stale”.
1/13/18: An article for The Bridge: Real Estate Titan MaryAnne Gilmartin Starts a New Firm.
2/8/18: An essay in Gotham Gazette: The real value of New York Islanders’ Belmont deal? Cuomo administration won’t say.
3/1/18: An article for The Bridge: As Brooklyn Towers Reach for the Sky, How Big Is Too Big?
3/20/18: An article for The Bridge: Forest City in Brooklyn: a Real Estate Pioneer on the Way Out?
4/10/18: An article for The Bridge: Inside the Battle over the Megaproject at 80 Flatbush.
4/19/18: An op-ed in City & State: No, Mikhail Prokhorov doesn't 'own' the Barclays Center.
5/10/18: An article for The Bridge: The Plan for 80 Flatbush Hits a Bump. What Happens Next?
5/29/18: An article for City Limits: De Blasio Emails Shed Light on how ‘Affordable Housing’ is Packaged for the Press.
6/13/18: An article for The Bridge: How a Huge New Project Will Change the Face of Dumbo.
6/13/18: An article for CityLab: The Costs Behind Hockey’s Return to Long Island.
6/19/18: An article for The Bridge: How the Borough President Is Essentially Backing 80 Flatbush.
8/15/18: An op-ed in City & State: Eric Adams has faced less scrutiny than he deserves.
8/20/18: An essay in Gotham Gazette: Running for Attorney General, James Takes Strong Atlantic Yards Record Too Far.
8/20/18: An article for The Bridge: Developer Admits Pacific Park Project Will Take Until 2035.
9/4/18: An article for City Limits: Leecia Eve: From Public Service to the Private Sector, and Back?
9/4/18: An article for The Bridge: Down to the Wire: What’s the Compromise on 80 Flatbush?
9/21/18: An article for The Bridge: A Little off the Top: 80 Flatbush Gets Shorter and Slimmer.
10/1/18: An article for The Bridge: Million Dollar Charade? Behind a Reality TV Show in Brooklyn.
11/15/18: An essay for the Brooklyn Eagle: For Amazon HQ2 deal, Atlantic Yards serves as a warning.
12/1/18: An article for The Bridge: In a Buyer’s Market for Condos, a Brooklyn ‘Flash Sale’ Is Telling.
12/11/18: An essay in Gotham Gazette: The Fuzzy Fine Print of Amazon’s Queens Real Estate Deal.
12/11/18: An article for The Bridge: Amazon in Brooklyn: Why the Bid Didn’t Quite Measure Up.
1/17/19: An article for The Bridge: Lessons of Rezoning: When It Doesn’t Work Out as Planned.
1/22/19: An op-ed for the Daily News: The billion-dollar Belmont bad bet: A new arena will compete with Nassau's county-owned Coliseum (+ more in blog).
1/28/19: An essay for Gotham Gazette: In Amazon Debate, Atlantic Yards Lessons Beyond Those Aired at First City Council Hearing.
4/3/19: An article for City Limits: Ever-Shifting Pacific Park Plan Highlights Uncertainty of Big Development Schemes.
6/4/19: An article for the Brooklyn Eagle: Brooklyn lawmakers seek Pacific Park affordable housing schedule.
7/9/19: An essay for the Brooklyn Eagle: When developers call upzoning a public benefit, check their bottom line.
7/21/19: An article for Streetsblog: Another Atlantic Yards Broken Promise: There is No Indoor Bike Parking that Bruce Ratner Vowed to Build.
7/23/19: An essay for Gotham Gazette: Cuomo’s Getting His Belmont Arena, But the Numbers Don’t Add Up.
7/30/19: An article in Bklyner, Coming to 550 Vanderbilt in September: New Cafe Ciao Gloria, from a Founder of Baked.
12/10/19: An essay for City & State, Brooklyn’s Barclays Center is a questionable part of Bloomberg’s legacy.
2/13/20: An op-ed in the Daily News (online), Eric Adams’ gentrification double standard.
3/17/20: An article for The Real Deal, Why nothing ever gets built on this Pacific Park site (plus a blog post amplifying the P.C. Richard issue).
6/4/20: An essay for Bklyner, What if… the Barclays Center Had Been the Jackie Robinson Arena?
6/9/20: An essay for Bklyner, Brooklyn's Accidental New Town Square.
6/19/20: An article for Bklyner, Has Brooklyn Paramount Theatre Renovation Been Permanently Delayed?
7/8/20: An article for Bklyner, How an Angela Davis Quote Wound Up at the Barclays Center Subway Entrance.
7/24/24: An article for City Limits: Despite New Owner’s Promised Upgrades, ‘100% Affordable’ Atlantic Yards Building Endures Hot Water Outages, Broken Door, Even Bees.
