De Blasio seeks to ban Horse-Drawn Carriage rides in Central Park

[minionofmidas]

Horses are horrible creatures and should be wiped out. I support anything that will make their presence less felt.

What happened bro?  A horse kill your mother?

The Healy-Raes celebrated victory on horseback. If you don't understand why that's enough to turn any urban modernist Irishman into a raging equinophobe, you need to read up on Jackie Healy-Rae.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

I've never driven in New York City. If I did, I might be able to get you a better idea on my stance on this issue. I assume it'd resemble my stance on cyclists, but I can't be sure.

[ElectionsGuy]

Against, obviously. This seems like he's continuing the Bloomberg style of banning ridiculous things.

[Lief 🗽]

Against, obviously. This seems like he's continuing the Bloomberg style of banning ridiculous things.

None of Bloomberg's bans were ridiculous.

[morgieb]

Absurd.

Yuppies are awful human beings.

[Kevin]

Nay but I'd support a proposal that would keep them out of the most dangerous parts of the area and during rush hour.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

I'd support some additional traffic limits if needed for vehicle and horse safety, but all a ban will do is help move the horses from Central Park to:

[Landslide Lyndon]

I'd support some additional traffic limits if needed for vehicle and horse safety, but all a ban will do is help move the horses from Central Park to:

Personally, I prefer bear meat. Much sweeter.

[Oakvale]

Horses are horrible creatures and should be wiped out. I support anything that will make their presence less felt.

What happened bro?  A horse kill your mother?

The Healy-Raes celebrated victory on horseback. If you don't understand why that's enough to turn any urban modernist Irishman into a raging equinophobe, you need to read up on Jackie Healy-Rae.

Lewis understands.

e: Also most of my exposure to horses comes from gangs of roving pikeys racing through the streets of run-down neighbourhoods like it's the Wilde West.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Horses are horrible creatures and should be wiped out. I support anything that will make their presence less felt.

What happened bro?  A horse kill your mother?

The Healy-Raes celebrated victory on horseback. If you don't understand why that's enough to turn any urban modernist Irishman into a raging equinophobe, you need to read up on Jackie Healy-Rae.

Those horses actually look pretty cool.

[ag]

I'm glad I had a horse carriage ride before they are (most likely) banned.

Same. Got my younger one on it this last June. Quite delightful. Overpriced, of course - but, then, everything there is overpriced.

They should slaughter those horses in front of the City Council. Unless de Blasio agrees to house them in Gracie mansion, of course.

[ag]

I've never driven in New York City. If I did, I might be able to get you a better idea on my stance on this issue. I assume it'd resemble my stance on cyclists, but I can't be sure.

Those horses are restricted to a tiny sliver around the Central Park. Driving on those two short stretches where they intersect with traffic might not be too awful in itself (since very few people do) - but getting your car there is borderline insane, anyway. Most of the ride, of course, goes through the park.

[ag]

One point to keep in mind, if you understand the geography of Central Park, there's no way to keep horse carriages in the park and streets with vehicular traffic.  Horses already are mostly confined to Central Park South, West, 5th Avenue and the interior streets of the park anyway.

Just keep the cars off those streets then. -_-

There streets in question are Central Park South (W 59th) and Central Park West. Neither is particularly congested (because driving in Midtown is too much of a nightmare overall), but closing them off to traffic would screw things far and wide and is entirely unnecessary. Zillions of cities have horses on far more congested streets - I remember the ride in Vienna, there was far less space there.

[angus]

http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/30/us/new-york-horse-drawn-carriage-ban/

You must be logged in to read this quote.

If you were on the New York City Council how would you vote on this proposed measure?

I've always been with the "horses are people too" crowd on this.  Not that I'm a raging animal-rights activist, but I always studiously avoided horse carriage rides.  As horses go, though, the ones I've seen in New York, and in other US cities, look fairly healthy and happy.  You should see the ones in Merida and Cozumel.  They're so gaunt you can count their ribs.  And it's always 90 degrees with high humidity in those places.  That's when I really feel sorry for the horses.

Still, I'm not sure I favor government action in such matters.  Being against it personally doesn't give me the right to impose my views on others.  I'd probably listen to all arguments before deciding.

[ag]

http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/30/us/new-york-horse-drawn-carriage-ban/

You must be logged in to read this quote.

If you were on the New York City Council how would you vote on this proposed measure?

I've always been with the "horses are people too" crowd on this.  

So, let me get it straight. Are you suggesting people should not be walking around Central Park, or what?

