Marty Markowitz and his staff invited a group of bloggers for breakfast on Thursday morning. It was a mostly convivial event held in a large conference room at Borough Hall. Coffee, bagels and muffins, courtesy of La Bagel Delight were provided. In attendance were: Atlantic Yards Report, Brownstoner, Flatbush Gardener,
Pardon Me for Asking, Noticing New York, Gerritsen Beach, The Local
(the New York Times' blog) four representatives from Brooklyn Heights
Blog, which is soon going to roll out The Brooklyn Bugle, Self-Absorbed
Boomer (who is also with Brooklyn Heights blog) and Ditmas Park Blog

I think the event was an effort by Marty and his staff to say to bloggers: we want to work with you, we want you to call us for information about what goes on in the BP's office, etc. Maybe even:  we take you seriously. 

The first half of the meeting was "off-the-record."  I know whatever
Marty said was supposed to be off the record but what about all the
interesting things the bloggers said? We talked about journalistic
ethics, advertising, and the role that blogs play in Brooklyn. In the last half-hour or so, Marty took questions from the gathered group and that was on the record. Topics covered included access to the Brooklyn budget, Dock Street (the tower in DUMBO that could block views of the Brooklyn Bridge), Superfund status for the Gowanus Canal, Lundy's, digitizing of the Brookyn Daily Eagle at the Brooklyn Public Library, the use of Bloomberg's non-profit  for Marty's charities and more. 

In answer to Katia Kelly's question about the EPA's possible designation of the Gowanus Canal as a Superfund site Marty said. "I am trying to get a grasp of what it would all mean. Trying to get a handle on it."

About Dock Street, it was mentioned that historian David McCullough, author of a book about the Brooklyn Bridge will be meeting with Marty next week.

I was impressed and surprised that Marty invited Norman Oder of Atlantic Yards Report to the breakfast. Oder, who describes his blog as "a watch dog blog that offers analysis, commentary, and reportage
about Forest City Ratner's planned $4 billion Atlantic Yards project,
the largest ever in Brooklyn, to build a basketball arena plus at least
16 high-rise buildings," has been a real thorn in Marty's side about the Atlantic Yards. But not inviting Norman would have been a serious omission, of course. So give credit where credit is due. Needless to say, there was some tension and even conflict during the event between the two.

But I can't remember if that part was on or off the record.

It's always fun to attend blog gatherings because it allows you to put a face to a blogger that you know only on-line. The bloggers were asked to introduce themselves to the group and say a little bit about their blogs and whether we think of ourselves as journalists or not. We were also asked to describe our business model…

What business model?

I could tell that Marty is somewhat uncomfortable with the idea of blogs. He says that he "does email" but that's about it when it comes to computers. "I don't do Facebook, blogs. I don't have time." He said that his wife is the one who reads the blogs and told Oder that she even reads Atlantic Yards Report every day. Marty's staff also feeds him information about the blogs and what the commenters are saying. His staff members did seem to have an intimate knowledge of most of the blogs present.