The Dutch Prime Minister was at the Brooklyn Museum on Sunday for a reception with Dutch
Americans and diplomatic officials from the Netherlands, when he was greeted by three reporters from the Brooklyn
Paper:

It’s official: Breukelen is dead.

The prime minster of the Netherlands, Jan Peter Balkenende, told The
Brooklyn Paper on Sunday that he will not step in to ensure that the
name of our ancestral Dutch home village be affixed permanently to a consolidation of the villages of Breukelen, Maarssen and the contemptible Loenen.

The prime minister was in town as part of New York and Holland’s
ongoing commemoration of the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s
“discovery” of the river that would later bear his name. As such,
Balkenende spent most of Sunday afternoon making photo-op-style stops
at places of importance to the Dutch community, including the Wyckoff
Farmhouse Museum, the Flatbush Reformed Dutch Church.

I ran into a friend on Seventh Avenue and he told me that I was in the City section of the Times' today. I didn't know what he was talking about.

But then I remembered. 

Time' reporter Greg Beyer called me during the week but I didn't get back to him. I guess I wasn't sure what I wanted to tell the Times' about Murdoch's purchase of the Brooklyn Paper. But all Greg had to do was look at my blog post, which was written within a day of finding out the news.

THIS is not an obituary. The Brooklyn Paper lives.

Just what this will mean for the paper, which has a circulation of 44,500, is unclear.

“This
is a crazy turn of events and one that leaves many of us feeling
slightly (slightly?) uncomfortable,” Louise Crawford, a columnist for
the newspaper, wrote on her blog, Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn.

Yesterday while OTBKB was in Manhattan taking care of some family business, the NY Observer reported that Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. is set to buy the Brooklyn Paper.

Yeesh. See what happens when OTBKB goes into Manhattan.

Here's how I found out: I was checking my iPhone as we were driving from the Upper East Side down to SoHo and I saw a couple of emails. One from Brooklyn Optimist, one from the Brooklyn Paper, one from Leon Freilich, Verse Responder.

Huh? Murdoch? The Brooklyn Paper…At first I thought it was a joke. But when I actually read Brooklyn Optimist's post I realized it was true.

I tried to reach Gersh at the Brooklyn Paper but it was impossible to get through; I had many questions, concerns. Here's an excerpt from the article in The Observer:

Celia Weintrob said an official statement would be released on Friday.

In 2006, Mr. Murdoch purchased a rival chain of papers, The Courier-Life chain, which publishes 12 papers in Brooklyn. Last year, when Gawker speculated that the Paper was in financial trouble, Mr. Kuntzman was dismissive of that report—and of Mr. Murdoch's chain of papers.

"The Brooklyn Paper, which just won 'Newspaper of the Year' from a major national trade group, is certainly not going out of business," he told Gothamist.
"Brooklyn needs us too much right now, what with local papers being
snapped up by billionaire moguls who have no interest in local news
except maximizing classified ad sales. Has Rupert Murdoch even BEEN to
Brooklyn? His reporters don't know the territory, either."

My first comment to Hepcat: "Brooklyn blogs just got very important."

Looking back, I have to say, I was wondering about the Atlantic Yards turnaround by the paper's publisher.After years of fair and hard-hitting anti-Yards coverage that even won the Paper some awards.

And what about the fact that the Brooklyn Paper was no longer using WNYC as their hold-soundtrack on the telephone?

Too liberal? 

Was this all part of grooming the Paper for the News Corp sale? 

Does this mean that the Brooklyn paper and the Courier are merging? Will Smartmom be part of the newly Murdocked (sic) Brooklyn Paper? Will Gersh have the free editorial hand he's had under Weintrob?

Will reporters still be expected to work for close to nothing for that billionaire? It's one thing when it's a fledgling and financially strapped locally-owned newspaper. Quite another when it's the biggest media mogul in the world.

Will Smartmom want to be in the new Brooklyn Paper. I'll have to talk to her and get back to you.

