Coincidence?

Two days after community group Develop--Don't Destroy Brooklyn issues a critique of The New York Times' coverage of the proposed Atlantic Yards arena-tower complex, the Gray Lady runs a story about the developer's flysheet, The Brooklyn Standard, which extols the virtues, and virtue, of the project. The first issue of the Standard came out mid-June, and the Daily News had the story then. By the way, the writer of the critique, Norman Oder, sends The Real Estate another critique, this time about our coverage: "To follow up on your blog post, I'm disappointed that you interpreted my reaction to the 'Instant Skyline' headline/article as a 'Brownstone Brooklyn' reaction to things instant. Rather, I reacted as a journalist and Brooklynite to bad journalism." He says the Times' July 5 headline ("Instant Skyline Added to Brooklyn Arena Plan") portrayed the skyline to be a recently added element of the plan when in fact high-rise office and residential towers were part of developer Forest City Ratner's plan from the beginning. Oder now has his own blog, in which he says the Times article on the Brooklyn Standard was already in the works when his report came out last week. - Matthew Schuerman