In May 2008, the New York Observer named me #77 (!?) on its quite arbitrary list of the most powerful people in New York real estate. I did not appear on subsequent lists.
In February 2010, I was honored with a Crystal Eagle Award from the Owners' Counsel of America, an organization of attorneys who represent those facing eminent domain. As I wrote, I had qualms about being described, at least according to some OCA members, as a "champion of property rights." I responded that I was a "champion of good government."
I was nominated for the award by New York attorney Michael Rikon, who represents some property owners in the Atlantic Yards footprint regarding condemnation awards (rather than larger challenges to the project). Here's coverage of Rikon.
In August 2011, Brooklyn-based The L Magazine named Atlantic Yards Report "Best Local Blog" in its Best of Brooklyn awards.
Blogger or journalist?
Anyone can be a "blogger;" some disparage "bloggers" as those who don't do new reporting or provide verifiable information. So I prefer being described as a journalist who writes a blog, or uses the blog format. I do lots of shoe-leather reporting--and even shoot/use video these days--and do my best to cite checkable sources.
The distinction is especially important when the "blogger" is not attached to a well-established entity. The term "New York Times blogger" suggests more credibility than "Atlantic Yards Report blogger."
How the blog started
This blog grew out of the report I wrote, issued 9/1/05, critiquing the New York Times’s coverage of Forest City Ratner’s Atlantic Yards project. The report was endorsed and promoted by Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn (DDDB) and other activist groups, but the responsibility is all mine.
I approached DDDB because I knew they and others would both be interested in the topic and in publicizing it. Had I known that it was more than a one-shot--that I would wind up writing a long-running blog including reportage, analysis, and commentary--I might have kept more of a distance. (Since 2010, Develop Don't Destroy has been mostly defunct.)
In the aftermath of the report, I began a blog, the TimesRatnerReport, on 9/1/05. I intended it to briefly track coverage of my report. I began to offer analysis of both the Atlantic Yards project and the media coverage of it, then began to include more original reporting.
On 3/1/06, I changed the name to Atlantic Yards Report. The overdue name change reflected my broader approach to the topic. On 8/10/14, after the project's name change, I expanded the blog name to Atlantic Yards (& Pacific Park) Report, then soon tweaked that to Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report.
Why did I not shut the blog down, I've been asked, when the construction of the Barclays Center began in 2010? Because the blog was not about "stopping" the arena, it's about looking at a complicated, challenging, and ever-changing story, and trying to hold those in power accountable.
Business model?
There's a lot of talk about new business models for web-based journalism. I don't have a business model for this blog.
I don't accept ads or "sponsored posts." I do this as a volunteer; I don’t get paid, except for freelance articles, lectures, or tours. Through late 2010, the blog was supported by my full-time job. Since then, the blog has been supported through my work as a journalist and tour guide, and through my personal assets.
Is this sustainable? No, but I don't have an expiration date for the blog, either.
No, the blog is not for sale. (I received an inquiry once. Glad I didn't sell.)
Speaking engagements/tours
I am available to speak at classes, conferences, and other forums. I have led several walking tours to visiting groups of journalists, urban planners, and architects--and to student groups from Pratt, NYU/Polytechnic, St. John's Law School, and other institutions. I annually lead an Atlantic Yards walking tour as part of "Jane's Walks," in honor of Jane Jacobs, usually on the first weekend of May.
On 2/24/07, I spoke at the Grassroots Media Conference on "objectivity, neutrality, and integrity" in covering Atlantic Yards.
On 10/9/07, I participated on the Municipal Art Society's panel on New Media, New Politics? Jane Jacobs and an Activist Press.
On 10/3/09, I spoke at the Dreamland Pavilion Conference in Brooklyn, on “Atlantic Yards: Brooklyn’s Most Controversial Development through the Lens of Public Relations and News Coverage."
On 8/12/11, I lectured on "Why Atlantic Yards Makes Me Angry (and makes me a better journalist)" at the Galapagos Art Space's "Get Smart" series. (Here's a review: "Oder is funny when he's angry.")
On 8/4/13, I spoke at the Boog City festival.
A "watchdog" blog
I call this a "watchdog" blog because it's devoted to a close look at Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park and associated issues. I'm concerned about accountability.
From where I lived in Park Slope from 1992 through mid-2011, it’s about a seven-minute walk to the project footprint; that sensitized me to issues like scale and traffic, and made me skeptical, for example, of architectural renderings that downplayed the size of the project. But I also was significantly skeptical of the developer's aggressive push to win hearts and minds.
I have moved twice since 2011 within Brooklyn and am now about 20 minutes away from the project site by public transit.
