A few days ago, this invite came across the desk.

Dear New Yorker,

On Thursday, July 30, 2009, the New York City Council will be hosting an event to honor New York City tenant leaders. Among those being honored are:

Larry Jayson from Brooklyn Housing & Family Services

Princella Jamerson, President from Millbrook & Extension Residence Association

Xavier Livingston from Crystal Apartments Tenants Association

Luella Hatch, Tiebout Avenue Block Association

Michael McKee, Tenants PAC

Elizabeth Stanton (Posthumously), District Chair and President of Richmond Terrace Residence Association

We hope you will join the Council next Thursday for this special event, which will take place in City Hall starting at 5:30 p.m.

To RSVP, please call (212) 788-9107 or e-mail events@council.nyc.gov.

If you would like additional information or have any questions about the event, please contact Carlos Carino of the community outreach staff at (212) 788-9121. You may also e-mail him directly at ccarino@council.nyc.gov.

Thank you.

I wrote the following to a tenant leader whom I respect and won’t name:

I’d like to register my deep anger at this transparent fraud by Quinn and the gang. This truly insults the intelligence of even the most trusting souls among us.

Quinn and the gang have done nothing meaningful for tenants throughout their entire tenure. As we all know, Quinn and most of the others are financed by the real estate lobby.

Even worse, they have enabled Michael Bloomberg, the man who has been wreaking havoc in the lives of New York tenants since the day he came into office, to climb back on the ballot. And they are trying to climb right back with him; this, despite the fact that New Yorkers have twice voted no third terms.

A city council party to celebrate tenant leaders? How truly disgusting it would be for anyone who claims to be a tenant leader, to allow Quinn and the gang to make a fool of him or her and thus to make fools of the tenants they claim to rep resent. Instead of being taken in by such a cynical ploy and allowing themselves to be used as photo ops, real leaders would organize a protest.

This “celebration of tenant “leaders” is one of the hoariest pieces of exploitation in a limitless bag of political tricks. It brings to mind a Mitchell-Lama day I attended in Albany. It might have been 2002 or 2003. when busloads of Mitchell-Lama tenants descended on the Legislative Office Building. Everyone was deeply worried that the Rockefeller buyout amendment would force us out of our homes. Many wore “Save Mitchell-Lama” buttons. The tenants were directed to a legislative hearing room in the basement of the building. I went in and hunched down in a seat in the back of the room, embarrassed to be there. I had agreed to bring up a few tenants from Independence Plaza because I wanted support for the legislation that we had introcuced in the city council, a story involving Gifford Miller, the former speaker and Christine Quinn, that I’ve told on www.bloombergwatch.com

When the room filled up, Virginia Fields, Sheldon Silver, David Paterson (in fairness, he was the senate minority leader and couldn’t do anything had he wanted to), Vito Lopez, and a few other Democrats walked onto the stage waving and smiling. Each of them made a short speech with essentially the same message: “We love you Mitchell-Lama tenants. We’re fighting hard for you. Put pressure on the Republicans to pass our Mitchell-Lama legislation.” The tenants erupted in prolonged clapping and cheers. The politicians smiled, waved again and exited stage left. Louise Sanchez, the then co-chair of the Mitchell-Lama Residents Coalition sat on the stage beaming with pride.

Lopez, the chair of the Assembly Housing Committee, came to the microphone to present a plaque to Bob Woolis for “Bob’s many years of dedicated service to the cause of Mitchell-Lama tenants.” Woolis shuffled across the stage to accept the award, proud to be recognized by chairman Lopez. He may have deserved the recognition, but it wouldn’t be for anything that he had won in Albany from Lopez or his colleagues who had been passing the infamous one-house tenant bills for years. Lopez was presenting the award to associate himself with the tenants’ cause not to acknowledge Woolis’ contributions to it. Now that the Democrats control all branches of state governmental, the one-house bill becomes a bit more difficult. But the “celebration” is always available. How much more will tenants take from their “friends” and “leaders” before they give them all the boot?

- Neil Fabricant

I received th e following response:

Hi, Neil.

I share your frustration. The other side is that these are the crooks we got and have to deal with.

I replied:

I really disagree with that approach. I know you have to compromise, but there’s a bottom line. If folks get a real delivery than maybe you can rationalize it. So, for example, I didn’t like it, but I’d never criticize 1199 for making a deal with Joe Bruno — Give hospital workers economic benefits and our union will support you. Members first. But making a deal with Bruno and getting nothing in return–that’s no good. I don’t know the circumstances here (or, for that matter with the Bruno/1199 deal) but I’ve yet to see this gang of fraudsters in the city council do a thing for tenants.

And the response:

It’s not clear to me that the bargain with Bruno & Pataki actually got long-term benefits for the 1199 folks. I agree that tenants have gotten nothing — but I’m not persuaded that Espada coups will be tolerated in the future.

I have not met a politician (perhaps [X] aside, but I don’t know [X] well enough) whose ambition doesn’t give me pause and whom I trust absolutely.

My response:

You may well be right. I don’t know anything about the 1199/Bruno deal. I merely assumed that Dennis Rivera was smart enough to negotiate a decent deal as a condition of going so deeply into the tank. Nor do I hold with the trustworthiness of politicians, or make predictions about the post-Espada era. But I know you know that all the above points are beside the point. As you say, tenants got nothing from Quinn and the fraudsters — worse than nothing. If you’re in the middle of a negotation and you have to hold your nose and keep dealing with them rather than calling them out, o.k. I understand that, too. It happened to me. But allowing her and the rest of these sleazy operators to get away with something this brazen — using tenants as props in a campaign and actually helping them to win — well, what more can I say?

I urge you to rethink this.

Best,

Neil