Anger Over Mayor De Blasio's Inability To Be On Time Not Going Away Any Time Soon

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- There may be a political price to pay for Mayor Bill de Blasio's chronic tardiness.

Voters don't like it and experts say the public has a long memory, especially when it comes to being late to a high-profile event like the St. Patrick's Day Mass, CBS2's Marcia Kramer reported Wednesday.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but the video of Mayor de Blasio sauntering into Tuesday's Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral 15 minutes late without so much as a teeny tiny look of embarrassment or an "I'm sorry" to Cardinal Timothy Dolan could be worth thousands of votes.

"If crime remains flat, and things function well and the city's budget is good, people will say he's great, and they won't remember this," political consultant Hank Sheinkopf said. "But, if things start to turn in the other direction, this will just be part … they'll just pile this on top of it all."

Right now voters seem in the "just pile this on top of it all" phase, Kramer reported.

People coming from mass at the Church of Saint Paul the Apostle had strong feelings about what Mayor de Blasio did.

"He had some nerve to come in to church during the Mass, some nerve," one Upper West Side resident said, adding upon learning the mayor showed up 15 minutes late, "Even if it were five minutes late I think it's disgusting. I think the cardinal should have said something."

"I think it's disrespectful to the Lord God almighty, of course," added Zena Santiago, who lives on Columbus Circle.

The latest example of the mayor's failure to show up on time seems to have hit a raw nerve.

The New York Daily News published an editorial entitled "Bill the Boor," calling the mayor "the galumph who came up the aisle like an intruder," and adding "He's Bill. He's mayor. He thinks he's a demigod."

And CBS2 was inundated with comments on its Facebook page.

Virginia Montgoris said, "They should have kicked him out. He's so disrespectful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Peggy Jayne McNamee said, "No normal person walking into Mass late would walk down the center aisle saying hello to everyone and shaking hands. He was totally disrespectful to the priests and all present."

Added Karen Burrell Peters: "Mayor de Blasio is like a teacher in July: NO CLASS!!"

The mayor did make a New Year's resolution to "work" on being punctual. So far, he's apparently been unable to keep it.

Is there a cure for chronic lateness? One thing that might help the mayor is to double his observance of daylight savings time, keep his watch set two hours ahead all year long, Kramer reported.