MEMO to LAURIE CUMBO ELECT

No one remembers you campaigning to force Ratner to make good on his promise to deliver affordable housing as the quid pro quo for seizing 22 inhabited acres in Prospect Heights.  That would have been a very solid issue to stump on, especially since you were looking for support among a strong voting bloc who had fought Ratner and his multitudinous enablers in City (incoming as well as outgoing Mayors) and State office.

We went to the candidates' evenings looking for someone coming on who would stand up to Ratner and his fellows the way Councilmember James, almost alone among the elected class, did for eight years.  Where were you all that time?  We know you were planning your pivot into the ranks of the elect:  Why were you silent as the woman you intended to replace took the war for home rule to a City and State that bluffed along with their    developer pal in pushing public fibs upon fibs for private profit -- upon profits.  We knew it was a web of lies, including, and especially including, the second tail wagging the Atlantic Yards dog, the "affordable housing," which came after the first tail, the arena.  Tish knew the lies.  She fought.

Ratner plays the game as well as anyone;  he gives politicians their talking points and their cover, in this case affordable housing, always a winner.  You help me, I help you.  Pretty simple.  During the campaign you made it quite clear you had no grievance with Ratner aside from the size of his donation to MoCADA that you thought should have been twenty times larger.  It was the most affectionate of nudges, the kidding kind a friend makes to a friend.  You expressed your feelings toward developers by saying in office you would offer them "honey," not "vinegar."

You're not in office yet, yet there you were a couple of weeks ago lined up alongside the few brave electeds -- Senator Montgomery, Assemblyman Jim Brennan, Assemblywoman Millman, Councillor James -- who battled Ratner on the rise and are now trying to put the skids on his latest, utterly predictable, slick trick to sell off his stake and sell out the neighborhood -- again.  A Russian to the rescue on the arena, now the Chinese on the rest, the "affordable housing."  I'm not a fan of Ratner's but have to hand it to him:  Crony capitalism is shooting fish in a barrel:  Progressives.

You'll do well in the City Council with a Friend-of-Ratner Mayor whose rise has been heavily funded by the real estate industry.  As has yours.  And what is it, 17, 19, 20 others of the incoming Council class?

Your appearance at the BrooklynSpeaks press event is testament to what we can expect from you.  When you could have said something -- many things -- powerful against the blatant public/private swindling of the people over the past decade, you said nothing.  Now you "speak up" for affordable housing because it costs you nothing.

The people have and will continue to bear the cost.  And now we're really on our own.  We don't have Tish anymore.