Though Mayor de Blasio once promised to ban Central Park’s carriage horses during his first week in office, it seems that the issue is a little more complicated than it looked from the campaign trail. During a Friday Google Hangout marking his first 100 days as mayor, de Blasio said that he “[expected] action” on the living, breathing tourist attractions by the end of the year.
When asked about the delay by the New York Daily News, he said, “I think everyone came in and looked at all the other things we had to do and we had to prioritize,” before explaining that the City Council has to sign off on putting the horses out to pasture, and some members are opposed to doing so (as are the majority of New Yorkers and the union representing the 300 drivers and stable workers who will lose their jobs along with the animals.) Somewhere in the city, Liam Neeson is chuckling at his de Blasio-shaped punching bag.
