Ratner Starts Spreading His News

Reader Dave emailed us about a new free newspaper he received at the subway station, amid the amNew York and Metro freebies. Called the Brooklyn Standard, Dave described its contents:

The front page has a large-type headline proclaiming "BROOKLYN BOOMING" with a picture of the proposed Atlantic railyard development. Then there's an article about Marv Albert, who has joined the Nets as a sportscaster. It looks like a regular paper with a masthead and a letters to the editor section (the first letter is a congratulatory note from the Mayor, who also plugs away for the Atlantic development). Then there's the usual lifestyle fluff like an events
calendar. Looking more closely at the first page, however, I note that the Brooklyn Standard is "A Publication of Forest City Ratner Companies."

Eureka! There is a publisher's note from Bruce Ratner that says, "Every month or so, we will try to put out a new edition where we can provide you with updated information about the Atlantic Yards and other news and events taking place in Brooklyn. We are not trying to compete with daily, weekly or local papers. Our goal is simple: to share information about Atlantic Yards with the people of Brooklyn and to create an even greater dialogue as we go forward." In other words: "I'm gonna paper the neighborhood with articles about how awesome my plan for a new Brooklyn is." Next, we expect Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn to pass out mimeographed packets while Extell furiously develops a competing free quarterly. Updated: Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn let us know (as did a reader) that Ratner's paper launched a few weeks ago and that the few community groups and the Downtown Brooklyn Leadership Coalition put out their own why-the-Ratner-plan-can't-work paper (a one time only pub, though).

You can read Brooklyn Standard at its website, which is actually only a PDF. The NY Times had an editorial about how exciting skyscrapers in Brooklyn would be, but does note that the Ratner plan lacks a "creative way to deal with all the problems that come with much more traffic and more people."

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in News on July 14, 2005 11:04 AM

Comments [rss]

lumi

To riff off Forest City Ratner's business parnter in Times Square, here's a good slogan for The Standard:

"All the news that's printed to fit"

Rocknrope was curious about the advertisers in The Brooklyn Standard. I don't have it in front of me, but I recall that there was a full-page ad from BAM and NY Aquarium. Bruce Ratner is on the board of BAM, but the Aquarium connection is a mystery.

daniel

sorry about the hacky formatting.

daniel

Gringcorp is right, nolandgrab.net is the go to site for all things Ratner. DDDB.net is not really a news site or blog.

having said that, DDDB did comment on Ratner's Brooklyn Pravda when it came out in June, here

or to save you time, here it is:

Shilly

Behavior: More Standard Ratner

Meanwhile...Forest City Ratner (FCR) is distributing 140,000 copies of

their latest PR gambit: a full color, 16-page glossy tabloid called The

Brooklyn Standard (download pdf).

FCR calls it a "newspaper." It's full of pertinent information

from civic giants like Marv Albert (huh?) and local elected officials

like State Senator Marty Golden (22nd District, Southern Brooklyn). That's

the same Marty Golden who told DDDB in a meeting that he would never want

such a project built in his district; now that is a NIMBY. There

is also an interesting article, "Old Brooklyn: A Look Into Brooklyn's

Rich Architectural History." In the article, which focuses on Brooklyn

Heights in particular, FCR has the gall to publish this concluding paragraph:

When Robert Moses invaded neighborhoods, he demolished brownstones

through the power of the Housing Act of 1949. Had not the homeowners protested,

all of Columbia Heights would have been leveled. Moses' incursion

sparked a backlash of preservation which partially resulted in establishment

of the Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1965 and the first neighborhood

landmarked in the state was Brooklyn Heights, helping ensure the sense

of intimacy that surrounds these contemporary gems of realty.

Is FCR self-delusional? Don't they see Robert Moses when they look in the

mirror?

There is also an article by James Caldwell, President of BUILD, who will

oversee the jobs component of what FCR calls a community benefits agreement.

