Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

Both the Brooklyn Paper and its sibling Courier Life/Brooklyn Daily, both owned by Rupert Murdoch's Community Newspaper Group, offer a 24-page special section saluting the Barclays Center. (I believe it's also in Murdoch's New York Post.) Yes, there's a big ad from the arena, as well as from local businesses. Yes, there's a big ad from the arena in the regular issue of the weeklies, as well. So it's not surprising that the content is celebratory: fun facts about the arena hopeful neighborhood businesses scheduled boxing matches the "Disney on Ice" show free tickets for neighborhood groups a photo gallery a lengthy arena events guide, day-by-day a (somewhat limited) neighborhood eats-and-drinks guide a sort-of history of the area (with a conflation of the site Dodgers owner Walter O'Malley sought with the arena site) Flashback Could you believe that the Brooklyn Paper published a 1/24/04 editorial by its founder, Ed Weintrob, ...

The op-ed page of the Courier-Life chain (available only through the PDF of this week's issue ) was supposed to include two perspectives on Forest City Ratner's new plan for pre-fabricated modular housing. However, Forest City Ratner declined to respond--presumably a managed press rollout two weeks ago sufficed for its purposes--so the single piece is a critique by Peter Krashes, active in the Dean Street Block Association, BrooklynSpeaks , and Atlantic Yards Watch , headlined, "When it came to Atlantic Yards, we, the critics, were right all along." His points: Forest City Ratner won't deliver what it long promised, there are many questions unresolved, and there's no effective oversight. Note: Krashes is described as "an outspoken critic of Atlantic Yards oversight," which I think means a critic of "the lack of Atlantic Yards oversight." Also, I'd point out that people at DDDB who'd argue they were right all along call them...

Reports WNYC, Fearing a Heavy Hand, Outer-Borough Papers Find Murdoch Has Light Touch : When News Corp – which owns the New York Post and Wall Street Journal - bought community newspapers in Queens, the Bronx and Brooklyn in 2006, 2007 and 2009, respectively, media watchers were worried they'd be reshaped as conservative Murdoch mouthpieces. But several former staffers at The Brooklyn Paper and TimesLedger newspapers say the marching orders never came — and the neighborhood papers that now make up the Community Newspapers Group at News Corp continued to make their own decisions about editorials, endorsements and reporting, according to former employees. About Atlantic Yards The piece concludes: The Brooklyn Paper, formerly a fierce watchdog on the Atlantic Yards project has become less aggressive since the 2009 sale, Oder alleges, but he isn't sure whether or not that is attributable to News Corp. "“I do see less of a focus on hard news," he said. "There...

So I wrote a letter to the Brooklyn Paper and Courier-Life chain in respond to the year-end round-up . The Brooklyn Paper doesn't have a letters page this week, but the Courier-Life does. However, the paragraph that mentioned my blog, italicized below, somehow got excised. So much for serving the readers. (Click on graphic to enlarge.) Also, oddly enough, they changed my rhetoric from "Shouldn't Brooklynites care?" to "Brooklynites should care." (They also changed "committed by" to "committed to," which misleads.) At least we know that a two paragraph letter from the editor's father in the Westchester suburbs merited a four-column headline. The original letter: I was amused to read, in your year-end round-up, a fanciful tale involving me on the final night of Freddy’s Bar and Backroom. I was less amused to recognize that the Brooklyn Paper has not covered some important Atlantic Yards news, notably Forest City Ratner's effort to r...

Maybe the best way to analyze Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz's promotional "newspaper" Brooklyn!! (latest issue embedded below) is to consider it a giant block association newsletter, with Markowitz as the president of the confederation of block associations. A year ago, I pointed out (as in the past) that Brooklyn!! avoided any mention of Atlantic Yards. That's not so this issue. Brooklyn Beat Nudging up against mention of the Homecrest Senior Health Fair, the Borough President’s Latino Heritage celebration, and the participation of Randazzo’s Clam Bar at the Grand Central Oyster Bar's “Oyster Frenzy" in a page labeled headlined Brooklyn Beat, we learn: Net’s [sic] new coach Avery “Little General” Johnson (center, back row) met with students of MS 51 in Park Slope to talk about positive choices and let kids know that they can “get to the next level.” He also encouraged his future fan base in Brooklyn to get ready to cheer for future NBA champio...

