Photo: AFP
In keeping with tradition, the 265th edition of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade marched up 5th Avenue starting at 11am promptly. And, in keeping with recent tradition, Mayor Mamdani became the latest politician to be booed as he walked the green line. Some critics might say the boos may be deserved, though, as the socialist mayor has already drawn fire on things from his handling of the homeless during this winter’s cold snap to his threat to raise property taxes to make up a budget deficit. Mamdani also said he would limit his participation in parades and events and had some people wondering until a couple of days before if he’d be celebrating the day. Meanwhile, the parade will pass St. Patrick’s Cathedral, where Archbishop Ronald Hicks will watch the event for the first time since his installation last month- an event which Mamdani ignominiously chose not to attend.
WOR’s Beat on the Street reporter Natalie Migliore dropped in at Connolly’s Pub on West 45th Street, where our sister station Q104.3 was holding Jim Kerr’s annual St. Patrick’s Day breakfast celebration and broadcast, just blocks from where the parade steps off every March 17th. She asked people between bites of their bangers and mash what they thought of the greeting Mamdani should receive.
One man told Migliore with a cynical chuckle, “He’s changed his mind on a lot of things. A lot of things were gonna be free that aren’t free. A lot of things were gonna be more secure that aren’t more secure, so he’s got to rethink his position.”
One frustrated woman merely shook her head as she said, “I feel like, if you’re the mayor of New York City, you should march in all the New York City parades. That’s how I feel. I don’t even know. I tell you, I’m waiting for the aliens to come and get me, I’m ready to leave Earth, I tell you.”
Another pub-goer told Migliore the mayor’s reception is of his own doing: “He’s gonna get a lot of boos, I can guarantee you that. I think Mayor Mamdani’s a con man, all right. It’s like people are regretting they elected him now. It like, where’s all the free stuff? It’s like he told them whatever he told them. He’s a typical New York politician.”
But one man’s blunt and brief statement spoke volumes: “I was born in Poland in 1983 behind the curtain of Communism; you really want to ask me about Mamdani and his socialist bull…?”
Photo Credit: Getty Images