Mayor Bill de Blasio 30 minutes late for St. Patrick's Day parade in Queens

ROCKAWAYS -- 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 join the Rockaways parade's 1 p.m. start Saturday. He ended up joining the marchers about a half-hour later.

He said meetings at Gracie Mansion, the mayoral residence, "took a while" and he'd taken a police boat to come as soon as possible.

Some parade-goers called de Blasio's tardiness disrespectful.

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 trouble sleeping.