I sent this letter to both the Brooklyn Paper and the Courier-Life chain, which published identical articles, in the Brooklyn Paper as Yards foes win a big case that will not likely change a thing . There's no Letters page in the Brooklyn Paper, but my letter is published this week in the Courier-Life under the headline "Nervy claim." Note that italics indicate words added by the editor, while bold indicates words in my original letter that were not published: Your recent coverage described the state Supreme Court's decision slamming the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) for its questionable behavior regarding the Atlantic Yards timetable as a "meaningless victory" for Atlantic Yards foes ("Yard foes win a big case," Nov. 12) . That's rather conclusory. Neither the ESDC nor developer Forest City Ratner made such a claim. In fact, a day after the decision, an executive from Forest City Enterprises, FCR's parent company, see...

A funny thing happened to the review of IN THE FOOTPRINT: The Battle Over Atlantic Yards , as it appeared in three Community Newspaper Group outlets this week. It got brutally weird, morphing from a general criticism to an unfounded assertion that the show "betrays" project opponents and will "delight" developer Bruce Ratner. The initial review, my response On YourNabe.com/Brooklyn Graphic, the review was headlined The drama of Atlantic Yards: "In the Footprint" retells a story best left to the historians, not the playwrights. (The review was attributed to "The Butcher of Flatbush Avenue Extension," , almost certainly, Brooklyn Paper Editor Gersh Kuntzman, who was at the show I saw. Update : Kuntzman claims a byline in the Courier-Life print edition, where the above review is reproduced.) In this week's print Brooklyn Paper, that review reappears under a different headline: Yards on center stage: Mega-development is subject of play a...

There you have it. Among the articles the Brooklyn Paper considers more important than this week's Atlantic Yards court decision are ones concerning the arrival of Shake Shack and the arrest of a racist cabby. Meanwhile, the Brooklyn Paper is sure to tell us the court decision is unimportant: The state agency overseeing the Atlantic Yards mega-development purposefully withheld information on the project’s timetable to avoid having to reexamine the project’s negative impacts, a judge ruled on Tuesday in what appears to be a meaningless victory for foes of Bruce Ratner’s project. As I commented: It's curious that the Brooklyn Paper can so confidently assume that this is a "meaningless victory." The day after the decision, an executive from Forest City Enterprises, the parent company of developer Forest City Ratner, was somewhat unnerved as he discussed the decision. He didn't call it "meaningless." Note that the deck beneath the YARDS FOES WIN A CASE he...

An article from CNG--dubbed Courier-Life but written by Brooklyn Paper reporter Stephen Brown and first appearing on the New York Post web site--has the overhyped headline Ratner exec: Goldstein was in it for the money! Gilmartin: 'He was in it for the money!' . Surely even Forest City Ratner officials don't think Daniel Goldstein spent more than six years fighting Atlantic Yards for the money. He could've doubled the value of his home in 2004. Rather, the headline refers to the action last week. The article states: Forest City Ratner officials abandoned their diplomatic talk on Tuesday to explicitly portray Daniel Goldstein, who ended his long holdout in the Atlantic Yards footprint for $3 million last week, as an opportunist looking to make as much money as possible. Countering Goldstein’s own spin that his fight against Atlantic Yards was a principled stand against eminent domain abuse, Forest City Ratner Executive Vice President MaryAnne Gilmartin told us that last ...

Not surprisingly, the New York Post's Community Newspaper Group (CNG) has moved toward consolidating its two chains in Brooklyn, the Brooklyn Paper and the Courier-Life. The evidence? The departure of the latter's editor and increased sharing of copy among the two chains. As can be seen by a close look at the Courier-Life mastheads from last week (below) and this week, longtime Courier-Life Editor Kenneth Brown has been replaced by Brooklyn Paper Gersh Kuntzman. Moreover, the lead article in at least one edition of the Courier-Life, my local Park Slope Courier, contains the same article on Prospect Park's "meadows of shame" that appeared on the front page of the Brooklyn Paper , written by a Brooklyn Paper reporter. Meanwhile, the Brooklyn Paper prominently features Courier-Life reporter Stephen Witt's questionable coverage of the seemingly dubious lawsuit filed by City Council Member Letitia James. (More on that below.) What does it mean? What does it all ...

