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De Blasio Blames City Council For His Broken Promise On Carriage Horses
By
Christopher Robbins
Published Aug 20, 2015
Modified Aug 20, 2015
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By
Christopher Robbins
Published Aug 20, 2015
Modified Aug 20, 2015
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A famous sage once said, "If you ever drop your keys into a river of molten lava, let 'em go, because man, they're gone." If the clumsy key-dropper is Mayor de Blasio, and the keys are actually his campaign promise to ban carriage horses, and the river of molten lava is a river of intractable problems that are flowing down the volcano towards New York City, then you have today's metaphor for political expediency.
In an interview with WNYC's Brian Lehrer yesterday, the mayor explained why he can't possibly pretend to be fighting to replace carriage horses with electric cars anymore: “What I would say to every advocate is, you already have my vote; go get the votes in the City Council. Solidify the support in the City Council so we can make this change. That’s where people should put their energy."
City Council, loathe to eliminate union jobs over an issue that doesn't matter very much to their constituents (Hey, they didn't get $1 million worth of attack ads!), seems content to continue to stall the legislation that would ban the horses.
A spokesman for NYCLASS told us in an email that they were still optimistic about the bill's chances: “We are prepared for the bill to be voted on immediately as we believe we would be successful."
Until then, Mayor de Blasio will have to busy himself with building more affordable housing, fighting for more equitable real estate assessments, reforming the police department, reforming the bloated and corrupt homeless shelter site system, providing permanent housing the homeless, treating the mentally ill, securing enough funding for the MTA, ensuring that the tunnels beneath the Hudson River don't paralyze the tri-state area, paying Liam Neeson that $100 he owes him for a friendly wager, and a whole lot more.
In a completely unrelated issue, Mayor de Blasio told reporters on Tuesday that the practice of topless women posing for photos for tips in Times Square "has to be stopped," and that he's going to begin a "very aggressive" crackdown on these women, and though there may be some legal snags along the way we should all be assured that he'll stop it. Asked for a timetable on the enforcement action, the mayor replied, "Soon. Soon."
Tagged
carriage horses
mayor de blasio
nyclass
promises promises
Christopher Robbins
Christopher Robbins is a New York City reporter covering transportation, affordable housing, local politics, and criminal justice. His work has also appeared in New York Magazine, The Village Voice and The New York Times. Chris is a graduate of Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, Virginia, and enjoys biking to Fort Tilden in the summertime.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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