This is the same James Caldwell who, in the Brooklyn

Eagle, said, "I would be for this project if it only provided

10 jobs." And in The

Brooklyn Papers said, "Let's face it, this project is only

$3 billion. We know it won't cure the ills of our community. But guess

what? It brings us hope. And Ratner knows by giving a little

here, he's getting back much more in return."

FCR claims, in this

Daily News article about the tabloid, that their latest PR stunt, is

not in response to the DBLC's Atlantic

Yards News tabloid which came out last month. Well, we believe it is.

FCR sure is spending a lot of money to have a one-way "conversation"

with Brooklyn, whose support they erroneously claim to have.

jim

About the proposed "Atlantic Terminal" development, my attitude on all these public projects is it's OK as long as I don't have to pay for it. By that I mean I don't want to pay for more cops to patrol the area, I don't want to pay for subsidies for the builders, or pay more taxes because they are getting tax breaks, or pay to have streets widened, or any other changes to infrastructure caused by the building or its subsequent use, or pay the local building owners for their homes to be torn down, or pay the salaries of EPA and DOB buildings working on this project, or anything else. I know something's going to get built on those rail yards. Somebody will make a lot of money on the deal. The least the City can do is lessen the impact on me.

Steve O.

Check out NY Press columnist Aaron Naparstek's recent take on the A' Yards.

He's a genius!

http://www.nypress.com/18/28/news&columns/aaronnaparstek.cfm

Gringcorp

No worries. The go-to place for Ratner/stadium antics is nolandgrab.org. It's a bit more comprehensive than the DDDB site.

Jen

Gringcorp - true, it seems we're late to the party on this one! Thanks for pointing this out... I haven't been blessed with receiving this myself.

daybird

the NY Times was a Robert Moses Cheerleader as he paved over ever square inch he could get his hands on, so their love of Ratner is no different.

When the lady at the Bergen 2/3 handed the Ratner Rag to me this morning, I was going to get into it with her, but it was obvious she had no clue about it either way. Oh how I wish Marty M or Mister Ratner himself would get out there and do their dirty work.

Rocknrope

I took one at the 7th Avenue Park Slope station. I knew it was a Ratner propaganda rag as soon as I saw the title "BROOKLYN BOOMING!" As Jack mentioned, clearly transparent. I tossed it as soon as I walked onto the platform.

I did wonder about the companies who advertised in it though. Did they comp advertising in it, or was it just dirt cheap?

alan

You mean the 2 and 3 stop at Grand Army, Hijiki? I can't stand either of those guys. Now there's going to be three idiots that I have to get past in order to get into the subway station. What ever happened to just having a paper stand by the entrance?

As for the Ratner Standard, it's just sickening. Propaganda at its foulest...

rh

Hey careful what you say HR--the sheep soooooo might follow you back to Manhattan! You know, being sheep and all.

Gringcorp

Dubious indeed it is. Three weeks old, also, it is, as I discovered when, um, breaking this myself.

http://gumbyfresh.blogspot.com/2005/07/one-for-hamster-cage.html

mrf

The Brooklyn Papers (eg the Park Slope Paper) have been covering Ratner very unfairly, seemingly going out of their way to find stories that paint Ratner in a bad light (for several weeks they were beating the drum about a rash of...pickpockets (gasp!) at Ratner's new Atlantic Center.

Meanwhile, the NYT has taken the opposite tack, casually dismissing critics of the plan in every article they write. (Of course Ratner building the new NYT headquarters couldn't have anything to do with it...I hope.)

Anyway, while I was initially really turned off by the Daily Ratner when I saw it a few weeks ago, it's not that bad. It doesn't try to hide its source and Ratner is entitled to whatever means he feels is appropriate for getting his voice heard by the public.

hijiki

at my subway stop in prospect heights, where there are normally 2 guys handing out 'metro' and 'am new york', both were abscent and only a 'brooklyn standard' guy was there. hmm.

Jack

This is so crass and transparent it's pathetic.

But it begs the question: Why?

It seems as if Ratner is the 800 lb. gorilla of the Atlantic Yards project. So why this? And why now? What can Ratner gain at this point by putting out this shilling broadsheet?