People, Marcellus Hall's comments not withstanding, does anyone think that perhaps that cover might have been a bit tongue-in-cheek? Say it loud - we're Brooklynites and we're proud! This hang-dog inferiority complex is what enables Marty Markowitz (Brooklyn Intellectual???!!!) to foist the abomination of Ratner's 'Yards plan upon us solely to salve his gaping Dodger-void. Was he torn from Walter O'Malley's breast before he was weaned? The rest of us can be smug in our Brooklyn-ness.

Marcellus Hall owes Barry Kite some props, yo! Kite did practically the same thing a decade ago. Check it!

You see, if they lived somewhere with detached homes and decent schools (Bay Ridge, Flushing, S.I.) they might as well be back in Ohio. No, that wouldn't do, it's much better to live in an abandoned factory for $2000 a month.

$2000 a month for an abandoned factory? Bargains like that just do not exist in Manhattan anymore.

Meanwhile, the cover is meant to be funny, people. Please enjoy it and then return to your boroughs.

Marty: "High rents might push some residents out of Manhattan, but we Brooklynites welcome these emigres with open arms to our better quality of life, our unrivalled diversity and maybe even a nice brownstone..."

Marty: "Bruce Ratner's arena and 17 skyscrapers is finally going to put Brooklyn on the map. Without Bruce Ratner's 17 skyscrapers and arena Brooklyn will remain the dark cloud to Manhattan's paradise"

FACTS: Bruce Ratner's 17 skysrapers and arena will–for Prospect Heights, Fort Greene, Park Slope, Clinton Hill, Boerum Hill, Bed Stuy, Crown Heights–ruin the "better quality of life," decimate our "unrivalled diversity" and demolish/overshadow our "nice brownstones."

Six words: Schmucky Schmuckowitz has got to go.

And Astoria's the new Williamsburg...aieeeee! :D

All us Queens folk need is better N/W weekend service -- the "N(ever)" and "W(henever)" trains take forever... :P

I think Reality Check needs a reality check in that people from New Jersey and Conneticut do pay NYC taxes when they work or do business with NYC, which is why most people from the outer-states are in the city, anyway.

It seems like everybody lives in a bubble lately.

Actually Manhattan 'ends' at Marble Hill, a small district on the mainland north of the Harlem River

http://www.forgotten-ny.com/STREET%20SCENES/marblehill/marble.html

It's Manhattan. Manhattan ends at 220th Street in Inwood.

Isn't Washington Hieghts on the island of Manhattan? So that would make it..... Manhattan. But not to quibble, more to ask a question, where does "Manhattan" end? (Full disclosure- I grew up on 96th street. North or south side- that I will keep to myself).

From my perch up in Washington Heights, Brooklyn looks as clichéd a choice as Manhattan. I'm not hating on any specific neighborhood per se, but Brooklyn is no more undiscovered than, say Franz Ferdinand. It's no secret, yo. But it all works. The city is a great big choose your own adventure book.

I say, instead of ganging up in terms of boroughs, it should be people who bring up SATC in any way vs. everybody else. That crap show is as relevant as Friends. Seinfeld is fine but a SATC reference should lead to an immediate and complete shunning.

P.S. Gothamites, copy editing is no replacement for wit

it is a different way of life in brooklyn. the neighborhoodiness of it is more diverse in type, and more insular within the hoods. when you find one you like, it is a slice of heaven.

they do need to pay brooklyn and queens more respect on the train front. we need the 5 to brooklyn all times, we need full-size G trains from Church, we need an F express, and the L needs to be treated better (revive the express!) do this, and we're straight.

danb, what are the two other greatest cities in the world?

Perhaps the cover was inspired by that series on New York called THE NAKED CITY.

Brooklyn people: there are affordable places in the city. I live on the LES for less than what I paid for in Bushwick.

Anyway, why are we fighting each other? We're all New Yorkers. The 718 is great and the 212 is true. We all have the same mayor, ride the same trains and pay the same goddamn NYC resident taxes. Brooklyn and Manhattan are like brother and sister.

Let's concentrate our scorn towards those weekend warriors from Jersey, Connecticut and Long Island who abuse our resources without paying taxes for them, vomit on our stoops and annoy the living fuck out of us. I'd rather sit by a Brooklynite and Manhattanite than a Jersey girl and a "Strong" Island boy.

I liked the cover. As others have said, I'm glad no one knows about how great Brooklyn is. I loved the fact that I had to explain to my sister and her friends that yes, Miranda on Sex and the City may not get a cab all the time in Brooklyn but they do exist. And yes, Miranda is the cool one for moving into a HOUSE with a BACKYARD.

lorna k speaks the truth; I can now see sea gulls outside my windows instead of pigeons...

I got admit I was a little offended by the cover. Brooklyn Rocks. I wish the Manhattanites would stay away though because the rent is going up, up and up. Every few years I am moved deeper and deeper into the borough and before you know it, I am going to swimming in Coney Island.

I was born a third generation New Yorker,in Manhattan, to parents from the outer boroughs(my Mother is from Manhattan Beach and my Father is from Queens). Manhattan is my home town, my stomping grounds. The place where I grew up and learned about New York so lay off already.

The thing that really gets under my skin about people who moved to the city and "discovered" Brooklyn is their smugness. That self satisfied sense of superiority that comes from crossing the river. Talk about being a snob about where you live. This is the way people who live on Park Avenue talk. Listen to yourselves.

It's easy for people who moved to the city after college to point and laugh at Manhatanites, but this is my home we're talking about. It just happens to be one of thre greatest cities in the whole world and I like it just fine thank you very much. How would you like it if I went to wherever you were from, moved one town over and started lobbing rotten fruit in your direction?

Brooklyn's nice. But so is the west village. DUMBO is nice but I don't see anyone camping out in my neighborhood for new condos. Certainly the Manhattan I grew up in was different than today's crazy combination of gentrification and real estate insanity, but it was and is my home.

The cover isn't controversial, it's just dumb. Where the hell's Hall been? Brooklyn hasn't been a 'burb boro for a long time now. Manhattan will always be the center of the city, but the gap between it and Brooklyn has been narrowing for a long, long time.

This cover might have been timely in, oh, 1985... If he wanted to stir up controversy, he would have pointed Adam and Eve across the George Washington Bridge, or maybe into a smaller closet-sized studio. That'd make a statement and reflect how things are now.

That goes back to a weird neighborhood a destiny thing I don't understand. I live in Washington Heights (750 sq ft, natch), it hasn't stopped me from hanging out in any neighborhood. The money I save on rent subsidises cabs, so what is this whole thing about? I lived in Brooklyn, I liked it. I personally would never consider moving back until MTA shows the borough a little respect. They gotta fix the "L" before you Brooklynites can claim bragging rights.