A citywide ban on horse-drawn carriages is being drafted in City Council, this morning’s ‘Capital Playbook’ reveals (the full article is under paywall). According to the newsletter, Queens Democrat Daniel Dromm is the primary author of the legislation, which Mayor de Blasio has promised to pass. “It’s just a matter of time,” Dromm says. “It’s way too dangerous for horses to be in New York City traffic . . . I’ve seen photos and videos of horses hit by cars. It’s heart-wrenching.”
City Council is far from unanimous on the issue: 15 of the 51 councilmembers told Newsday they support it, eight said they’re against it, 19 are undecided, and nine didn’t respond.
A ban on the carriages would likely mean vintage-style electric cars would shuttle tourists around Central Park instead of horses. “For years and years, activists have tried to do things like ban the industry, without a replacement,” Allie Feldman, executive director of the animal rights group NYCLASS told ANIMAL last year. “And those efforts have been unsuccessful because the City Council realizes the horses are a part of the city’s tourism. We realize that if we want to get these horses off the street, we need to work with the industry and come up with a solution that would replace the horses and the jobs without just putting the drivers out.”
(Photo: Rhys A./Flickr)