I write reportage, analysis, and commentary, including press criticism. My goal is not neutrality but credibility, not "he said, she said," but fairness. As former New York Times Public Editor Daniel Okrent wrote (It's Good to Be Objective. It's Even Better to Be Right., 11/14/04):
So that means I am often skeptical of the claims made by the developer and the supporters of the project, such as the expected economic benefits or the fairness of the process. And I don't rely on others to set the agenda.
Such skepticism aligns me closer to project opponents, critics, and others outside the mainstream than to project supporters or Forest City Ratner or the new joint venture, Greeland Forest City Partners. But I don’t necessarily share anyone's views or analysis, and I don't take what opponents and others say as gospel.
Most of the material I cite is in the public domain, so my choices and my analysis—about what to include and how to frame it—are often checkable.
My claim to authority
Do I simply have a knee-jerk "slant," as one journalist suggested to me, or is my critical perspective and analysis rooted in any authority? My record, I submit, suggests the latter.
NYU Journalism Professor Jay Rosen observes:
Also worth noting: my comments in February 2007, part of On objectivity, neutrality, and integrity in covering AY:
Before and during the very early stages of my blog, I testified critically about this project in July and September 2005 before the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and also in October 2005 before the Empire State Development Corporation.
In each of those cases, I cited my research, reminding listeners of Forest City Ratner's record in Brooklyn, describing the contents of my report on the New York Times, and criticizing the claims in Forest City Ratner's promotional Brooklyn Standard publication (which they halted after two issues).
I subsequently testified briefly at lagging, late moments in two Empire State Development Corporation public hearings, calling attention to pending Freedom of Information Law requests that I had filed but which had not resulted in delivery of documents. In 2013, I even commented briefly at an ESDC board meeting, reminding them how difficult it was to get information.
In 2014, though I had no plans to testify at an ESDC board meeting, I was compelled to speak because a comment of mine had been ignored.
Those activities go beyond what reporters typically do; they could be considered the equivalent of a newspaper column. This blog melds reportage with analysis and commentary. Such multiple formats may be found in one publication but usually not from one journalist.
Such is the evolving world of the niche or standalone journalist, who, according to Chris Nolan, "succeeds in getting stories told in an honest and forthright manner without benefit of working for a larger news outlet."
On editing and responsiveness
This is a one-person journalistic operation. Most but not all of my writing emerge without outside editing; for more complex or controversial topics, I sometimes send pieces to others for a read.
I frequently correct minor errors--typos or missing words--after readers catch those mistakes; I consider such changes the equivalent of a newspaper tweaking a story between its first and final editions.
Sometimes more significant changes are required, because I have made errors or new information has surfaced. In such cases, I aim to indicate that changes were made after the initial posting. If I make a mistake, I can (and have) made changes in response to requests for corrections or clarifications.
I welcome feedback, both via comments and email, as well as notification of typos. Comments are moderated; I prefer commenters to use their names, especially when criticizing others.
3/1/12: An article for New York Magazine's Daily Intel, Yonkers Corruption Trial Puts Forest City Ratner in the Spotlight.
3/19/12: An article for New York Magazine's Grub Street, Brooklyn Arena Will Sell ‘Brooklynized’ Water, Formulated (and Facing Legal Scrutiny) in Florida.
3/22/12: An article for New York Magazine's Daily Intel, At Yonkers Corruption Trial, the ‘Sugar Daddy’ Defense.
3/29/12: An article for New York Magazine's Daily Intel, Yonkers Politicians Guilty of Corruption Over Forest City Ratner Project.
4/4/12: An article for Streetsblog, Barclays Center Mysteries: Three Big Unknowns About Arena Transportation.
4/12/12: An article for New York Magazine's Daily Intel, Appellate Court Rebukes State Agency for Backing Atlantic Yards.
4/26/12: An article for New York Magazine's Daily Intel, Bloomberg Promises 2,000 Jobs at the Barclays Center, Sort Of.
5/7/12: An article for The Classical, Why the NBA Loves the Brooklyn Nets (and Why Bruce Ratner's Now Talking Up Hockey).
6/8/12: An article for Atlantic Cities, Fears of a Tight Fit for Brooklyn's Arena.
6/18/12: An article for City & State/NY: The "Volunteer" V.P. (about state Sen. John Sampson & EB-5)
8/8/12: An article for Urban Omnibus on Lifespan of a (Brooklyn) Fact: Can One in Seven Americans Trace Roots to Brooklyn?
8/26/12: An article for City Limits' Brooklyn Bureau, Agency, Developer Wrestle Over Atlantic Yards Affordability.
10/1/12: An article for Atlantic Cities, Why Reviewing Brooklyn's New Arena Before It Opened Was Premature.
