Who Speaks For The Little Guy in NYC? Not de Blasio

Several weeks ago I read the New York Times article “And Who Speaks For Teddy?”  In this article they discussed New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s plan to ban the horse and carriages in Central Park.  Paragraph after paragraph painfully details the battle over animal cruelty, verses the importance of these horse and carriages to the city and tourists alike.

De Blasio came into office as a true progressive, someone who would finally get progressivism right in New York. His first order of business was to “save the horses,” seemingly a noble cause for liberal PETA and alike.  There is a group in New York, NYCLASS that focuses on just that: getting rid of the horse and carriage rides, citing animal cruelty, which no one can seem to substantiate.  Veterinarian after veterinarian has visited the horses and their stables, and has substantiated they are healthy, happy, and are treated well.   No credentialed professional has been able to confirm PETA’s claim that these animals are abused in some way.

What would Teddy the horse say? If Teddy could speak, he would say that de Blasio’s move is one of the most ironic in political history for someone claiming to be progressive.  The irony of ironies is that by getting rid of the horses in Central Park, he directly steps on the backs of the middle class workers to give political payback and financial reward to the real estate developer, Steve Nislick of Edison Properties.  Nislick supported de Blasio’s campaign, and ironically heads NYCLASS as reported by foxnews.com.

Is this what the new progressivism has come to?  Hurt the middle class, ban their businesses, and benefit the 1%, while using animal rights as a red cape to distract the masses?  Chuck Schumer (S-NY) lives in Brooklyn according to his website, which claims he is fighting for the middle class daily.  Where is he on this issue?  Does he support all of these middle class workers losing their livelihoods so that a wealthy developer can get wealthier?

When something doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense, I always “follow the money.”  This issue isn’t about the horses, or animal cruelty.  It’s about the valuable real estate the stables sit on, it’s about the rich getting richer while putting the little guy out of business, and it’s about a political payback de Blasio has to fulfill.  It’s about everything but the workers and protecting middle class jobs.  It’s about politics, it’s about money, but it’s certainly not about the horses. 

 

For more information and to help the owners of the horse and carriages please visit http://www.savenychorsecarriages.com. You can also follow them on Twitter at @NYChorses