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Mayor de Blasio may have put the cart before the horse when he vowed to abolish the carriage-horse industry on his first day as mayor.
More than two years after assuming office, de Blasio is still trying to fulfill his campaign promise to do away with horse carriages, albeit in increasing limited ways. After failing to get an outright ban passed by the City Council, the Administration decided to change horses midstream and propose a compromise shrinking the industry by two-thirds and reducing carriages to Central Park.
A vote on the legislation was planned for today, but the Teamsters Union, which backs the drivers, backed out at the last minute.
“The Teamsters’ first priority is always our members and their livelihoods,” said George Miranda, the president of Teamsters Joint Council 16, in a statement. “We cannot support the horse carriage bill currently before the City Council.
Even though the bill is more or less DOA, de Blasio has vowed to continue to beat a dead horse, and pursue some other option to shrink the controversial industry.
“The people of this city know what I believe, and we will work toward a new path on this issue,” he said in a statement.