NEW YORK TIMES EDITORIAL
July 19, 1987
It's been almost two years since a limousine and a horse-drawn carriage
collided on West 49th Street, injuring four tourists and causing the
horse's destruction. That episode spurred a movement to extricate
carriages from city traffic once and for all. Yet to date, nothing has
been done.
A bill authored by Councilman Robert Dryfoos of Manhattan, now
stalled in
the City Council, would sensibly restrict the carriages to Central Park.
Mayor Koch, however, resists the bill, preferring one that would restrict
horses on midtown streets only during afternoon rush hours.
That's hardly responsive. The horses would still obstruct - and
foul -
narrow theater district streets through the evening. Traffic often
remains heavy well after rush hour. The 1985 accident on 49th Street
occurred at 1:30 A.M.
The Mayor argues that carriage horses on the streets are
essential to the
tourist industry.
But so is efficient movement of traffic. Broadway, Rockefeller
Center and
Carnegie Hall draw tourists, too. The A.S.P.C.A., meanwhile, points out
that allowing horses out of the park hampers its ability to enforce
minimal protective regulations.
A worm to the Mayor for resisting reform; another to the Council
for
failing to go ahead with its own.
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