The Courier-Life's notorious Stephen Witt has a rather blinkered perspective on Atlantic Yards, writing, in an article headlined Groundbreaking signals start of Barclays Center arena : The project, which upon final buildout includes several thousand affordable and market-rate units of housing, will displace four commercial occupants and about 35 residents occupying 15 apartments. It should go without saying that many other people and businesses were displaced, given that so many moved under the threat of eminent domain, with the value of the deals varying considerably. Witt, a proud outlier from the "reality-based community," is the perfect chronicler of the Atlantic Yards world.

Does the Courier-Life chain have any editors? This week's print issue of the Park Slope Courier includes an article (p. 4), headlined Closures around Barclays Center site begin , which is flat wrong. It states, seemingly unequivocally, " Effective Feb. 1, sections of both Fifth Avenue and Pacific Street will be permanently closed." Stephen Witt's article was posted online at 8:09 pm on January 29 with a different headline, Downtown street closures explained at cop meeting . That 78th Precinct Community Council meeting was January 26. Now it might have been plausible to write, as of the time of the meeting, that streets were expected to close on February 1. Closures on hold As of 8:09 pm on January 29, however, the Courier-Life should've known that state Supreme Court Justice Abraham Gerges earlier that day had put condemnation plans on hold and that the Empire State Development Corporation had said streets wouldn't close as planned. Witt's article did n...

Can we depend on the two major weeklies in Brooklyn to cover Atlantic Yards carefully? Nope. In the Brooklyn Paper The Brooklyn Paper actually sent a reporter to the condemnation hearing last Friday. But no article has appeared yet, either about the hearing itself--which put the condemnation on hold, news even for the Times --or the confusion regarding street closings . Meanwhile, the Brooklyn Paper has informed us about possible dormitories in Red Hook , a new new sex toy shop in Williamsburg , and a green gym in Bushwick . In the Courier-Life The Courier-Life didn't send a reporter, but today offers us this news brief, headlined Judge studies AY condemnation papers , almost certainly penned by the notorious Stephen Witt : State Supreme Court Judge Abraham G. Gerges last week delayed a final approval ruling for the state’s planned seizure of property to make way for the $4-plus billion Atlantic Yards project. Gerges told lawyers for both property owners and the Empire State Devel...

This week's Brooklyn Paper , in its article on streets being closed to further construction of the Atlantic Yards arena--before legal challenges are resolved--mentions, albeit almost as an aside, that the Carlton Avenue Bridge would not reopen until April 2012, far longer than originally promised, as I reported . And is that included in the report (posted first on the New York Post's web site) from the Courier-Life's notorious Stephen Witt ? No. A scoop? In fact, Witt, thanks to a source (the developer?) unwilling to be quoted by name, declares that Construction on Barclays Arena commences , a conceptual scoop somehow not grasped by anyone else in the media: If it looks like construction, sounds like construction and money is spent on construction, then it’s a good bet that the Barclays Center arena at the Atlantic/Flatbush avenues intersection is already under construction. ...“We’re in the process of setting up a ceremonial groundbreaking, but we’ve already begun the w...

Curiously enough, this week's Brooklyn Paper (right) includes a front-page story on Atlantic Yards, while last week's issue (below left) did not, though the front-page did point readers to an article on p. 2. (Click on graphics to enlarge) Let's compare. This week's front-page news concerns the newspaper's effort, via the Freedom of Information Law (FOIL), to find out how the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) determined its low-ball market value of Atlantic Yards opponent Daniel Goldstein's apartment. It's legitimate news, but why is it on the front page? Likely because the editors want to play up their exclusive. Last week's Brooklyn Paper coverage of the Court of Appeals' eminent domain decision didn't make the front page. It should have. However, the editors apparently thought that coverage of Jonathan Lethem's effort to read his new novel aloud and a drug bust in Williamsburg constituted more important news. This week's p...

