CG CORD has gotten a mention today in Crain's!
From Crain's today Feb. 24 (edited)
B'klyn finds it takes an online village
"Carroll Gardens activists raise ruckus via blogs; builders, politicians take note"

February 23. 2008 11:40AMBy: Andrew Buck
"It didn't seem like a big deal when Bob Guskind posted a rendering
of a building for a site on Smith Street in Carroll Gardens several
months ago. But within days, other bloggers in the Brooklyn
neighborhood had zeroed in on the property. They uncovered fresh
details, including the developer's name and the luxury residential
project's height, 70 feet, which would dwarf the surrounding brownstones.
Dubbed “the heavy metal building” by Carroll Gardens bloggers, the
development quickly became a magnet for local groups and officials
>determined to preserve the neighborhood's low-rise charm....
“It is amazing how a small community was galvanized after reading
one post,” says Mr. Guskind, whose blog, The Gowanus Lounge, was the
first to carry an image of the building. “Three years ago, this
wouldn't have happened.”......
"It's a new day for online community activism. According to Katia
Kelly, a longtime Carroll Gardens resident and the sole blogger on
Pardon Me for Asking, the movement's strength lies in networking.
Cross-linking posts lets one person's message spread almost
instantly. Blogs are also gaining power as their content makes it
into mainstream media.....
“We used to have to beg papers for coverage on local issues, and if
we published anything ourselves it would be waved off as a rumor,”
says Lumi Michelle Rolley, founder of No Land Grab, a four-year-old,
Atlantic Yards-centric blog. “Blogs are now a natural fit for
activists.”....
That was good news for Triada Samaras. Within days of seeing the
picture of the development at 360 Smith St., she and half a dozen
other fiftysomething neighbors formed the Carroll Gardens Coalition
to Respectfully Develop. CORD has gathered more than 3,000 signatures online calling for city
officials to recognize that a sizable number of residents want a
moratorium on construction in the neighborhood.....
“The land-use and development process has not been transparent,” Mr.
Guskind says. “Blogging has changed that.”