A Blogfest Over a Project in Brooklyn

A Blogfest Over a Project in Brooklyn - New York Times: "When a state agency released plans for studying the environmental impact of the proposed Atlantic Yards project, a vast residential, commercial and arena development near Downtown Brooklyn, the response from critics was swift, brutal — and largely online.

The architect Jonathan Cohn, who runs brooklynviews.blogspot.com, noticed that the project's developer, Forest City Ratner Companies, was planning to use a part of the site as a temporary parking lot.

There is also comedy: Last week, the Web site leathertomato.com posted Atlantic Yards-themed versions of traditional Passover songs.

But the blogs more often focus on the project, which gained its own Web site — atlanticyards.com — and recently had a list of what Forest City Ratner says are the project's benefits for Brooklyn residents. A day later, the site had already drawn jeers from at least two blogs.

Lumi Michelle Rolley, a Web designer who lives in Park Slope, is one of four people who run nolandgrab.org, a site that rounds up news articles about Atlantic Yards and other projects around the country where eminent domain is an issue. Media criticism is a favorite activity among Atlantic Yards bloggers. Forest City Ratner is the development partner in building a new Midtown headquarters for The New York Times Company, a connection not missed by those who have asserted that this paper's coverage is too friendly to the developer.

Mr. Oder said he spent up to 25 hours a week on atlanticyardsreport.blogspot.com, a successor to his original blog, Times Ratner Report. Hardly a hearing, community meeting or news story relating to the project escapes scrutiny. "