I was in Manhattan attending to some family business when I saw Morgan Pehme's post on his blog, Brooklyn Optimist reporting that Rupert Murdoch bought the Brooklyn Paper, home of Smartmom. 

That's a shocker to me. Now a lot of things I was wondering about are making sense. I knew nothing about it although Gersh did recently hint that some investors might be interested in the Brooklyn Paper. 
I have to say, I am very surprised that they would sell to Murdoch. But then again, in these times survival is survival.

I guess. 

My reaction in the car with Hepcat: "Brooklyn blogs just got very important now that Murdoch owns both the Courier and the Paper, as well as the Wall Street Journal and the New York Post."

Today, Murdoch, who already owns the Brooklyn Courier-Life chain of newspapers, the New York Post, and The Wall Street Journal, gobbled up The Brooklyn Paper too. In an article posted just over an hour ago on the The New York Observer's website, The Brooklyn Paper's editor Gersh Kuntzman declares, "We're very excited."

Good thing Gersh is happy, because Brooklynites I called for quick comment are deeply disturbed at the total media consolidation of New York City's biggest borough – especially since all the papers will now be under the control of the ultra-conversative FOX News baron. "It's likely to put a stanglehold on independent reporting and on the ability for people to find out what's going on in their community and influence it," said Carroll Gardens resident Glenn Kelly.

And it's not just the residents of Brooklyn that are reeling from the sudden bombshell. There's likely to be a dramatic shake-up in both theCourier-Life and Brooklyn Paper newsrooms as News Corp. eliminates overlap between the two papers.

Morgan, I couldn't agree with you more when you say: "Dear readers, have the Brooklyn blogs ever been more important? We're the only source of true, independent news left in the borough." 

Brooklyn Paper editor, Gersh Kuntzman, actually went to the fancy dinner at the Brooklyn Museum, where developer Bruce Ratner was being honored. He even rubbed elbows with star architect Frank Gehry. His report is on the Brooklyn Paper website:

Atlantic Yards architect Frank Gehry told The Brooklyn Paper
Thursday night that his “Miss Brooklyn” tower at Atlantic Yards is not
dead.

In an exclusive interview, he told The Paper that not only will it be built, but it will “look better than anyone imagines.”

Gehry
admitted that developer Bruce Ratner has struggled to find an anchor
tenant for the 511-foot iconic, shimmering glass-walled skyscraper.

But Gehry quickly added: “Bruce will have a tenant soon — and then he’ll begin construction.”

The
Miss Brooklyn tower, proposed for the corner of Atlantic and Flatbush
avenues, would be the gateway to Ratner’s ailing Atlantic Yards
project, which once called for 16 skyscrapers, a basketball arena and
6,800 units of housing, but has since been trimmed back to two or three
buildings, the arena and hundreds of apartments.

Marty is ahead in an early mayoral poll. But what do Brooklynites, those who REALLY know Marty, think?

Make your vote heard in the Brooklyn Paper poll on their homepage NOW. You gotta scroll down but you’ll find it.

Take your mind off of Spitzer-mania for a while. The press conference isn’t until 11:30. Take a moment, and tell the world what you think.

OTBKB friend and fave Wendy Ponte had this to say about trying to give away her daughter’s guinea pigs in her Brooklyn Paper column PS…I Love You.

When they do find a new home for them it will be our loss. OSFO has often been the guinea pig’s babysitter when they go away.

What do you do with an unwanted small pet in Park Slope? I’ll admit that I have a vested interest in exploring this topic, aside from being a reporter. I am the owner, or really the parent of the owner, of two severely under-utilized hamster-sized guinea pigs.

Olive and Sweetie were adorable when they first arrived two years ago — their purchase spurred on by months of begging from my then-10-year-old daughter.

Cute little fluff balls of fur are irresistible in almost any species. It became quickly apparent, however, that those same balls of fur were making me sneeze in a big way. They had to go.

My boyfriend began to make jokes about taking them for walks in the park and — oops — losing them along the way.

Out of curiosity I called Eugene Patron, the press spokesman for the park: “Do people dump small animals in the park?

