The Irish have never been known for living lives pegged to the tick-tock of a kitchen clock, but certain traditions are cherished enough that these Celtic peoples do get to the starting line on time.
Despite the oft-quoted phrase “there is no time in Ireland” back in the old country, the Irish in the Rockaways have strict standards about when their annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade kicks off – 1 p.m. sharp.
And so Mayor Bill de Blasio, whose heritage is Italian and German, blew it again on the Rockaway Peninsula and showed up half an hour late. He skipped half the parade route after arriving by police boat, which made for an awkward entrance since he killed the Rockaway Ferry last year.
The mayor, who angered Rockaway residents last fall when he got to Belle Harbor so late for the annual TWA Flight 547 memorial that he missed the moment of silence, fell back once again on empty excuses.
As Rockaways’ proud Irish lambasted him, de Blasio tried to explain that every parade appearance was different for the mayor and that he had been held up at Gracie Mansion by an education meeting.
That did not fly on the heavily Irish peninsula, which has some of the most conservative enclaves in the city occupied by generations of police officers and firefighters. These public servants as a group have not been the mayor’s biggest cheerleaders.
Add the rage over the loss of the ferry and it would be fair to say that de Blasio tempted fate by running late in enemy territory.
It had seemed that our tardy mayor had begun checking his timepiece after his late arrival at the Belle Harbor memorial unleashed widespread criticism in many quarters around the city.
In fact, the mayor arrived on time for the St. Pat’s Parade for All in Sunnyside the previous weekend and walked most of the route in dreadful winter weather.
So the Rockaway Irish should not take de Blasio’s two ill-timed trips to their peninsula as an insult to their culture.
The Rockaways are simply not a charm for the mayor. He can’t seem to get his long arms around the fact that the area is known for the longest commute in the nation and it takes some advance planning to calculate how long the trip will take.
So next year, Mr. Mayor, take the A train to the Rockaways and blame the MTA if it doesn’t get you there on time. That’s the one excuse that will get you off the hook with the Irish and everyone else who lives on the underserved peninsula.
