Authors Want Pens To Stop Atlantic Yards

In a bid to raise money to stop developer Bruce Ratner's planned Atlantic Yards project, Brooklyn authors including Jonathan Lethem, Jennifer Egan, Robert Sullivan, and Katie Roiphe are contributing essays to a new compilation.

"Brooklyn Was Mine" is selling in stores for $15 a copy, with the proceeds going to Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn, an umbrella group opposed to the $4 billion plan to add thousands of units of housing, office, and retail space to the low-rise neighborhood as well as a basketball stadium.

Mr. Lethem, the author of such popular novels as "Motherless Brooklyn" and "The Fortress of Solitude," said in a statement that he was grateful for "the brave handful of folks who refused to be bought out of their homes" and have sought to "put the brakes on this process before it was too late."

Several of the book's 20 authors, including Messrs. Egan and Lethem, are members of DDDB's advisory board.

Critics of the Atlantic Yards plan say it would destroy the character of the Brooklyn community, and they are raising concerns about the use of eminent domain to condemn buildings in the plan's footprint. Lawsuits filed by community groups, including DDDB, have slowed the development's progress, according to the New York Times.

A spokesman for Forest City Ratner, the developer of the Atlantic Yards project, declined to comment on the book's release.