Mayor Bill de Blasio's plans to cut down on the number of horse carriages in the city, and to relocate the stables to Central Park may have reached a standstill. While presenting the proposal to the City Council, mayoral aides were unable to answer several of the Council members' most basic questions such as the price of the new stables in Central Park or the number of carriage drivers who will lose their jobs. This seeming unpreparedness could possibly delay the vote on approving the measure, The New York Post, reports.
Getting rid of horse drawn carriages was one of the major promises de Blasio made while on running for Mayor, and soon after he was elected he intended to ban them entirely by 2016. He received the support of many animal rights groups, but received backlash from several others including oddly enough, actor Liam Neeson.
Since then de Blasio has scaled back his plans. In his newest iteration of trying to limit the horse carriage industry, he wants to reduce the number of working horses from 225 to 95. He also wants to relocate the stables that are currently in Midtown West to a city owned building in Central Park near the 85th Street Transverse.
The sale of those stables four in total in Midtown West could fetch anywhere between $65 million to $70 million all together for the owners of the property, according to the Post. This further adds fuel to the fire that the stables are being relocated from the West Side to open up that area for more real estate development.
The new stables will likely be located in a park maintenance building that will be converted. The de Blasio administration had intended for this proposal to be passed by the City Council by February 3, but it's unlikely it will follow through unless de Blasio administration comes up with the requisite answers fast, according to the Post.
·
Council stalls on horse carriage vote over lack of details in de Blasio plan [New York Post]
· Properties could collect up to $70M if they house Central Park horse carriages [Post]
· De Blasio's Carriage Horse Proposal Alarms Park Advocates [Curbed]
· All The NYC Horse Carriage Coverage [Curbed]
Loading comments...