This week PS…I Love You discovers Wafels and Dinges. Here’s an excerpt from the Brooklyn Paper column by friend and fave, Wendy Ponte.

There would be no real Belgian waffles in Park Slope if not for Cynthia Wang’s e-mail message. “Dear waffle truck,” she wrote. “Please come out to Park Slope. We won’t care if you double-park, everyone does it! God knows the babies and stroller-moms would gobble them up. Help a freelance designer out, save me from boring soft-serve ice cream and bagels. … Bring me the waffles au’ Belgique!”

Then came the swift reply from Thomas DeGeest, owner of the Wafels & Dinges truck:

“Dear Cynthia, I have good news for you. The Belgian Ministry of Culinary Affairs has just agreed to accept your application for the position of Special Wafel Envoy to Brooklyn. That means that you are now in charge of planning the first visit of the Wafels & Dinges truck to Brooklyn, more specifically to Park Slope. We’ll come with the truck; you line up the moms, dads, babies and strollers and keep Mr. Softee at a safe distance

.

OTBKB friend and fave, Wendy Ponte, pens the Brooklyn Paper’s PS I Love You column and she did some FUN local shopping recently. Here’s an excerpt. Read more here.

I have decided that this year I am going to do as much of my holiday shopping right here in Park Slope as I can.

I
made this decision for virtuous reasons. The Park Slope Civic Council
says that when you buy from local merchants, more of every dollar stays
in the community than if you use that same dollar at the neighborhood
Starbucks or Barnes & Noble.

Plus, if more people would buy locally and shop online less, there will be more choices and lower prices in the smaller stores.

But
I discovered an even better reason to shop locally. It’s funny! Funny
as in humorous, amusing, and good for a whole bunch of laughs

As reported in OTBKB, a group calling itself the Park Slope Homeless Coalition met a few weeks ago with the Department of Homeless Services. Today there’s a piece about them in the Brooklyn Paper.

The three homeless men who sparked a flurry of soul searching in Park Slope — and the ire of a local pastor — after refusing to moderate their drinking and noise-making have abandoned their long-time hangout on the steps of the Old First Reformed Church, but they have left a legacy behind.

Rev. Daniel Meeter, Rabbi Andy Bachman of Congregation Beth Elohim, and the Park Slope Civic Council have formed the “Park Slope Coalition for the Homeless,” which will be devoted to improving the well-being of the dozens of homeless who flock to the Slope for its wealth of, well, wealth.

The incipient group was borne from a Nov. 20 meeting with the city’s Department of Homeless Services.

The next day, Bachman posted the Coalition’s four basic principles on his blog, www.andybachman.com: “Acknowledge with dignity those who are homeless. … Work for their dignity and safety. Connect them to the variety of homeless services in the city. Support the provision of services to these people.”

PS I LOVE YOU in the Brooklyn Paper is written by OTBKB friend and fave, Wendy Ponte. Here’s her column  about  KarmaTube, the YouTube of spirituality videos. According to their website: "It’s a collection of short, "do something" videos coupled with
simple actions that every viewer can take. Our mission is to spread the
good. Thank you for your partnership in service." 

What goes around, comes around — or so they say. Or, as my friend Jenny
Douglas, a Park Sloper and one of the creators and coordinators of
KarmaTube.org, says, “Light begets light.”

KarmaTube
is the latest user-generated content Web site, like YouTube, where
viewers provide the videos. But that’s where the resemblance ends.
KarmaTube’s videos are meant to inspire change and spread some good
around. Apparently it’s really caught on — launched last January,
KarmaTube already has more than 10,000 subscribers.

KarmaTube is
run on a completely volunteer basis and operates with zero budget.
This, Douglas tells me, is part of the beauty of the organization. It
is all about service and creating good karma…

READ THE REST HERE.

Translation: Pigeon Advocate was pissed off at the Brooklyn Paper. She sent this to a whole bunch of people, including me. As Gersh Kuntzman points out below — this is a long story (and context is everything) and BP did nothing wrong.

