NO PARK-ING!
Green space advocates join in bashing horse deal
PARK AND animal rights advocates joined Thursday to protest Mayor de Blasio’s compromise plan to move the horse carriage industry to stables inside Central Park.
The plan, which would shrink the number of horses and confine them to the park where they’d live in taxpayer-funded stables, is likely to face legal challenges if passed.
“This is an abuse of power, plain and simple. The mayor couldn’t deliver on a campaign promise, so now he wants the taxpayers to pay off his campaign debt to the tune of at least $25 million, and give away public parkland to a private business,” said Geoffrey Croft of New York City Park Advocates at City Hall, referring to the estimated cost of building the stables.
He said the proposal would be vulnerable because a private stable isn’t a legal use for designated parkland, and the horse industry would get a concession without going through competitive bidding. “I would be very surprised if we did not file a lawsuit,” he said.
The mayor’s office says there’s no issue because the Parks Department will retain ownership of the site, and Parks operates other concessions that aren’t put out to bid.
Edita Birnkrant of the group Friends of Animals said the new setup will be just as inhumane for the 95 horses that would remain, down from 180 currently.
“Carriage horses deserve more than a compromise. The well-being of the horses is lost in this compromise bill. It only serves the carriage horse industry at the city’s expense,” she said, adding her group would continue to fight for a full ban.
Other animal rights groups — NYCLASS, which has been the main proponent of banning the horse carriage rides, along with PETA and the Humane Society — backed the deal Wednesday.
But the legislation, which is slated for a hearing in the City Council Friday, also got some celebrity ALEC support. TABAK
“As New Yorkers, we support moving the carriage horses into a safer more comfortable space in the Central Park stables. If they must remain in New York, then let them have a better life,” musician Patty Smyth and her husband, tennis great John McEnroe, wrote in an email to the mayor and Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito.
Hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons, actor Alan Cumming, and singer Pink also tweeted their support.
“I support bill to get abused carriage horses off #NYC streets,” Simmons wrote.