11/12: An article for The Brooklyn Rail, A Brand Called Brooklyn, on the use of "Brooklyn" to sell the arena and team. (Republished in 2015 in the Brazilian journal AntropolÃtica as Uma marca chamada Brooklyn.)
11/6/12: An essay for City Journal, The Barclays Center's Media Enabler, on the New York Times's erratic, inadequate coverage. (And more here.)
12/6/12: An article for City Limits' Brooklyn Bureau, Are Brooklyn Nets' Promised Cheap Seats for Sale?
12/14/12: An essay for Reuters Opinion, Brooklyn's Vaunted, Tainted Barclays Center.
4/3/13: An article for City Limits' Brooklyn Bureau Former Gadfly Cop Nears Coronation as Brooklyn Borough President.
4/9/13: An article for City Limits' Brooklyn Bureau, For Next Brooklyn Borough President, What's the Agenda?
4/22/13: An article for Library Journal, For Brooklyn PL, Planned Sale of Branches Promises Opportunity, Provokes Concern.
6/7/13: An article for City Limits' Brooklyn Bureau, City Downplays Ratner's Role in Carousel Recovery.
7/29/13: An article for Boog City, The Barclays Center Emerges, Overshadowing Atlantic Yards Skepticism.
8/2/13: An article for City Limits' Brooklyn Bureau, Real-Estate Lobby Dives into Central Brooklyn Council Race.
9/11/13: An article for Moyers.com, In Brooklyn, Buzz, Hype and Distraction.
Fall 2013: An article for Progressive Planning: Construction Unions, After Years of Support for Atlantic Yards Megaproject, Finally Face Squeeze.
10/3/13: An article for the Brooklyn Rail, Barclays Center: Brooklyn’s “Community Arena”?
10/14/13: An article for City Limits' Brooklyn Bureau, Forest City Ratner Again Gets Extension from MTA.
10/31/13: An article for the Commercial Observer, Near Barclays Center, the Rave that Wasn’t (But Might Be).
11/4/13: An article for the Brooklyn Rail, Will James Challenge De Blasio on Atlantic Yards?
11/26/13: An article for the Commercial Observer, State to Pay $300,000 to Lawyers Who Won Atlantic Yards Timetable Case.
3/25/14: An article for City Limits' Brooklyn Bureau, Plan for Community Use of Barclays Center Emerges.
7/3/14: An article for City Limits' Brooklyn Bureau, Behind Atlantic Yards Housing Deal, Some Big Shifts.
8/21/14: An article for BKLYNR, When ‘Affordable’ Rents Push $3,000.
8/26/14: An article for Next City, After 11 Years of Controversy, Atlantic Yards Becomes Pacific Park Brooklyn.
1/21/15: An online op-ed for the New York Times, Holding the Democratic Convention in Brooklyn? Fuhgeddaboudit.
5/22/15: An op-ed in Newsday, Nassau must be wary about plans for Coliseum.
8/31/15: An article for City Limits, Documents Reveal Woes at Pioneering Atlantic Yards Building.
9/24/15: An op-ed in City & State, When Barclays Admitted a Felony, It Should Have Lost the Brooklyn Arena.
12/15/15: An op-ed for PBS's MakingSen$e site, Column: What’s really at stake in the EB-5 investor visa overhaul: honesty.
3/1/16: An op-ed in City Limits, Distorting Downtown Brooklyn's Past Can Only Obscure Its Future.
5/4/16: An essay in Gotham Gazette, James Takes Softer Stance on Atlantic Yards.
7/11/16: An article for City Limits, Fuzzy Plans for New Towers at Key Pacific Park Site
7/30/16: An essay in New York Slant/City & State: Why de Blasio's Probably Glad the DNC Didn't Come to Brooklyn.
2/22/17: An essay for TreeHugger: The World's Tallest Modular Building and the Phantom 20 Percent Savings.
3/20/17: An essay for City Limits: Emerging Kushner Deal Suggests What’s Wrong With U.S. Investor Visa Program.
4/19/17: An article for City Limits: The Real Math of An Affordable Housing Lottery: Huge Disconnect Between Need and Allotment.
5/8/17: An essay for City & State/NY: The Kushner Family and EB-5 Investor Visas: It's Worse Than Nepotism.
5/24/17: An essay for City & State/NY: How Jersey City Unemployment Was Gerrymandered to Help Kushner Pitch Investor Visas.
6/21/17: An essay for City & State/NY: Media Critic de Blasio Should Cop to How He Steers Coverage.
6/22/17: An essay in Gotham Gazette: Pacific Park Developer's Deceptive Affordable Housing Spin.
