“He missed!”
The words echoed around the lobby of the Manhattan Surrogate’s Court, off the walls, floors, and recently restored skylight ceiling of the yellow marble atrium. The normal day-to-day business at this civic landmark is largely concerned with history; the courts upstairs handle estate proceedings, and the basement houses part of the city’s municipal archives. But even with all those records of things that have taken place in New York City or that have been done by its denizens, none of them will tell of an event like Sunday’s: A watch party for the soccer championship of Africa, hosted by the city’s mayor who hails from that continent, held within a space that screams “civic business” enough to have been used in several Law & Order episodes.
