Mayor Bill de Blasio got a hero’s welcome over the summer in Italy — but when he marched up Fifth Avenue for the Columbus Day Parade on Monday, he was treated just like any other politician.
Light applause and a scattering of boos greeted the mayor — who emphasizes his Italian roots — at the nation’s largest celebration of Italian-American pride.
Some paradegoers were even hostile.
“He’s horrible,” said Staten Island resident Liz Musto, 57. “We need to get rid of him.”
“He should get rid of her right away,” said Joe Pantano of Queens, who took in the parade on his lunch break. “He shouldn’t even think twice about that.”
Gina DeMarco, a schoolteacher from Pelham Bay, described herself as “not a big fan” of the mayor, saying Noerdlinger “should be gone, no questions asked.”
But de Blasio wouldn’t address the recent revelations about wife Chirlane McCray’s chief of staff.
“It’s time to move forward,” he said when reporters asked for his reaction to a report Friday that Noerdlinger was in her car when it was pulled over in 2011 by New Jersey cops who arrested her boyfriend for marijuana possession. An underage passenger — presumably her son — was in the back seat.
The mayor’s brief comments came at the parade’s end — after he spent 25 blocks ducking questions on Noerdlinger. He even praised her.
“I have absolute faith in Rachel,” de Blasio said. “I think we’ve talked enough about this. We’ve explained all the situations.”
The Mayor’s Office initially said de Blasio wouldn’t take questions — a promise he and his staff aggressively pursued until the very end. Aides even rejected 90-year-old NBC icon Gabe Pressman, who was armed with only a microphone and a cane.
But after the parade, de Blasio relented and took four questions, one on Noerdlinger, one on Ebola, one on the parade and one on a cut in city fines. It was the first time he took questions from the press since last Tuesday.
Even supporters of the mayor weren’t enthusiastic about his performance.
“He’s doing all right,” said Sam Geraci, 71.
But asked about the mayor’s handling of Noerdlinger, he changed tack.
“That’s really, really bad,” Geraci admitted.