10/23/17: An article for City Limits: With 421-a Maneuver, Pacific Park Developer Could Save Buyers $50 Million More in Taxes.
10/25/17: An essay in Gotham Gazette, In New Books on Bloomberg and de Blasio, Unreliable Atlantic Yards History.
11/16/17: An essay for City & State/NY: Simplistic Math Mangles the Odds of Affordable Housing Lotteries.
12/5/17: A news analysis for The Bridge: The Uneasy Future of Islanders Hockey in Brooklyn.
12/20/17: An article for The Bridge: The Islanders Say Bye to Brooklyn, But Where Next?
12/30/17: A news analysis for The Bridge: How Fixing an Overstressed Region Could Change Brooklyn.
1/2/18: An essay for Shelterforce: Oft-Quoted Studies Saying Gentrification Doesn’t Cause Displacement Are “Glaringly Stale”.
1/13/18: An article for The Bridge: Real Estate Titan MaryAnne Gilmartin Starts a New Firm.
2/8/18: An essay in Gotham Gazette: The real value of New York Islanders’ Belmont deal? Cuomo administration won’t say.
3/1/18: An article for The Bridge: As Brooklyn Towers Reach for the Sky, How Big Is Too Big?
3/20/18: An article for The Bridge: Forest City in Brooklyn: a Real Estate Pioneer on the Way Out?
4/10/18: An article for The Bridge: Inside the Battle over the Megaproject at 80 Flatbush.
4/19/18: An op-ed in City & State: No, Mikhail Prokhorov doesn't 'own' the Barclays Center.
5/10/18: An article for The Bridge: The Plan for 80 Flatbush Hits a Bump. What Happens Next?
5/29/18: An article for City Limits: De Blasio Emails Shed Light on how ‘Affordable Housing’ is Packaged for the Press.
6/13/18: An article for The Bridge: How a Huge New Project Will Change the Face of Dumbo.
6/13/18: An article for CityLab: The Costs Behind Hockey’s Return to Long Island.
6/19/18: An article for The Bridge: How the Borough President Is Essentially Backing 80 Flatbush.
8/15/18: An op-ed in City & State: Eric Adams has faced less scrutiny than he deserves.
8/20/18: An essay in Gotham Gazette: Running for Attorney General, James Takes Strong Atlantic Yards Record Too Far.
8/20/18: An article for The Bridge: Developer Admits Pacific Park Project Will Take Until 2035.
9/4/18: An article for City Limits: Leecia Eve: From Public Service to the Private Sector, and Back?
9/4/18: An article for The Bridge: Down to the Wire: What’s the Compromise on 80 Flatbush?
9/21/18: An article for The Bridge: A Little off the Top: 80 Flatbush Gets Shorter and Slimmer.
10/1/18: An article for The Bridge: Million Dollar Charade? Behind a Reality TV Show in Brooklyn.
11/15/18: An essay for the Brooklyn Eagle: For Amazon HQ2 deal, Atlantic Yards serves as a warning.
12/1/18: An article for The Bridge: In a Buyer’s Market for Condos, a Brooklyn ‘Flash Sale’ Is Telling.
12/11/18: An essay in Gotham Gazette: The Fuzzy Fine Print of Amazon’s Queens Real Estate Deal.
12/11/18: An article for The Bridge: Amazon in Brooklyn: Why the Bid Didn’t Quite Measure Up.
1/17/19: An article for The Bridge: Lessons of Rezoning: When It Doesn’t Work Out as Planned.
1/22/19: An op-ed for the Daily News: The billion-dollar Belmont bad bet: A new arena will compete with Nassau's county-owned Coliseum (+ more in blog).
1/28/19: An essay for Gotham Gazette: In Amazon Debate, Atlantic Yards Lessons Beyond Those Aired at First City Council Hearing.
4/3/19: An article for City Limits: Ever-Shifting Pacific Park Plan Highlights Uncertainty of Big Development Schemes.
6/4/19: An article for the Brooklyn Eagle: Brooklyn lawmakers seek Pacific Park affordable housing schedule.
7/9/19: An essay for the Brooklyn Eagle: When developers call upzoning a public benefit, check their bottom line.
7/21/19: An article for Streetsblog: Another Atlantic Yards Broken Promise: There is No Indoor Bike Parking that Bruce Ratner Vowed to Build.
7/23/19: An essay for Gotham Gazette: Cuomo’s Getting His Belmont Arena, But the Numbers Don’t Add Up.
7/30/19: An article in Bklyner, Coming to 550 Vanderbilt in September: New Cafe Ciao Gloria, from a Founder of Baked.
12/10/19: An essay for City & State, Brooklyn’s Barclays Center is a questionable part of Bloomberg’s legacy.
