THE TRUTH ABOUT THE NYC CARRIAGE HORSE STABLES -- ARE YOU STRONG ENOUGH TO ACCEPT IT?

THE TRUTH ABOUT THE NYC CARRIAGE HORSE STABLES...

There is so much misinformation out there that people who care about the carriage horse issue in NYC and support a ban do not know what to believe.  I will attempt to disabuse you of any preconceived notions you may have after being fed a diet of the Daily News and NY Post or listening to Council Members like Espinal and Crowley, both of whom have borrowed the pages from the Carriage Driver's play book.

Please accept this as a fact:   The truth is not getting out to the public.  

In this blog, I will address the stable issue only.  The carriage drivers and their supporters claim that Steve Nislick, the head of NYClass, wants this property.  He does not.  The sooner you accept this truth, the sooner you will begin to question the other lies such as the "good union jobs" or the "horses will all go to slaughter if there is a ban."

These and other  lies will be addressed in the near future.  We have no conflicts of interest, do this work for free, and only want to save the horses from a life that often ends at the auctions.  We are not part of, nor do we have any affiliation with, NYClass.   The Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages  began this campaign in 2006.  We are a 501-(c) -4, incorporated in 1995 under The Coalition for NYC Animals, Inc.

• FIRST RULE:  Always question what you hear from the main stream media - whether right wing or seemingly progressive.  They all have ulterior motives, which may not be apparent.  This includes the NY Daily News, NY Post, Wall Street Journal, Crain's NY Business, Newsweek, Fox News, NY-1 and the editorial board of the NY Times.  The Daily news, particularly, is a bastion of yellow journalism.  They have ulterior motives to bring down Mayor deBlasio because they cannot tolerate his progressive policies.  None of these media sources supported deBlasio in the Mayoral primary - although some did come around in the general election.  It was the people who gave the Mayor his landslide -- not the media.  
• NYCLASS:  We have total confidence that Steve Nislick/NYClass has no interest in the stable properties.  It is intentional propaganda by the right wing media in NYC aided by the Cavalry Group, lobbyists for puppy mills and horse slaughter and now lobbying to keep the carriage trade in NYC.  
• SENSELESS:  Why would Steve Nislick covet these two small parcels of property for years and years when there was so much else available (if he wanted it) since it is an urban renewal project that extends over many blocks.  Answer:  he would not and if you believe this, then you have fallen for the lies perpetuated by the right wing media and the unions that have been duped by them.  

• THESE ARE THE STABLES:  The two stables pictured here fall in the path of the Hudson Yards Redevelopment Project, which has been going on for more than ten years - many more years than NY Class has been in existence.  The Byrne Brothers stable is on the left and West Side Livery is on the right.  Whether or not the carriage trade comes to an end, these stables' days are numbered.  There is nothing about either of these two properties that is special or desirable.  The area is being built up and gentrified to service everyone.  Google it and find out for yourself.  We need to stop catering to the special needs of a few entitled people - the carriage owners.  
• $$$$$$$$:  The buildings are worth about $10,000,000 each and both owners stand to make a huge profit.  While it should go without saying, they can also decide to whom they will sell the property.  Yet there are some people who have fallen for this argument without questions.  
• OTHER STABLES:  The other stables on W. 48th and W. 52nd are not in this redevelopment area so can keep this property for anything their hearts desire. They can continue to rent out to pedicabs or turn it into a parking garage.  
• MORT ZUCKERMAN, multi billionaire owner of the NY Daily News and strong supporter of former Speaker Christine Quinn who was endorsed by his paper, is also the executive chairman of Boston Properties, a large real estate investment trust.  Google to see their ownership of this city and their involvement with the Hudson Yards Project.  

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LIAM, LIES AND MORE LIES

LIAM, LIES AND MORE LIES

How Liam Neeson is playing  his most questionable role yet.

Liam Neeson – while he won’t be getting an academy award for this performance, he might be acknowledged for total fabrication, spin and fantasy. 

I finally got around to viewing the recent documentary about NYC’s carriage horses.  It is narrated by smooth talking Liam Neeson with his charming Irish brogue.  Yes the man is easy to listen to and believe. 

