De Blasio's Lateness Irks Some At Rockaways St. Patrick's Parade
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Some residents say Mayor Bill de Blasio rained on their parade by arriving late for their St. Patrick's Day march.
The mayor was scheduled to be at the Rockaways parade when it started at 1 p.m. Saturday but ended up joining the marchers about a half-hour later.
Parade organizers waited 10 minutes before starting without de Blasio, and the banner reading "Mayor of New York Bill de Blasio" was carried for 14 blocks -- half of the parade route -- without the mayor anywhere in sight, the New York Post reported.
De Blasio said meetings at Gracie Mansion "took a while," and he'd taken a police boat to arrive as soon as possible.
Some paradegoers called de Blasio's tardiness disrespectful.
The Post reported that when the mayor finally arrived, some paradegoers began to chant "Worst mayor ever! Worst mayor ever!"
The mayor's lateness was a sore spot in November, when he arrived about six minutes after a moment of silence commemorating victims of the 2001 American Airlines Flight 587 crash. It also was in the Rockaways.
He said that fog delayed his police boat that day and that he'd had a "rough night" of sleep.
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