2/13/20: An op-ed in the Daily News (online), Eric Adams’ gentrification double standard.
3/17/20: An article for The Real Deal, Why nothing ever gets built on this Pacific Park site (plus a blog post amplifying the P.C. Richard issue).
6/4/20: An essay for Bklyner, What if… the Barclays Center Had Been the Jackie Robinson Arena?
6/9/20: An essay for Bklyner, Brooklyn's Accidental New Town Square.
6/19/20: An article for Bklyner, Has Brooklyn Paramount Theatre Renovation Been Permanently Delayed?
7/8/20: An article for Bklyner, How an Angela Davis Quote Wound Up at the Barclays Center Subway Entrance.
9/24/20: An op-ed for City Limits, Stop Echoing Industry City’s Bogus Math on Jobs.
12/7/20: An article for Bklyner: Community Board 8 Wary Toward Proposed 18-Story Tower at McDonald’s Site in Prospect Heights.
12/7/20: An article for Bklyner: Community Board 8 Wary Toward Proposed 18-Story Tower at McDonald’s Site in Prospect Heights.
3/10/21: An article for Bklyner: Proposed Tower at McDonald’s Site Faces Pushback, Questions Over Ownership.
3/23/21: An article for Bklyner: Will All 258 “Affordable” Units at Largest Pacific Park Tower Go to the Better-Off?
4/9/21: An article for Bklyner: Developers Propose Two 17-Story Towers in Prospect Heights/Crown Heights. CB 8 Says Whoa, Gets Backing From Cumbo.
5/10/21: An article for Bklyner: CB8 Land Use Committee Votes Against Developer’s Revised Proposal For Tower At Atlantic & Vanderbilt.
5/18/21: An article for Bklyner: 80 Flatbush Project Swaps Office Space for Mostly Market-Rate Housing in First Tower As It Begins Construction.
6/10/21: An essay for City Limits: Opinion: Shaun Donovan Praises Atlantic Yards, But It’s No Model Housing Partnership.
12/6/21: An essay for The Indypendent: Art or Advertising? The Contradictions of the "You/We Belong Here" Signage at Barclays Center.
9/26/22: An essay for Common Edge: In Honoring Philanthropists with the Onassis Medal, the MAS Forgets Its Crusade Against Supertalls.
12/8/22: An article for City Limits: Seven Months After Contested Atlantic Ave. Upzonings, Details Finally Emerge.
1/10/23: An essay for CommonEdge: How Atlantic Yards Failed to Deliver Affordable Homeownership (With a Hakeem Jeffries Cameo). Republished in Shelterforce.
4/6/23: An article for City Limits: Nonprofit Shares Atlantic Ave. Rezoning Deal Docs, A Year After Developers Should Have.
8/24/23: An article for City Limits: State Weighs Tax Deal, Plans ‘Public Engagement’ for Atlantic Yards as Housing Deadline Nears.
8/29/23: An essay for Common Edge: Revisiting Brooklyn’s Barclays Center—a Telling Landscape.
10/2/23: An essay for Common Edge: Does Brooklyn’s New Brooding Monolith Deserve Kudos?
11/21/23: An essay for Common Edge: Jay-Z's Unseemly Takeover of Brooklyn’s Central Library.
5/8/24: An overview history of Atlantic Yards for Urban Omnibus: Watch This Space.
6/25/24: An essay for Common Edge: As Brooklyn Nets’ Value Booms, a Missed Opportunity With the Arena.
11/4/24: An essay for Common Edge: Delays Undermine Promises of Affordable Housing in Brooklyn.
Awards and notice
On 6/7/07, I was honored with the Park Slope Civic Council's (PSCC) Lovgren Volunteer Award. I've been a member of the PSCC, off and on, for several years, and volunteered for years for their annual Park Slope House Tour. I haven't participated in any of their policymaking.
On 6/7/07, I was honored with the Park Slope Civic Council's (PSCC) Lovgren Volunteer Award. I've been a member of the PSCC, off and on, for several years, and volunteered for years for their annual Park Slope House Tour. I haven't participated in any of their policymaking.
See coverage here and here in the New York Daily News's I-Team blog, coverage of the AY blogosphere in the Times, and 2007 Brooklyn Blogfest coverage (also see Times coverage).
In May 2008, the New York Observer named me #77 (!?) on its quite arbitrary list of the most powerful people in New York real estate. I did not appear on subsequent lists.
In February 2010, I was honored with a Crystal Eagle Award from the Owners' Counsel of America, an organization of attorneys who represent those facing eminent domain. As I wrote, I had qualms about being described, at least according to some OCA members, as a "champion of property rights." I responded that I was a "champion of good government."
