This is a bigger deal than it might sound. Despite lots of consensus that the horse carriages are bad, it has taken years to get this done. It infamously stalled during De Blasio's mayoralty too, for example.

This is also an L for the TWU, and I suspect there will be more of those to come in the following months.

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dataflow an hour ago | parent | next [-]

Why can't they pass legislation to get the horses treated better instead of banning them?

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Ericson2314 39 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

I do not know. I have not looked into this issue on the merits. I have just observed the gridlock and status-quo bias around it.

I suspect though that mandating better conditions would have the same effect --- the horse tourism business probably stops penciling out if they have to make the required changes. And given that, TWU would fight it just as hard --- a de jure or de facto ban has the same effect as far as they are concerned.

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leoedin an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

It seems kind of strange that the entire meat industry exists and is tolerated, yet a few horses in Central Park are making people so angry. Surely these horses have far better lives than the cows did that everyone's tucking into over lunch?

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modo_mario 16 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

They're in proximity to people that run on a progressive threadmill. When it became socially opportune to so i've seen city folk elsewhere shift their animal rights stance to defend halal slaughter laws deeming it to be progressive because it's tied to a group lower on the proverbial ladder.

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jonnybgood 35 minutes ago | parent | prev [-]

You think the animal rights activists who are opposing the carriages are tolerable of the meat industry? This is just low hanging fruit.

	▲	NoLinkToMe a minute ago \| parent [-]
		But the activists are not the point. Animal rights activists are a minority, things change because the majority or a significant share of people backs them. In this case this large group that backs banning horse drawn carriages is very likely eating industrially produced meat. That’s the inconsistency, 95% of Americans eat meat and a substantial share cause far greater inhumanity on animals through their diets which are completely optional (as in, they could vote with their mouth and stop it), than these horse drawn carriages which they want to ban.

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october8140 41 minutes ago | parent | prev [-]

They've tried but the owners continuously don't.

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jimbob45 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Not that I disagree but what has that consensus centered around?

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sincerely 2 hours ago | parent [-]

Egregious & consistent mistreatment of the horses.

The past four mayors have all tried to end the practice but the jockeys (drivers?) are part of a powerful transportation union.

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gpt5 an hour ago | parent [-]

If that's the reason, then the solution sounds like a typical bad bureaucratic government - instead of fixing the problem (improved treatment for horses), ban the whole thing.

	▲	Ericson2314 36 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50116002 See that. There is no business here that can afford any capital outlay, this is a bunch of mom-and-pop shops that rent stable slots (I think) and own medallions. No capital outlay -- nothing can really change. The city could also spend money on the stables. And NYC NYS have spent money propping up stupid small businesses unable to take care of themselves before. But I do not endorse that outcome at all.