An article in today's
New York Times titled: "
A Blogfest Over a Project in Brooklyn" detailed how bloggers have mobilized opposition to the $3.5 billion Atlantic Yards Project in downtown Brooklyn. "Atlantic Yards may well be the first large-scale urban real estate venture in New York City where opposition has coalesced most visibly in the blogosphere," said the
Times.
''If
Jane Jacobs had the tools and technology back when she was fighting Robert Moses' plans to bulldoze Lower Manhattan," said the
Times article, quoting blogger Aaron Naparstek, "I bet 'The Death and Life of Great American Cities' would have been a blog."
Blogger Norman Oder of the
Atlantic Yards Report -- one of the blogs mentioned in the story -- immediately responded to it, as did
Naparstek who joked that Oder covered the
Times coverage of the coverage.
Bloggers' rapid-fire dissemination and analysis of community issues can obviously outflank any daily newspaper and are already a force to be reckoned with.
Wayne E. Hanson served as a writer and editor with e.Republic from 1989 to 2013, having worked for several business units including Government Technology magazine, the Center for Digital Government, Governing, and Digital Communities. Hanson was a juror from 1999 to 2004 with the Stockholm Challenge and Global Junior Challenge competitions in information technology and education.