I was nominated for the award by New York attorney Michael Rikon, who represents some property owners in the Atlantic Yards footprint regarding condemnation awards (rather than larger challenges to the project). Here's coverage of Rikon.
In August 2011, Brooklyn-based The L Magazine named Atlantic Yards Report "Best Local Blog" in its Best of Brooklyn awards.
Blogger or journalist?
Anyone can be a "blogger;" some disparage "bloggers" as those who don't do new reporting or provide verifiable information. So I prefer being described as a journalist who writes a blog, or uses the blog format. I do lots of shoe-leather reporting--and even shoot/use video these days--and do my best to cite checkable sources.
The distinction is especially important when the "blogger" is not attached to a well-established entity. The term "New York Times blogger" suggests more credibility than "Atlantic Yards Report blogger."
How the blog started
This blog grew out of the report I wrote, issued 9/1/05, critiquing the New York Times’s coverage of Forest City Ratner’s Atlantic Yards project. The report was endorsed and promoted by Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn (DDDB) and other activist groups, but the responsibility is all mine.
I approached DDDB because I knew they and others would both be interested in the topic and in publicizing it. Had I known that it was more than a one-shot--that I would wind up writing a long-running blog including reportage, analysis, and commentary--I might have kept more of a distance. (Since 2010, Develop Don't Destroy has been mostly defunct.)
In the aftermath of the report, I began a blog, the TimesRatnerReport, on 9/1/05. I intended it to briefly track coverage of my report. I began to offer analysis of both the Atlantic Yards project and the media coverage of it, then began to include more original reporting.
On 3/1/06, I changed the name to Atlantic Yards Report. The overdue name change reflected my broader approach to the topic. On 8/10/14, after the project's name change, I expanded the blog name to Atlantic Yards (& Pacific Park) Report, then soon tweaked that to Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report.
Why did I not shut the blog down, I've been asked, when the construction of the Barclays Center began in 2010? Because the blog was not about "stopping" the arena, it's about looking at a complicated, challenging, and ever-changing story, and trying to hold those in power accountable.
Business model?
There's a lot of talk about new business models for web-based journalism. I don't have a business model for this blog.
I don't accept ads or "sponsored posts." I do this as a volunteer; I don’t get paid, except for freelance articles, lectures, or tours. Through late 2010, the blog was supported by my full-time job. Since then, the blog has been supported through my work as a journalist and tour guide, and through my personal assets.
Is this sustainable? No, but I don't have an expiration date for the blog, either.
No, the blog is not for sale. (I received an inquiry once. Glad I didn't sell.)
Speaking engagements/tours
I am available to speak at classes, conferences, and other forums. I have led several walking tours to visiting groups of journalists, urban planners, and architects--and to student groups from Pratt, NYU/Polytechnic, St. John's Law School, and other institutions. I annually lead an Atlantic Yards walking tour as part of "Jane's Walks," in honor of Jane Jacobs, usually on the first weekend of May.
On 2/24/07, I spoke at the Grassroots Media Conference on "objectivity, neutrality, and integrity" in covering Atlantic Yards.
On 10/9/07, I participated on the Municipal Art Society's panel on New Media, New Politics? Jane Jacobs and an Activist Press.
On 10/3/09, I spoke at the Dreamland Pavilion Conference in Brooklyn, on “Atlantic Yards: Brooklyn’s Most Controversial Development through the Lens of Public Relations and News Coverage."
On 8/12/11, I lectured on "Why Atlantic Yards Makes Me Angry (and makes me a better journalist)" at the Galapagos Art Space's "Get Smart" series. (Here's a review: "Oder is funny when he's angry.")
On 8/4/13, I spoke at the Boog City festival.
On 10/4/17, I spoke at CUNY's James Gallery, "Learning from Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park."
On 6/17/19, I spoke at a Fort Greene Association panel, "What's Next for Atlantic Yards?"
A "watchdog" blog
I call this a "watchdog" blog because it's devoted to a close look at Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park and associated issues. I'm concerned about accountability.
From where I lived in Park Slope from 1992 through mid-2011, it’s about a seven-minute walk to the project footprint; that sensitized me to issues like scale and traffic, and made me skeptical, for example, of architectural renderings that downplayed the size of the project. But I also was significantly skeptical of the developer's aggressive push to win hearts and minds.
I have moved twice since 2011 within Brooklyn and am now about 20 minutes away from the project site by public transit.
