Good morning. It’s Friday. We’ll meet the new Brooklyn borough historian. We’ll also find out what Barbra Streisand had to say on Instagram about road signs in Manhattan that say “Hello, gorgeous!”
The Brooklyn borough historian found out from a phone call that he was history. The historian, Ron Schweiger, said that the caller was a top aide to the borough president, Antonio Reynoso. The aide said that Schweiger, 81, was not being reappointed to the unpaid position he had held for 24 years. “I guess I’m going to be replaced,” Schweiger said, adding that he was “OK with it.” Reynoso, 42, said he was appointing Asad Dandia, 33, an ally of Mayor Zohran Mamdani who was a plaintiff in a class-action suit against the Police Department involving surveillance tactics a decade ago. “I think that Ron has been absolutely amazing,” Reynoso said. “Really knows his stuff. We’re still going to be working with him. We’re making him” — he paused for a moment —- “the historian emeritus.” Making history ‘easily consumable’Reynoso said that Dandia “represents a way to speak about the history of Brooklyn that is easily consumable by the people of Brooklyn.” Dandia has a social media presence and is “looking to make history something that people want to learn about.” Also, Reynoso said, Dandia had all but campaigned for the job. “He was the first person in my entire career who came to me and said, ‘I love history a ton, I do walking tours about Brooklyn, and I would love to be considered to be the Brooklyn historian,’” Reynoso said. “He came to me with that more than two years ago — I want to say maybe three.” Under state law, each borough is required to have a historian. The new Manhattan borough president, Brad Hoylman-Sigal, appointed a new one in February. Schweiger was appointed by Marty Markowitz, the borough president from 2002 to 2013, and was reappointed when Eric Adams succeeded Markowitz. Schweiger said he had met Reynoso once, several weeks into Reynoso’s first term four years ago. “And that was that,” Schweiger said. “I haven’t spoken to him since, and he hasn’t called.” Dandia, who works as a museum educator at the Museum of the City of New York and leads walking tours and lectures on history, described himself as a “public historian, so I’m a little different from traditional historians in that I don’t have a doctorate in things I teach about.” He has a bachelor’s degree in social work from New York University and a master’s degree in Islamic studies from Columbia University, and has studied for brief periods at the American University in Cairo, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Middlebury College. “I have a South Asian Pakistani background, and I just felt like perspectives of the new faces of Brooklyn were not yet being sufficiently highlighted,” he said. “There’s really no better way to do it than in the official capacity as borough historian.” And the mayor? “So, he is a friend of mine,” Dandia said. “I think we both reflect the new faces of the city, and in my case, Brooklyn.” For a historian, a year of anniversariesThis is shaping up to be a busy year for historians, with the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence coming in July and, in August, the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Brooklyn. That skirmish, also known as the Battle of Long Island, is a challenge for a local historian: It was one of the biggest losses of the Revolutionary War — for the good guys. That does not trouble Dandia. “The takeaway point about the Battle of Brooklyn is that we lost the battle but won the war,” he said, before talking about how often he passes the Trader Joe’s supermarket in a former bank building at Court Street and Atlantic Avenue. The site was “where George Washington stood to observe the British advance coming up from Staten Island,” he said. And the colonials’ defeat was important because “that battle bought Washington time to be able to recuperate and eventually come back and win” in November 1783, when the British pulled out of Manhattan and Washington led his troops to the Battery. “It all worked out in the end,” Dandia said. “I think that’s the New York story, and the Brooklyn story.” WEATHER Today won’t be as hot as yesterday. The temperature will climb to only 78, not the sweaty 80s of yesterday. There’s a chance of showers this afternoon and evening, with a low tonight in the high 50s. ALTERNATE-SIDE PARKING In effect until May 14 (Solemnity of the Ascension). QUOTE OF THE DAY “When our philanthropic partners step up and invest in the child care that working families rely on, they’re investing in the future of New York.” — Mayor Zohran Mamdani, announcing a campaign to raise $20 million through a city-run nonprofit to support his child care plan. The latest New York news
We hope you’ve enjoyed this newsletter, which is made possible through subscriber support. Subscribe to The New York Times. Barbra Streisand has something to say about ‘Hello, gorgeous!’ road signs
The signs say, “Hello, gorgeous!” Barbra Streisand made those two words famous — first in “Funny Girl” on Broadway and then in the Oscar-winning film version in 1968. She had 89 more words to say about them, on Instagram, now that “Hello, gorgeous” is on a sign welcoming people who have just crossed the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan. She talked about how she remembers “that mile-long ride from Brooklyn to Manhattan.” “It felt like a magical journey leading not just into the city, but into my future, a place where dreams could come true,” she says in the post. The signs were the idea of the Manhattan borough president, Brad Hoylman-Sigal, who said that he had been asked if he wanted to put a message on the 13 signs leading into Manhattan. He suggested “Hello, gorgeous,” saying he had long been “charmed” by Streisand’s performance in “Funny Girl” and her connection with the L.G.B.T.Q. community. He is the city’s first openly gay borough president. He and the Transportation Department went through several rounds of revisions. “They left the comma out” in one version, he said. “I had to fight for the exclamation point.” “Hello, gorgeous!” was set in large type on the Brooklyn Bridge sign. On the others, it is in somewhat smaller script-like lettering. Hoylman-Sigal said he had taken inspiration from a former Brooklyn borough president, Marty Markowitz, who had phrases like “How sweet it is” put on some of the signs in his borough — and “Fuhgeddaboudit” on signs facing drivers as they left. Once the sign was in the works, Hoylman-Sigal called Ken Sunshine, a spokesman for Streisand, who told her about them. “She was touched, particularly that it was a sign that greets people coming over the Brooklyn Bridge to Manhattan, because that’s her journey,” Sunshine said, and decided to record the Instagram post. “She’s a Brooklyn girl at heart. Brooklyn girls sometimes dream, and sometimes that dream means going into Manhattan.” METROPOLITAN DIARY That’s one approach
Dear Diary: I spotted a bright pink, handwritten sign on 47th Street off Ninth Avenue in Manhattan that I keep thinking about. Taped to a tree, it said: “Please curve your dog.” — Elena Brunn Illustrated by Agnes Lee. Tell us your New York story here and read more Metropolitan Diary here.
Glad we could get together here. See you Monday. — J.B. Hannah Fidelman and Ed Shanahan contributed to New York Today. You can reach the team at nytoday@nytimes.com. Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Want to see more of our expert reporting in your Google search results?
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