This grudge isn't history.
A runner-up for Queens borough historian has ripped into the eventual pick, Jack Eichenbaum, as "sadly misinformed" with a "profound ignorance" of efforts to save significant sites.
Author Jeffrey Kroessler posted the critical comments online in response to a recent Daily News article in which Eichenbaum said he'd rather be an educator than fight to landmark buildings.
"Sadly, Mr. Eichenbaum is poised to continue the ineffective pattern set by his predecessors," Kroessler wrote on the blog of the Historic Districts Council.
Eichenbaum responded in a statement that he has a "more inclusive" approach to the job than Kroessler, adding that he wants to emphasize Queens' ethnic diversity and environmental issues.
Some chalked up Kroessler's harsh words to sour grapes over losing out on the post.
But the Internet ire highlights a debate on what role the unpaid borough historian should play in protecting structures in danger of renovations or destruction.
Some preservationists, including Simeon Bankoff of the Historic Districts Council, said Eichenbaum's words do not mesh with the attitude they hoped for from Borough Hall.
On the other hand, Manhattan Borough Historian Michael Miscione noted that Eichenbaum is wise not to be entangled in time-consuming landmarking efforts.
Kroessler's post, titled "No, I am NOT the Borough Historian," notes that despite his multiple books and research, he was not selected for the gig.
Kroessler writes that he's "disturbed" that Eichenbaum, a Flushing tour guide and board member of the Queens Historical Society, "wants to take the history out of historic preservation."
Queens Borough President Helen Marshall announced at a June 8 news conference that Eichenbaum, 67, had been picked as the next borough historian. Eichenbaum had been selected after he, Kroessler and several others were interviewed by a four-member ad hoc committee of archivists and historians.
After Eichenbaum won the position, he invited Kroessler to an October conference he is organizing to foster interaction between the borough's historical groups. Kroessler says he isn't sure he'll attend.
"It's not even July yet," he said. "October is a long time away."