I write reportage, analysis, and commentary, including press criticism. My goal is not neutrality but credibility, not "he said, she said," but fairness. As former New York Times Public Editor Daniel Okrent wrote (It's Good to Be Objective. It's Even Better to Be Right., 11/14/04):
Fairness requires the consideration of all sides of an issue; it doesn't require the uncritical reporting of any. Yet even the best reporters will sometimes display a disappointing reluctance to set things straight.I also take a cue from a "Journalism Manifesto" by former Wall Street Journal writer G. Paschal Zachary, who wrote:
Let subjects have their say, but tell readers why one side is fudging, lying or worse... The critical measure of a journalist's stature is whether they got the story right, not whether they were fair and balanced... Stop talking about journalists’ ‘objectivity’ and instead promote the concept of journalistic 'integrity.'And I draw on Brent Cunningham's Re-thinking Objectivity, in Columbia Journalism Review, who notes that the pursuit of objectivity "exacerbates our tendency to rely on official sources," makes us wary of tactics that may lose access to sources, and "makes reporters hesitant to inject issues into the news that aren’t already out there."
So that means I am often skeptical of the claims made by the developer and the supporters of the project, such as the expected economic benefits or the fairness of the process. And I don't rely on others to set the agenda.
Such skepticism aligns me closer to project opponents, critics, and others outside the mainstream than to project supporters or Forest City Ratner or the new joint venture, Greeland Forest City Partners. But I don’t necessarily share anyone's views or analysis, and I don't take what opponents and others say as gospel.
Most of the material I cite is in the public domain, so my choices and my analysis—about what to include and how to frame it—are often checkable.
My claim to authority
Do I simply have a knee-jerk "slant," as one journalist suggested to me, or is my critical perspective and analysis rooted in any authority? My record, I submit, suggests the latter.
NYU Journalism Professor Jay Rosen observes:
Your authority starts with, “I’m there, you’re not, let me tell you about it.” If “anyone” can produce media and share it with the world, what makes the pro journalist special, or worth listening to?... Your authority begins when you do the work. If an amateur or a blogger does the work, the same authority is earned.On objectivity, neutrality, and integrity
Also worth noting: my comments in February 2007, part of On objectivity, neutrality, and integrity in covering AY:
I have been highly critical of the project, and I’m not neutral. That means I don’t think that balancing a quote from the developer and the opponents necessarily makes for honest journalism. That’s pseudo-objectivity.Public testimony
I am often skeptical of the claims made by the developer and the supporters of the project. So that aligns me closer to project opponents, and that’s why I’m here today. But they don’t control my blog—I mean, today’s coverage, I wrote a nuanced piece on the judge’s decision and DDDB [Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn] issued a press release—different content, different goals.
Still, it doesn’t make sense to try to find a mythical middle if you don’t do any digging. I mean, I don’t have to ask [DDDB's] Candace [Carponter] here if the project’s too big. Frank Gehry thinks the project’s too big.
I don’t have to find an activist to say that the approval process for this project isn’t democratic. The Regional Plan Association, mainstream group—they say the process is lousy.
So my criticism—or what seems to be opposition--emerges from my journalistic examination of the project, not the other way around.
Before and during the very early stages of my blog, I testified critically about this project in July and September 2005 before the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and also in October 2005 before the Empire State Development Corporation.
In each of those cases, I cited my research, reminding listeners of Forest City Ratner's record in Brooklyn, describing the contents of my report on the New York Times, and criticizing the claims in Forest City Ratner's promotional Brooklyn Standard publication (which they halted after two issues).
I subsequently testified briefly at lagging, late moments in two Empire State Development Corporation public hearings, calling attention to pending Freedom of Information Law requests that I had filed but which had not resulted in delivery of documents. In 2013, I even commented briefly at an ESDC board meeting, reminding them how difficult it was to get information.
In 2014, though I had no plans to testify at an ESDC board meeting, I was compelled to speak because a comment of mine had been ignored.
Those activities go beyond what reporters typically do; they could be considered the equivalent of a newspaper column. This blog melds reportage with analysis and commentary. Such multiple formats may be found in one publication but usually not from one journalist.
Such is the evolving world of the niche or standalone journalist, who, according to Chris Nolan, "succeeds in getting stories told in an honest and forthright manner without benefit of working for a larger news outlet."
On editing and responsiveness
This is a one-person journalistic operation. Most but not all of my writing emerge without outside editing; for more complex or controversial topics, I sometimes send pieces to others for a read.
I frequently correct minor errors--typos or missing words--after readers catch those mistakes; I consider such changes the equivalent of a newspaper tweaking a story between its first and final editions.
Sometimes more significant changes are required, because I have made errors or new information has surfaced. In such cases, I aim to indicate that changes were made after the initial posting. If I make a mistake, I can (and have) made changes in response to requests for corrections or clarifications.
I welcome feedback, both via comments and email, as well as notification of typos. Comments are moderated; I prefer commenters to use their names, especially when criticizing others.
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