I agreed to meet with Gersh Kuntzman [editor-in-chief of the Brooklyn Paper] on the strict terms that he would not publish my face – I’ve had many threats, someone tried to break into my apartment and of course there are many other reasons why I would not want my photo in the paper – but also posted on his on-line newspaper – which has a far greater and further reaching audience.

Please exercise caution when/if working with Mr. Kuntzman on any of your own stories and/or issues.  His word is meaningless.

The editor of the BP apologized ather graciously, I might add. PA was POed at the BP because they ran a picture that she’s in.

I did receive your voicemail and I have this to say:

I asked you how to make it better. You said take the picture off the website. It has been done (as you can see here).

My goal was NEVER to violate my agreement with you — and to the extent that you feel I did, I am sincerely sorry. I believe I have made it better by removing the photo, but that’s your call. As the editor of a COMMUNITY weekly, my goal is NEVER to alienate the people I interview because, indeed, they are also my readers, critics, fans and sources. As a Park Slope resident, I am very committed to the notion of community, so I am very sorry to have disappointed you in this respect.

The Brooklyn Paper reports:

The Park Slope Civic Council is not only backing a “Buy in Brooklyn”
campaign, but it’s putting 400 umbrellas in local stores so you can
grab one if it’s raining. The whole thing is on the honor system,
people, so don’t screw it up! The launch is on Nov. 13 at the Community
Bookstore (143 Seventh Ave., between Carroll Street and Garfield Place)
at 8 pm. Here’s hoping it rains so we can test out the system!

This story has legs. Hopefully a solution will be found for these men who have taken up residence on the steps of Old First. Read the rest at the Brooklyn Paper.

Three homeless men have driven one of Park Slope’s most liberal religious leaders to the very brink of what some would consider un-Christian behavior.

Rev. Daniel Meeter of Old First Reformed Presbyterian Church has gotten so fed up with the homeless people sleeping on the steps of his house of worship that he has begun throwing out their belongings — a move that has prompted a flurry of multi-denominational soul-searching in liberal Park Slope.

“It’s always been a simmering problem, but it heated up this summer,” said Meeter.

For years, the front steps of the church, at the corner of Seventh Avenue and Carroll Street, unprotected by a fence, have served as a de facto homeless shelter.

By this summer, three men in particular were finding refuge there: Robert Royster, who’d been an on-and-off visitor for years, Will Franklin, who drinks on the stoop and sleeps elsewhere, and Frank Silano. All three have substance-abuse problems, according to Meeter

And it’s my friend and fellow writer’s group member, Wendy Ponte. OTBKB is thrilled that Wendy is going to be writing the weekly Park Slope column for the Brooklyn Paper.

Here’s an excerpt from this week’s column, Wendy’s take on celebrity children’s book author, Julianne Moore, who read at the Seventh Avenue Barnes and Noble last week.

I think I’ll write a children’s book. I am a writer, so it’s not that much of a stretch. I know how to put words together in interesting ways. Of course I’ve never done that particular type of writing before, but that certainly hasn’t stopped other non-kids-book writers from the trade.

Indeed, hearing Julianne Moore last Thursday at the Barnes and Noble on Seventh Avenue reading from her new children’s book, “Freckleface Strawberry,” has given me hope. After all, she’s never had anything published before — and I have! And, anyway, it’s easy — right? There aren’t that many words, and all I need is a good moral, or some kind of childhood affliction that turns out to not matter after all. I didn’t have an annoying childhood nickname like Moore’s Freckleface Strawberry. But I did have awfully hairy arms for a 9-year-old girl, and the boy sitting next to me at school teased me all year until I finally convinced my mother to let me use bleach. Maybe I could call my book “Gorilla Girl,” or just plain “Hairyette.”

READ THE REST HERE.

I didn’t know a thing about it (even though it was on the cover of the Brooklyn Paper). Gersh Kuntzman brought it to my attention yesterday when I was at the taping of his show, Reporter’s Roundtable on BCAT. You can see th Oddo video on the Brooklyn Paper website.

