An attempt by real estate mogul Bruce Ratner to curry favor among local
artists for his plan to build a basketball arena, skyscrapers and apartment
high-rises in Prospect Heights backfired this week when an arts group
not only turned down the offer of free publicity in his bimonthly Brooklyn
Standard but then went on the Internet to slam both the Atlantic Yards
developer and his publication.
“The Brooklyn Standard is [Forest City Ratner’s] promotional
tool, posing as a community newspaper,” said Mark Elijah Rosenberg,
artistic director of Rooftop Films, a Park Slope-based organization that
screens independent movies throughout the summer at outdoor sites around
Brooklyn.
“The purpose of the publication is to promote the Atlantic Yards
project by creating the impression that the community — including
arts groups like Rooftop Films — are in support of the project,”
Rosenberg told The Brooklyn Papers
Which, he said, they are not.
Rosenberg added, “Not appearing in the publication was not enough
— no one would know that we chose not to appear.”
Instead, they publicized it, and The Brooklyn Papers found the group’s
July 28 letter to “the editors and readers of The Brooklyn Standard”
posted on the Web log, NoLandGrab.org.
“Rooftop Films believes that our neighborhood, our organization,
and other organizations like ours will suffer if the Atlantic Yards project
is built — as the neighborhood and small businesses have suffered
in the wake of Forest City Ratner Companies’ other development projects,
such as the Atlantic Mall, Atlantic Terminal and Metrotech,” reads
a portion of the letter, signed by Rosenberg and his fellow Rooftop Films
directors, Dan Nuxoll and Sarah Palmer.
“The Brooklyn Standard clearly states that it is published by FCRC
to share information about the Atlantic Yards project,” the letter
continues. “But the paper does not offer balanced and diverse opinions
about the project.
“Rooftop Films is fundamentally at odds with FCRC and the Atlantic
Yards project, and we do not wish to appear in a publication designed
for the sole purpose of promoting that project.”
Rosenberg told The Brooklyn Papers, “We hope that like-minded people
and organizations will see that it is possible to turn down free publicity,
and that it is possible for individuals and small arts organizations to
stand up to gigantic nefarious conglomerates.”
Forest City Ratner officials declined to discuss what the feature would
have entailed, or whether Rosenberg’s letter would run in the next
issue as a letter to the editor. The Brooklyn Standard is produced for
Ratner by Manhattan Media, which publishes four Manhattan community weeklies.
Bruce Ratner is listed as the Standard’s publisher.
The first issue of the free publication, which forthrightly notes on its
front page underneath its title that it is “A Publication of Forest
City Ratner Companies,” was published in late June.
“The interaction was very simple,” said Rosenberg, describing
how the Standard’s editor, Edward-Isaac Dovere, who works out of
Manhattan Media’s West 38th Street offices, called them.
“They said they were interested in doing an article, and they wanted
to use some information from our Web site and do an interview,” Rosenberg
said.
“We discussed it internally” before issuing and publicizing
the letter, he said.
After receiving Rooftop’s reply, the Ratner paper’s editor sent
one last e-mail, Rosenberg said.
“Thank you for your time,” read Dovere’s brief response.
Dovere did not return calls for comment by press time.
In addition to publicizing their anti-Ratner letter, Rosenberg said Rooftop
Films will continue to reach out to other Brooklyn organizations to try
and discourage them from appearing in The Brooklyn Standard.
“[Forest City Ratner] continues the fake appearance of support by
gathering organizations and running articles about community organizations
so that it appears that they cover the neighborhood, and care about the
neighborhood, when what they really care about is building their project,”
said Rosenberg.
Forest City Ratner spokesman Barry Baum, who is also one of two men listed
as editors in chief of the Standard, said the publication is a way of
providing information about the Atlantic Yards proposal.
He would not say whether the Rooftop Films response would be printed in
the next edition.
The second edition is due out later this month.