[Eraserhead]

I'd of course vote for the ban but if you're someone who doesn't like horses and/or understand the issue, I could see why you'd vote against it.

[Deus Naturae]

I'd of course vote for the ban but if you're someone who doesn't like horses and/or understand the issue, I could see why you'd vote against it.

In what way do people who would vote against it lack an understanding of the issue?

[angus]

So, let me get it straight. Are you suggesting people should not be walking around Central Park, or what?

What?  I don't think so.

I lived in New York for a while.  I'm very familiar with Central Park.  I've bicycled all over the park, and walked much of it--I've admired the zoo otters, the horses, the frisbee throwers, the dog walkers, and Strawberry Fields--but no, I'm not saying anything about walking in the park.  I'm saying only one thing:  I have never given my money to people who offer me a pull by a horse, or, for that matter, a ride on a horse.  And not just in New York, where, I repeat, the horses seem more humanely treated than they are in some places where horse-drawn cab rides are on offer.

Still, it's hard to say how I'd vote as a legislator of any sort, on any issue, without being privvy to all the arguments that they have access to.  On the one hand, I'm sort of against making stuff illegal.  On the other hand, I do really feel sorry for the horses.  

[King]

What's exactly wrong with these?

[ag]

So, let me get it straight. Are you suggesting people should not be walking around Central Park, or what?

What?  I don't think so.

I lived in New York for a while.  I'm very familiar with Central Park.  I've bicycled all over the park, and walked much of it--I've admired the zoo otters, the horses, the frisbee throwers, the dog walkers, and Strawberry Fields--but no, I'm not saying anything about walking in the park.  I'm saying only one thing:  I have never given my money to people who offer me a pull by a horse, or, for that matter, a ride on a horse.  And not just in New York, where, I repeat, the horses seem more humanely treated than they are in some places where horse-drawn cab rides are on offer.

Still, it's hard to say how I'd vote as a legislator of any sort, on any issue, without being privvy to all the arguments that they have access to.  On the one hand, I'm sort of against making stuff illegal.  On the other hand, I do really feel sorry for the horses.  

If horses historically were not used to pull things, the few horses in existence today would be in the zoos or in a couple reserves (as is the case with the few remaining wild horses) . The domestic horse was bred to pull things and to give the ride. Are you suggesting we should also stop shearing sheep and milking cows? Or have dogs guarding homes? Or, may be, petting cats?

[traininthedistance]

I've never driven in New York City. If I did, I might be able to get you a better idea on my stance on this issue. I assume it'd resemble my stance on cyclists, but I can't be sure.

If you insist on bringing a car when you go to NYC (Staten Island and eastern Queens excepted), you're doing it wrong.

[bgwah]

I don't really understand why people are so animated about this.  But, I suppose anything involving animals gets yuppies into a frenzy.  

I'm not really sure who you are, but this statement might jus have made you one of my favourite posters.

This is obvious pandering to vegetarian latte-liberals who know nothing about horses.
The horses who draw these carriages have been bred and trained to do this, and get no harm from it.

Now Rays proposal to give them a more limited area to be in, would probably be a good idea, mostly for traffic reason.

Could someone who knows a bit about NYC local politics give a prediction on how the council will vote on this?

Oh look, another thread for people to say silly nonsensical things about vegetarians and animal rights.

Vegetarians/Vegans are a fringe group with little if any power. Demographically, Asians who are vegetarian for religious reasons make up a pretty large portion of vegetarians in the USA. This idea of evil white yuppie vegetarians and their supposedly significant political influence just makes me cringe.

I wonder what happens to the horses once they're too old or injured? Is it like a race track where they are sent off to the glue factory once they are no longer profitable?

[Blue3]

This is stupid.

I'm all for animal rights, but this is such a non-issue. They hardly even leave the park.

[Alcon]

I'd like to take this opportunity to echo bgwah.  Scapegoating/mocking vegetarians and vegans is a super-annoying tendency of liberals.  They're an incredibly marginal political group.  The "yuppies" you're talking about are overwhelmingly not vegetarians.  Most of them are probably omnivores who are into locally-sourced, grass-fed meats, or whatever.

Sorry to be so reactive to this, since I know you probably didn't mean much SweedishCheese, but the "I'm not an animal rights nutcase!!" stuff from left-wingers on this forum gets pretty tiresome, and this thread is starting to head there.

I'll abstain from voting for now.  I don't actually know anything about this industry or practice, and this thread hasn't been very illuminating.

[pbrower2a]

I'd vote "Neigh!"