Oddo (R–Dyker Heights) made headlines around the globe this week
after a user of YouTube, the ubiquitous video-sharing Web site, posted
a clip of the Council minority leader screaming obscenities at a
Norwegian reporter whose “interview” was really an Ali G-style prank.

Once he realized that the joke was on him, Oddo wasn’t laughing.

“Get
the f—k out of my office! What the f—k is this?” Oddo screamed,
dropping the “f-bomb” 15 times (and assorted other barnyard expletives
a few more times) in the clip which ran just over one-and-one-half
minutes.

The YouTube footage has made Oddo something of a folk
hero among his supporters (“Reminds me of Sonny Corleone! Awesome,”
said one fan) and a thug to his detractors (“You embarrassed yourself,
Staten Island and Italians,” wrote one disappointed constituent).
Either way, the video has become a must-watch (you can see it below).

Did you see today’s Brooklyn Paper, I mean, the award winning Brooklyn Paper?

The Paper is running a big Thanksgiving contest: http://www.brooklynpaper.com/turkey/

SOMEONE is starting a Brooklyn daily newspaper.

This ad ran in BP’s classified “Help Wanted” page today:

EDITORIAL AND SALES STAFF WANTED

Editorial and sales staff wanted for new daily newspaper planning to launch in late November. This will be a compact-sized paid newspaper of general circulation (Monday through Friday) featuring Brooklyn’s top news in a breezy entertaining style, including unmatched coverage of new businesses and real estate transactions.

To request an invitation to an upcoming Open House, send us your resume.
editor@brooklyndailyherald.com
salesmanager@brooklyndailyherald.com

This from the Brooklyn Paper

The city started work last week on a master plan that could
transform the dizzying chaos of Grand Army Plaza into a well-engineered
traffic circle worthy of Western Europe, by taking 11,000 square feet
of street space and giving it to pedestrians and cyclists.

The “Big Dig” was cheered by traffic activists as “a great first step in the right direction.”

“The
changes are really indicative of how much the Department of
Transportation itself has changed since Janette Sadik-Khan came in as
commissioner,” said Aaron Naparstek, a member of the Grand Army Plaza
Coalition, which has lobbied — and is still lobbying — for a more
radical transformation of the so-called “Circle of Death.”

The Brooklyn Paper did the footwork and got the story about the film shoot in Brooklyn Heights last week. My Brooklyn Height’s source, who refused to be identified, told me that it was a Joel and Ethan Coen film that stars George Clooney and Brad Pitt.

But BP says that  John Malkovich is in it, too. How’d my source miss that?

My refused-to-be- identified source also told me that they were turning the Heights into Georgetown.

With a little bit of paint, some movie magic and the blessing of the
historic preservation society, directors Joel and Ethan Coen
transformed State Street into Georgetown.

Not only did the
big-screen brothers paint three brownstones pastel colors, but they
built two phony facades on existing buildings, added decorative
shutters on several others and built a brick wall out of plywood to
make the Heights look more like the Washington, DC neighborhood that is
the setting for their upcoming film, “Burn After Reading.”

Some
local residents were ticked off, not just because the production has
already robbed the block of most of its parking spaces, but also
because they didn’t like the idea of Brooklyn standing in for someplace
else.

The Brooklyn Paper reports that Benjamin Henry Kuntzman was born on Tuesday, July 31 making Smartmom’s editor Gersh a dad for the second time. His daughter Jane is 6 years old. OTBKB wishes Ben and his family every best wish.

Editor Gersh Kuntzman and photographer Julie Rosenberg welcomed “Big Ben” into the world (with a little help from the docs at New York Methodist Hospital in Park Slope) on Tuesday at 11:57 am. The tot weighed in at 9 pounds, 10 ounces.

“He’s the biggest, densest thing to hit Brooklyn since Atlantic Yards,” quipped Kuntzman. “But he’s far less controversial.”

