Park Slope's Queen Blogger

Erica Reitman is an exceptionally pleasant Park Slope resident.

The self-proclaimed “nerdy Jewish girl” from Long Island speaks with the eloquence of a talk show host and has big brown eyes, milky skin and a sly smile. She’s known to gush about her basset hound, Oliver, and will reveal only that she is “thirty-something.”

Put simply, Reitman is not someone you’d expect to draw inspiration from the flow of the deceased Notorious B.I.G., nor would you expect her to address others as “btchz” online. But these are just prerequisites to running the neighborhood’s most infamous blog: Effed in Park Slope.

Since its launch in 2008, FiPS has become just as much a Park Slope fixture as the institutions it mocks. Written in hip-hop inspired banter, the blog offers updates on everything from neighborhood trends to freak raccoon encounters. FiPS places a special emphasis on all things green and domestic, coining terms like breeder (“baby maker”), braller (“kid free-n-lovin it”) and cooptard (“any annoying person who works at the Park Slope Food Coop”).

It’s not the best way to make friends in a neighborhood full of families, but Reitman is by no means short of an audience. FiPS. receives about 250,000 page views per month and recently earned honorable mention for the Village Voice’s “Best Neighborhood Blog” award.

But how did a resident and lover of Park Slope come to run a blog known for its hate of the neighborhood?

It all started in 2007, when Reitman moved here per the suggestion of her husband, Greg. At first she was opposed to leaving Manhattan for Brooklyn, but after visiting Park Slope, she fell in love with the neighborhood.

A year later she and Greg bought a place on Union Street and Eighth Avenue. By then Reitman had noticed some of Park Slope’s idiosyncrasies: clumps of strollers in cramped coffee shops, cheery Park Slope Food Coop members trolling around in orange vests and families everywhere.

“I was surprised that no one was addressing it with a sense of humor and an eye toward some of the silly, ridiculous stuff going on,” Reitman said.

The wheels in Reitman’s head began to turn. She had a knack for sarcasm and, being the marketing director of the Web platform company Squarespace, she also had the technical know-how to run a blog.

Reitman collaborated with her friend, Benjamin Leo, to develop the concept for FiPS. Around Thanksgiving, 2008, they launched the site. Just four hours after their first post, they were picked up by Curbed and gained thousands of readers.

“It’s just been growing like gangbusters ever since,” Reitman said.

FiPS’s frank writing has attracted just as many loyal readers as it has loyal haters. The most memorable comment war in recent history erupted after Reitman ranted about the poor service she received at Mama Rosa’s on Union Street in September. Supposed Mama Rosa affiliates flooded the site with rebuttals, one of which expressed hope that Reitman “would get mugged or trapped in a burning building or run over by the F-train.”

Unshaken by death threats, however, Reitman appreciates all feedback.

“I think the blog would be pretty boring if everyone was like: ‘This is a great post, right on!’” Reitman said. “Hate comments are kind of funny, if you think about the time and effort it takes to sit down and comment.”

Though anonymous readers don’t hold anything back, neighborhood figures who are sometimes the butt of Reitman’s jokes are more careful of what they say.

Susan Fox, founder of Park Slope Parents, declined to comment for this article, as did the owner of Aunt Suzie’s, a restaurant that Reitman recently criticized for its “screamingly mediocre” food. When Patch contacted a local blogger who we had heard was critical of FiPS, he wrote back to say his criticisms were “off the record” and if he felt inclined to comment, he would contact Reitman directly.

Clearly Reitman’s online wrath is intimidating, but her close friends say her reputation as a bitter, isolated blogger is exaggerated.

“I always say that she hides behind this mask of nastiness, but she’s super kind and lovely,” said David Quinn, a FiPS contributor and Slope resident.

Meredith Turits, who also contributes to the blog and lives on Seventh Street and Seventh Avenue said she admires Reitman for standing behind her statements.

“I’ve never met a person that doesn’t like Erica in person,” Turits said. “[FiPS] is an extension of this other part of her. I think she owns her voice and that’s the only way to do it.”

For all the foes Reitman has made with FiPS, however, she has also made a substantial amount of friends.

“I’ve managed to connect with a part of my neighborhood I quite frankly didn’t even know existed," she said.

A diehard Park Slope resident, Reitman isn't going anywhere. In the meantime, she hopes that when her neighbors read FiPS, they try not to take themselves too seriously.

“I do it all with a sense of humor,” she said. “You can hate it or love it, but it’s my outlook on life. If you want to come hang out on my blog, I would love for you to join us. But if not, I’ll still say sorry if I bump into you on the street.”