Highbrow/despicable: it’s an uncommon type of vandalism in Bushwick when something is removed instead of added, and for political motives to boot. — Photo by Jeremy Sapienza.

Part of the reason political incumbents have the edge in elections is that for the entirety of their term, they get free advertising on public trash cans, city-funded newsletters, and other materials. One especially prominent space is on signs posted at “affordable” housing construction sites: the governor gets a big blue band with his name in white, and then depending on the location of the project, the district’s state assemblyman and its city councilmember appear on a sticker below.

The building going up at 239 Melrose Street — one last scrap of land in a big island of subsidized housing sponsored over the years in some way by the office of Vito Lopez and his “private” arm, Ridgewood-Bushwick Senior Citizens Council (RBSCC) — has many signs affixed to its plywood construction barrier. The standard political advertisement is present in the jumble, but this one sports a noticeable flaw. Where the assembly-council sticker is, one can see “VITO J. LOPEZ ASSEMBLY MAN” is intact. But to the right, a large gap is visible next to “COUNCIL MEMBER.” Upon closer inspection, it seems someone has cut and peeled away only the section of the sticker that would bear the name of our City Councilwoman Diana Reyna.

This seems especially suspicious just now, as Lopez pushes an alternative to Reyna in the next city council election in the person of Maritza Dávila, leader of the Jefferson Street Block Association. Certainly Lopez and Dávila know the value of free (to them) political advertising, and would be pleased for Ms. Reyna to be denied that edge in the upper Central Avenue area, a key Lopez-RBSCC stronghold.

And after all, Jefferson Street is only a block away.

I’m just sayin’.