For those who do not know, Neeson is a big supporter of the carriage trade and is quite  willing to lie through this teeth to make his point. 

The unfortunate thing here is that many people will believe these lies simply because they come from  Liam Neeson – a well known actor.  They will accept what he says as gospel, never

considering that it is a combination of lies and hyperbole.  How could anyone doubt this man – after all didn’t he play Oscar Schindler in Schindler’s List – a hero who helped rescue Jews during World War 11?  Doesn’t he now play action hero roles?  As for me and those of us who see his true colors – he is more like his character Ra's al Ghul from the Batman series – a bad guy leading a League of Assassins. 

The video is more of the same – touting the so called 150 year “iconic” industry; since the time of Abraham Lincoln – conveniently forgetting that the current business started in the late 1940s – and that the horse was the only means of transportation before the 20^th century.  He talks about how,  if Mayor deBlasio would just accept his invitation and visit the stables, he would be won over to the dark side and see that all was indeed OK with this inhumane and unsafe trade. 

 As if it were just about the stables; as if the stables – with small stalls located on upper floors

West Side Livery -- "box stall"

accessed by a steep ramp and with no turnout to pasture – as if that were somehow OK for these horses.  We are supposed to believe that the drivers love their horses like their children – I wonder if they would work their children 9 hours a day, 7 days a week in all weather conditions. 

Enough said.  After all – it is LIAM NEESON – so it must be true.

But it is all a bunch of lies if you know how to question and think analytically.

These are a few statements from the film and my rebuttal: 

FILM:  The industry is overseen by 5 agencies and there are 144 pages of regulations.

Manure catcher attached illegally

TRUTH:  This, of course is not true since the ASPCA gave up humane law enforcement in January – so it is actually 4 agencies.  But it is all moot, since the industry is out of control and there is little enforcement of any of those regulations.  The fact that there are 144 pages of regulations is absurd.  Yes there might be -- I have never counted them.  But so what since many of the laws are not enforced – from the manure catchers being attached incorrectly causing abrasions on the horse – to horses being dangerously left untethered and unattended – to the many u-turns they make illegally; to overloading their carriages right in front of the police officers who do not know the regulations and apparently do not care.   

FILM:   The horses can only work in “limited areas of the city.”

TRUTH:  Boo hoo.  Yes – and they are all heavy tourist areas where some of the drivers have been known to overcharge and collect a non required sales tax.  And of course, it is a cash only business, which is why they are fighting tooth and nail.    I say send them to the Bronx; make them report to the Taxi and Limousine Commission and account for every dollar they take in -- and you will see how they feel.  Besides, many drivers sneak down to Times Square before they are legally allowed. 

FILM:   Neeson  brags that the horses get “5 weeks of country vacations”

"turn out"  New York City style. 

TRUTH:  Enough of this ridiculous statement.  Horses need daily turn out to pasture, which they do not get in NYC – not a questionable trip to the “country.”  We have good sources that tell us many of the horses go to  Amish farms and are being worked in exchange for the driver fulfilling this “vacation” obligation.  But because the Department of Health decided  not to ask for a list of the “farms” or do inspections – anything goes.  It has also been  said that many of the horses look worse when they return from this so called vacation.  It is most likely because they were worked and not fed properly.    In a NY Post story  about a horse who dropped dead in October 2011, former ASPCA equine veterinarian Dr. Pam Corey said in the NY Post "We have observed some horses returning to New York City after furloughs on a farm in worse condition than when they left."  it is shameful that this was ignored by authorities. 

FILM:  Neeson says the NYC carriage horses have a guaranteed retirement – but many horses are not so lucky

TRUTH:  This is an outright lie.  My records from the DoH – show that there was a turnover

"beloved horse/child" parked over a steaming manhole cover

of 529 horses in a 7 ½ year period – about 70 horses or 1/3 yearly.   I found a former carriage horse, now named Bobby II Freedom, at the New Holland auctions  in 2010.  He was from West Side Livery.  He was going to the kill pen the next day.    Most recently, activists have been looking for Ceasar – a horse sold (laundered) to an Amish farmer, Norman Martin,  by driver Frank Luo.  Ceasar was old and sick.  It  is assumed he went to Canada to be slaughtered. 