Got this email from my wonderful editor, Gersh Kuntzman, at the Brooklyn Paper

For those of you who have been wondering, the Brooklyn Paper took a Fouth of July break. But now, they’re  back to work, busily editing the next edition of the Brooklyn Paper, copies of which will hit the Key Food (and the sidewalk outside of your home) on Friday July 13th or Saturday the 14th.

Our own irascible shutterbug, Tom Callan, who has been shooting Brooklyn for the better part of three decades, has opened up his files for a retrospective of his work opening next Friday in Red Hook.

Some of our favorite Callan shots — many of which first appeared in The Brooklyn Paper — will be on display, lining the walls of the equally irascible Sunny’s Bar on Conover Street.

More than one toast will be raised to Callan at the opening party at 8 pm.

SMALL TYPE: “Photographs by Tom Callan,” Sunny’s Bar (253 Conover St., at Reed Street in Red Hook), July 20, 8 pm. Call (718) 625-8211 for information.

The Courier is hogging all the usual Brooklyn Paper spots. They’ve been blasting Park Slope with copies — especially in places where the Brooklyn Paper is usually found.

Friday mornings they fill the shelf at Key Food. Then there’s hardly any room for the Brooklyn Paper, my paper, when it arrives.

Hepcat couldn’t find a Brooklyn Paper in the vestibule at Barnes and Noble last night. Last week there were Couriers at Cousin John’s and no Brooklyn Papers.

What is the deal?

They’re sending so many copies to Park Slope that there are hundreds left over by the end of the week just sitting there.

Is this a newspaper war? Is the Courier owned by Rupert Murdoch or something?

Brooklyn Paper has the scoop:  Six-time world hot-dog-eating champion Takeru Kobayashi has been injured
and may not compete in next week’s 90th annual competition at Nathan’s
in Coney Island.

This from the Brooklyn Paper:

Park Slope resident, Beth Hassrick, died on June 8. The cause was brain cancer.

She
is survived by her husband, Matthew Gartner, a English professor at
Kingsborough Community College; her children, Leo, 8, and daughter
Iris, 6; her mother, Betsey Hassrick, of Longmont, Colorado; and a
bro­ther, Locke Has­­srick of Darn­es­­town, Mary­land.

Hassrick
was born on Feb. 17, 1961 in Str­ouds­burg, PA, and graduated from
Hart­wick College. She re­ceived her doctorate in Philosophy from the
CU­NY Graduate Center, where she spe­ci­al­iz­ed in contemporary
philosophy of language, logic and philosophy of mind.

Hassrick pursued clinical training in psychotherapy at the Gestalt Center
for Psychotherapy and Training in Manhattan. As a licensed
psychoanalyst, Hassrick had a private practice in Manhattan,
working with individuals and couples.

She was an active member of
the PTA and school leadership team at PS 321, where she was a strong
advocate for children with special needs.

A memorial service was
held on June 20 at Congregation Beth Elohim. Hassrick was buried
next to her grandmother in Henryville, Pennsylvania.

For further information, email her cousin, marciaely@aol.com

The Brooklyn Paper ran a story last week about "Sex and the City" writer, Elisa Zuritsky, who is trying to get rid of the $3,000. wedding dress she never wore.

The bridal shop where she ordered her gown went out of business just days before her wedding and they failed to deliver her $3,000. gown. It  arrived after the wedding and she tossed it in the closet.

Now she wants to give it away to the most stressed out and deserving bride she can find. If you are in need and very stressed out, here are the guidelines. Or go to Zuritsky’s blog: Take My Dress.

Guidelines: Your Tale of Woe should be no longer than
500 words and must include your full name, date of engagement,
projected wedding date, and name of your fiancé(e). Don’t worry; I’m
not going to post this information. Only the winning essay and parts of
other essays will be published. Click here for the official contest rules, otherwise known as legal mumbo-jumbo.

The Independent, a British newspaper has an article about the Brooklyn Paper/Barclays Bank controversy.

When Barclays agreed to pay more than $300m (£152m) to get its name
on a new basketball stadium in Brooklyn, it thought it had pulled off
one of the most exciting marketing coups in American sport.

