Bouncing on Brooklyn

The various development wars raging in Brooklyn--so often left to the diligent efforts of Brooklyn bloggers--are clearly breaking through to Manhattan-based media. First, we had Time Out New York's War for Brooklyn cover package. Now, we have the Village Voice's Bouncing on Brooklyn cover story, which is anything but a love note to developer Bruce Ratner and his Atlantic Yards development.

In one story, "Life in the Footprint," the Voice puts a human face on the impact of Atlantic Yards by profiling some of the people whose homes and businesses would be taken via eminent domain to make way for the project. Among the 118 people still living there are Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn co-founder Daniel Goldstein, who is now the only occupant of his condo building, and Joseph Pastore, a 62-year-old retiree who pays $400 in rent and has lived on Dean Street since 1967. Another is 82-year-old Victoria Harmon (that's her pictured sitting in the wheelchair). The story makes for an interesting read about both the human side of the development project and the policy debate surrounding it.

The accompanying story, called "BAM Goes the Neighborhood" takes a hard look at how BAM's super-ambitious expansion plans will radically alter the adjoining neighborhood. It goes so far as to suggest that BAM is "the cultural analogue" to Atlantic Yards. That, however, is another story to be dealt with in another item.