Mayor de Blasio was clearly in focus at Gracie Mansion Sunday, as he posed for picture after picture with a throng of curious New Yorkers who lined up for hours in freezing rain to meet him at the executive residence.
“Welcome to the people’s house,” de Blasio exclaimed during his marathon snapshot-fest.
“You must feel like a mall Santa,” joked one visitor.
“I’d like to think it’s a bit more elevated version,” de Blasio quipped.
Some of the Gracie visitors waited for up to three hours in bitter cold temperatures to see the stately Upper East Side mayor’s house and snatch a few seconds of face time with de Blasio.
“It took longer to get in here than it did at the White House,” said Lydia Temple, 49, of Bedford-Stuyvesant. “It took me 20 minutes to get into the White House. It took me 10 minutes to get into the [New York state] Capitol. This took me three hours.”
Volunteers arrived at Gracie at 9:30 a.m. to help set up for an anticipated 7,500 people.
The number shrunk as the temperature dipped below the freezing mark.
“They should have this in the springtime! Not in January! “ said Dorin Matthews, 42, of Washington Heights, who nevertheless added: “I’m excited — I’m glad to be here.”
One volunteer said the number of visitors topped off at about 4,000 or 5,000.
Koshy Oommen, 52, of Flushing had tickets, but saw the line and changed his mind.
“I don’t want to stand in that line. It’s cold. No way,” he said. “We wanted to congratulate him and wish him all the best.”
Those who stuck it out, waited in another line inside that snaked to the mansion’s library, where de Blasio was receiving the public.
Big Bill had the drill down: smile, hug, smile, bend and pose, smile, repeat. Not everyone played ball.
Otis Asare-Appiah, 5, refused to grin despite de Blasio’s repeated attempts to coax a smile.
“I don’t know how!” the boy insisted, as the room erupted in laughter.
Many of those who stuck it out said they were glad they made the effort.
“I think it’s worth it,” said Nelia Wolosky, 59, a teacher from Brooklyn. “How often do we get this chance?”
But not everyone would do it again.
“You couldn’t make it any shorter?” complained Ron Spaulding, who came down from The Bronx to see de Blasio. “When you see him, you gotta take your jacket off if you want to take a picture with him. You take your picture with him and literally — click — next.”