Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages

VILLAGE VOICE  
12/8/07

Bill to Ban Horse & Carriages Met with Unbridled Anger  
By John DeSio

The clip-clop of equine feet through midtown Manhattan would be a thing of the past if City Council Member Tony Avella gets his way. But opponents of the council member say he has no horse sense. Avella will hold a press conference on Saturday to announce a bill that would ban horse-drawn carriages, hansom cabs if you're olde tyme-ish, from all City streets. The bill will be officially introduced in the City Council next Wednesday, and represents the first time any elected official has pushed for an all-out ban on perhaps the City's most famous tourist trap. For animal rights activists, Avella's bill cannot be passed soon enough. Edita Birnkrant, spokesperson for the non-profit Friends of Animals, said there has been discussion of simply reforming the industry in the past. Such reforms, she added, would offer only cosmetic changes to a barbaric practice. "There's no way to make it better," said Birnkrant, calling horse-drawn carriages "horrible" and "cruel." "It's time to get it out of the City." Not so, says the horse and carriage industry.

"This is just a cheap publicity program he is running on the backs of these horses," said Carolyn Daly, spokesperson for the Horse & Carriage Association of New York "He should be ashamed." Avella has aligned himself with extremists, said Daly, knows nothing about horses and does not truly care for the animals, only his political career. "This is not about the horses," said Daly. "This is about Tony Avella. He's the worst kind of elected official."