"Ratner breaks ground! Jay-Z celebrates! Others protest!" - Community Newspaper Group

Bruce Ratner and a deep bench of supporters of his Atlantic Yards mega-project broke ground on a basketball arena for his Brooklyn-bound New Jersey Nets on Thursday afternoon, drawing to a symbolic close to more than seven years of delays for the developer.

Gov. Paterson, Mayor Bloomberg, Borough President Markowitz, and rap mogul, Jay-Z, an owner of a very small portion of the Nets, were the luminaries on the dais. Meanwhile one hundred or so protesters rallied within earshot, calling the project a boondoggle.