Supporters and opponents of horse carriage rides slung manure at one another Wednesday as tensions mount over laws within the Metropolis Council to outlaw the trade.
The horse play began when a lawyer for New Yorkers for Clear Livable and Secure Streets despatched a threatening “stop and desist” letter to the heads of the Transport Employees Union, who signify horse carriage drivers, claiming they're making “false and defamatory” statements about NYCLASS’ founders and threatening litigation in the event that they don’t cease.
Worldwide TWU president John Samuelsen and Native 100 chief Tony Utano declare that NYCLASS co-founders Steven Nislick and Wendy Neu are utilizing their marketing campaign to ban horse carriages — an animal rights trigger — as a ruse to advertise actual property pursuits.
“You may have made wild allegations that Mr. Nislick and Ms. Neu are utilizing the marketing campaign to finish horse carriage abuse as a canopy to develop land the place the present horse stables exist in Manhattan,” NYCLASS lawyer Akiva Shapiro stated within the letter to Samuelsen and Utano.
“TWU and carriage horse house owners have by no means introduced a single piece of proof for these false accusations—and in reality, one of many stables on forty eighth Avenue has been up on the market for years and neither Mr. Nislick nor Ms. Neu has proven any curiosity in buying these properties,” the lawyer, who works with former deputy mayor Randy Mastro at Gibson Dunn stated.
The letter to the TWU bosses stated the NYCLASS founders have made an “ironclad pledge” to not get entangled with any improvement initiatives the place the Hell’s Kitchen midtown stables are positioned and even supplied to signal a memo with the TWU representing horse carriage drivers to pump $50 million into the union pension fund in the event that they break the dedication.
“They'll signal an settlement stating that, even when the stables have been supplied to them at no cost, they might not settle for possession of the land in any form or kind. This settlement will probably be enforceable by regulation,” Shapiro stated.
“I subsequently reiterate that you simply and different TWU officers and representatives should instantly stop and desist from making any additional malicious, unsupported, false statements about NYCLASS, Mr. Nislick and Ms. Neu, which depart you open to a declare for defamation. My purchasers reserve all rights to pursue their authorized treatments.”
The Publish beforehand reported that the buildings the place the 4 horse stables are positioned may probably fetch a fortune if put available on the market.
The TWU leaders dismissed the letter as horse manure from out of contact wealthy folks.
“That is an epic battle between the unionized blue collar caretakers of the Central Park horses and gazillionaires who consider they'll purchase the development of their political-social agenda. And common on a regular basis New Yorkers stand with carriage drivers and their horses,” stated Samuelsen.
Utano stated, “We have now 14-and-15-year previous youngsters getting shot and killed on our streets, transit staff who're recurrently assaulted on our buses and within the subway, households which can be getting priced out of their very own neighborhoods, and different main issues.
“It’s wonderful this group continues to be obsessive about banning horses that spend 99% of their time outdoors their stables in stunning Central Park.”
Laws was launched within the Metropolis Council final week that, if handed, would ban horse carriages in and round Central Park and exchange them with electrical carriages by June 1, 2024.
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