But just a few weeks on, the British bank is battling to prevent a
public relations disaster, as black leaders demand the deal be scrapped
because of Barclays’ historic support for the apartheid regime in South
Africa and what they believe are profits it made from slavery.

Barclays says the allegations about its links to the 18th-century
slave trade are "simply not true" – based on an inaccurate book written
60 years ago – and it is now mired in an exchange of historical
documents with opponents.

Politicians, churchmen and newspaper columnists say it would be an
insult to black residents to name the complex the Barclays Centre, as
planned.

The basketball arena will be the new home for the New Jersey Nets,
and forms the central part of a $4bn Frank Gehry-designed complex that
includes 16 skyscrapers and will, according to its proponents,
stimulate a renaissance in an underprivileged area of New York’s outer
borough.

Letitia James, a Brooklyn council member, said that accepting
hundreds of millions of dollars from Barclays was like "eating the
fruit of a poisonous tree". She said: "Brooklyn has been described as
the ‘black belt’ of New York City, and because of their past practices,
I do not believe it is appropriate that this deal goes ahead. We’ve no
legal grounds to stop it, but we will be putting moral pressure on the
shareholders and investors in the development project."

Barclays was forced to pull out of apartheid-era South Africa in
1986 after a long and bitter fight by equal rights campaigners around
the world. It eventually calculated that the damage to its reputation
was going to cost it more than selling out of what was then the
country’s second-largest bank.

READ MORE AT THE INDEPENDENT

Go to Brooklyn Paper and click on the BCAT’s reporter roundtable. Find out what Gersh and Vince from the Brooklyn Paper look like—plus reporters from the Daily News, the Post, and the Courier.

Here’s the blurb:

Brooklyn Paper Editor Gersh Kuntzman  and Senior Editor
Vince DiMiceli recently joined other luminaries from the
Brooklyn media world on BCAT’s Reporter Roundtable. DiMiceli broke out
the champagne and, like Kuntzman, donned a tuxedo for the celebratory
year-in-review show. A must see!

.

I loved the powerful editorial in this week’s Brooklyn Paper. It may be one of their best. Here’s an excerpt.

That an old, established, global bank has some skeletons in its closet should not surprise anyone. But the particular nature of Barclays skeletons should have given Ratner pause.

Those who downplay the significance of having the Barclays name atop a publicly subsidized arena that African-Americans will walk past every day — and where African-Americans will earn their living, both on the court and in the concessions stands — should put themselves in the shoes of the descendents of the slaves that Barclays family members once traded as property.

Naming an arena after a slave-trading family is a slap in the face, akin to a developer building an arena in Borough Park — with its high population of Holocaust survivors — and naming it “Volkswagen Field.”

READ MORE HERE.

It’s official. The Brooklyn Paper has launched their new web site. Woo hoo. Check it out. They’ve also gone singular. No more Brooklyn Papers. It’s the BROOKLYN PAPER now.

There are other changes afoot. The Brooklyn Paper is renaming the local print editions:

The Brooklyn Papers has a year end interview with Marty Markowitz. "The fur
started flying from the moment editor, Gersh Kuntzman, pressed “record” on his MP3
player."  Read more in the Brooklyn Papers.  Kuntzman asked Marty what he thought were the three best things to happen in Brookyn this year.

Marty: The cruise ship terminal opening in Brooklyn. Promise made, promise kept. It will be a growing industry and opens the doors to a lot of tourism opportunities, making Brooklyn a destination of choice, especially if the cruise ship industry expands to the other pier … And someday, Brooklyn will be a port of call.

The second thing of course is Democratic control of the House of Representatives and the Senate. Brooklyn, like most urban centers, is impacted by federal policies as they relate to health care and under-employment and affordable housing. Also, we lost a significant number of men and women in the war in Iraq … It all impacts the quality of life that we want to improve in Brooklyn.

And Atlantic Yards! I feel it is the project of the early part of the 21st century. It will propel Brooklyn into the 21st century and will create, in my humble opinion, a fantastic new city center and create synergy between the downtowns.