The End of the Central Park Horses
It has been proposed by a council member that the Central Park horses and carriages be replaced with antique look alike zero emission cars. The city may close them down. It is all being debated now.
NY TIMES
Manhattan’s carriage horses may soon get an annual five-week
vacation and safer working conditions, while their drivers receive a 47
percent pay raise – their first increase in more than 20 years.
Or, the horse-drawn carriage rides may be phased out in favor of fuel-efficient classic cars.
A third alternative is that carriage rides may be restricted to Central Park. Or simply outlawed.
All four possibilities were discussed Friday in a hearing by the
City Council’s Consumer Affairs Committee on bills aimed at
transforming the horse-drawn carriage industry.
Members of the Teamsters Union Local 553, which represents carriage
drivers, and animal rights groups traded jabs with council members and
one another during hours of testimony. Some speakers urged council
members to protect the jobs of the carriage industry’s several hundred
drivers and stable hands; others said the horses’ welfare should be a
priority.
It;s going to mean less jobs for the city, but a better life for the horses concerned.
It's people vs horses.
Putting horses in the environment in the city, around all the traffic and with all the noise, is less than a perfect situation.
On the other hand, "nothing's perfect".
I always take my date down to the Park, if I can get her to catch a glimpse of the big muscular horses and their ****** then I know she almost always gets in the mood to play horsies later.
NEIGH!
So in other words, I hope they stay in Central Park. It makes my dates a lot more fun.
NYC COUNCIL PASSES HORSE AND BUGGY BILL!
The legislation, which Mayor Bloomberg is expected to sign, raises the fare to $50 for the
first 20 minutes from $34 for the first half-hour — the first increase
in more than 20 years.
The bill requires stalls large enough for the horses to turn around and
lie down in, and it requires five weeks of time off per year at a stable
with a paddock or a pasture turnout.
The bill passed 43 to 4. It limits carriage horses to 5 to 26 years of
age and bans them south of 34th Street and from 3 a.m. to 7 a.m.