While Brooklyn Borough President Marty "can’t wait to get the shovel in the ground" for the Atlantic Yards arena, according to the Courier-Life , he disavows it as his legacy: When asked about his legacy, Markowitz turned reflective, saying there is no legacy and he has no children. “When the lord calls me, that group of Markowitzs’ are gone, so there’s no legacy other than I did my job, and if I made you proud of being a Brooklynite, if I made your life a little better, and if I put a smile on your face, then I’ve done what I wanted to do,” he said. Other opinions Others, however, see the arena and team as Markowitz's wished-for legacy. (Emphases added) Mike Lupica, RATNER'S MONEY TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN , New York Daily News, 10/16/05: Letitia James talks about Marty Markowitz, the borough president of Brooklyn who nearly weeps at the loss of the Dodgers and was desperate for the Nets to be his legacy , who seemed giddy to be in the same room with Ratner. Now he can...

Once again, it's quite curious to read coverage of Atlantic Yards in the two main Brooklyn weeklies, the Brooklyn Paper and the Courier-Life, both owned by Rupert Murdoch's Community Newspaper Group. The Brooklyn Paper , which led with a hard-hitting article on a gingko tree , did publish (on p. 5) an article on the latest suit challenging Atlantic Yards, though that article was dated October 22 and the suit was filed on October 19 . Gersh Kuntzman's Brooklyn Paper article stated: None of the prior agreements — including two approved general project plans — made the affordable housing conditional on any state or local support. Ratner was required to build the units whether subsidies were available or not. Actually, the units were never guaranteed ; I reported on the new language more than a month ago. The Brooklyn Paper did get an optimistic quote from ACORN's Bertha Lewis, which inspired scornful skepticism from Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn. (Note that, while...

I've been critical of the Brooklyn Paper's retreat from thorough Atlantic Yards coverage, but this week credit the paper for doing its job. This week's front page includes a reasonably thorough article (despite a lapse ) on Wednesday's eminent domain argument, grouped with a separate article about the new lawsuit challenging the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's renegotiation of the Vanderbilt Yard deal with Forest City Ratner. In the Courier-Life The sibling Courier-Life chain, which has a later deadline, compressed both stories into one, and placed that story on page 4. The article, headlined online as Atlantic Yards lawsuits filed and heard and in print as "Latest Atlantic Yards suit looks to void June deal," gave eight paragraphs to the MTA suit, followed by six brief paragraphs about the oral arguments. And whom does the notorious Stephen Witt choose to quote? An attorney? A judge? Nope. Witt writes: Also in Albany for the court hearing w...

The lead story in this week's Brooklyn Paper comes with a banner headline: DOWNTOWN DOWNTURN: Condo price cut on Flatbush . From the article: “In [the Oro] building there are [many] apartments that are exactly alike — and the people who like them, bought them and now, what do you do with the rest?” [broker Roslyn Huebener] added. “They are not original like other buildings with four or six different units. They’re putting a glut in their own buildings.” Downtown super-broker Chris Havens told The Brooklyn Paper the price cuts aren’t a case of desperation on the part of the developer, but a dose of common sense. “Reality is setting in on pricing,” Havens said. “The coming year will see a lot more aggressive pricing to get down to the market price.” The Brooklyn Paper, in its editorial, states We’re still bullish on Downtown! . What's missing But there's nothing in the Brooklyn Paper, nor its Community Newspaper Group (aka Murdoch-owned) sibling Courier-Life, about the dubi...

What a difference a new owner makes. This week's Community Newspaper Group (CNG) editorial endorsing Mayor Mike Bloomberg, published in Brooklyn Paper and across the newspapers, stands in stark contrast to the Brooklyn Paper's stands last year. On term limits A 10/2/08 editorial on term limits: Like every elected official, Markowitz doesn’t want to leave office. But while other careerist pols are using cagey asides to couch their contempt for the city’s term-limits law, Markowitz is openly, proudly, dismissive of the two voter-approved referenda that created the city’s current two-term limit for members of the Council, the borough presidents, public advocate, comptroller and mayor. ...We believe it is morally wrong for current officeholders to circumvent the clearly stated wishes of their constituents — especially when they would gain a direct personal benefit by doing so. We might support Markowitz’s call for changing term limits if his power grab were not so blatant; a slig...