January 9, 1994
To the Editor:
Robert Lipsyte's breezy column on the Irish horse-carriage drivers ("Sad Days
for the Lads of the Carriage Trades," Dec. 26) focused on a bill to extend the
hours and area worked by the carriages.
The measure was vetoed by Mayor Dinkins, but it will undoubtedly be offered
again.
In the column, the bill was described as being "under attack from animal
rights advocates," referred to as "those crazies" by a carriage driver whom Mr.
Lipsyte quotes.
He fails to report that theater owners and Emergency Medical Services --
presumably not "crazies" -- also oppose the bill because it would markedly
obstruct the flow of midtown traffic.
Mr. Lipsyte leads his readers to believe that carriage horses don't work very
hard, without noting that other major cities in the United States and Europe,
unlike New York, require that such horses have time for rest and mandate more
humane stabling conditions and shorter workdays.
Perhaps the authorities in those cities are also "crazies."
New York's carriage horses have an average working life of just four years.
Is it crazy to try to improve conditions so that they might live out a little
more of their normal lives?
MIRIAM M. REIK
Manhattan
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