12/10/2014
NEW YORK – New York has officially introduced a bill banning horse-drawn carriages in the city, including those that have provided tours for decades in Central Park, a measure that has met with fierce opposition.
The legislation, which would fulfill an electoral promise made by Mayor Bill de Blasio, was presented by city councilors Daniel Dromm and Ydanis Rodriguez before the City Council, which must vote on the matter in the coming months.
The bill plans to eliminate all those carriages by mid-2016, with the city providing the approximately 300 people who will lose their jobs as a result with alternative work opportunities, including special taxi-driver’s licenses.
The City Council is sharply divided on the matter, making it hard to predict whether the ban will be imposed.
What is clear is that the idea has divided the city, as shown by the two demonstrations carried out on Monday, one in favor and the other against.
NYClass, one of the organizations that has applied the most pressure to enact the ban, met with defenders of animal rights in front of City Hall to support the mayor.
According to NYClass, the living conditions of the 220 horses that pull the carriages are “miserable,” with shifts lasting nine hours a day, seven days a week.
But defenders of the carriages say that behind the ban are real-estate interests that seek develop the areas currently occupied by the horses’ stables.
The campaign in favor of keeping the horse-drawn carriages in Central Park has been supported for months by tabloids like the Daily News, and since Monday, by the prestigious New York Times.
The Times, which said “Dump the bill. Keep the horses,” mentions the loss of jobs, doubts about the future of the stables, and the question about whether the measure has anything to do with the $1-million ad campaign with which NYClass attacked De Blasio’s chief rival in the primary election for mayor, or the fact that “the force behind NYClass, the group pushing the anticarriage crusade, is a real estate developer, Stephen Nislick.”
source
NEW YORK – New York has officially introduced a bill banning horse-drawn carriages in the city, including those that have provided tours for decades in Central Park, a measure that has met with fierce opposition.The legislation, which would fulfill an electoral promise made by Mayor Bill de Blasio, was presented by city councilors Daniel Dromm and Ydanis Rodriguez before the City Council, which must vote on the matter in the coming months.
The bill plans to eliminate all those carriages by mid-2016, with the city providing the approximately 300 people who will lose their jobs as a result with alternative work opportunities, including special taxi-driver’s licenses.
The City Council is sharply divided on the matter, making it hard to predict whether the ban will be imposed.
What is clear is that the idea has divided the city, as shown by the two demonstrations carried out on Monday, one in favor and the other against.
NYClass, one of the organizations that has applied the most pressure to enact the ban, met with defenders of animal rights in front of City Hall to support the mayor.
According to NYClass, the living conditions of the 220 horses that pull the carriages are “miserable,” with shifts lasting nine hours a day, seven days a week.
But defenders of the carriages say that behind the ban are real-estate interests that seek develop the areas currently occupied by the horses’ stables.
The campaign in favor of keeping the horse-drawn carriages in Central Park has been supported for months by tabloids like the Daily News, and since Monday, by the prestigious New York Times.
The Times, which said “Dump the bill. Keep the horses,” mentions the loss of jobs, doubts about the future of the stables, and the question about whether the measure has anything to do with the $1-million ad campaign with which NYClass attacked De Blasio’s chief rival in the primary election for mayor, or the fact that “the force behind NYClass, the group pushing the anticarriage crusade, is a real estate developer, Stephen Nislick.”
source
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