FILM:  Neeson calls it a “legal thriving business” 

TRUTH:  No one knows how much the business brings into the tax coffers of NYC  but my estimate is less then $200,000 for the entire industry.    The income figure of $16-19M, which the drivers happily accept was contrived by NYClass' Steve Nislick to compare it to an estimated income from the electric cars.  It is totally made up and not accurate.  This is a cash only business.  My source tells me a medallion brings in about $130,000 yearly and that the owners report a fraction of that on their taxes.  This tax information is not public knowledge and the drivers enjoy making a fool out of all of us. 

Thriving?  I don’t think so.  And if so, Mr. Neeson - prove it and show us the tax returns.  We have watched this business for years.  There are many times when the carriages  have no business – just stand there with their horses.  Someone should be looking into why they are fighting so hard to keep the status quo.  Is it because it is cash only – or are they laundering money for something illegal?  I have no proof, but it the shoe fits ...

FILM:  Steve Malone:  “at a low level, approximately 500 families are going to be affected.”

TRUTH:  Absurd!  Back when Malone was a bit more honest, he said between 130-150 people would be affected.  A recent list from the Department of Consumer Affairs of licensed owners shows only  220 licensed drivers.    At least three of them  should not have a license – one lives in Sicily; another has a carriage business in New Jersey and one lost his license a few years ago for bribing an investigator posing as an inspector.  There are probably others. 

A recent article in the Queens Chronicle claimed thousands of people would be affected.  This number keeps growing and is delusional.  Does this mean that the person who sells carrots and the farmer who grows them will be affected?  And the place that supplies seeds to the farmer? 

This is exaggeration and meant to persuade and guilt  the mayor into changing  his mind. 

I would like to remind everyone that this is an entitled and infantilized industry – from getting reduced stable rents from the City for Shamrock Stables (now closed)   to low fees for licenses and low insurance requirements - much lower than pedicabs; not enforcing the laws – generally coddling them.  They want their way - just like children.

But what about many others who lose their jobs and  have to look for another or in many cases recreate themselves. Are they stamping their feet and making lying videos? 

FILM:   Conor McHugh:  the campaign is “funded by real estate interests and backed by real estate interests. 

TRUTH:   It was the Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages – us  - who started this campaign  in 2006.  We have nothing to do with any real estate interests – never have and never will.  Our campaign is funded by donors from around the world -- not just NYC. 

And frankly, we do not care if real estate developers are interested in the stables.  That land

W. 37th Stable - worth more than $10,000,000

should be put to good use to benefit more people than just a handful as it does now.  The owners stand to make a lot of money by selling.  But they do not have to sell if they choose not to.  They could hold on to the property and rent it out.  No one is twisting their arm.  This is a bogus issue.  

This stable on W. 37th St. is in the path of the Hudson Yards Redevelopment project, which has been under way for years.  The owner/carriage driver  could get at least $10,000,000.  

 
Please visit our web site
Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn carriages  

 and our Facebook page - No Walk in the Park

and follow us on Twitter Ban HD Carriages. 


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NYC CARRIAGE HORSES, LAND GRAB, ANTISEMITISM AND LIES

NYC CARRIAGE HORSES, LAND GRAB, 
ANTISEMITISM AND LIES

are the carriage drivers using subtle ethnic slurs and  
stereotypes  to gain support?  

The carriage drivers lie  ... a lot.  They make things up as they go along to fit the circumstances.  They stay up late at night thinking of new whoppers.  I wrote a blog about this called Lies and Desperation - the NYC Carriage Trade.  

But the BIG LIE that has been spread unchallenged in the media is this:  The real reason there is a campaign to shut down the horse-drawn carriage trade is because a certain real estate developer wants the stable land.   The media has been very sloppy in not doing their own research, taking these accusations as gospel and running with them.   They like this story and seem only too happy to perpetuate this fairy tale.  

Accident Sept. 25, 2013

This  real estate myth is not true and is a diversion made up by the carriage drivers to build sympathy for their cause so people would not look into their shoddy abusive business. 

Everyone loves to hate real estate developers – right?  They are greedy, perceived to have too much money; put up buildings that are too big,  and ruin neighborhoods.  They are the perfect villains.  And many also happen to be Jewish.  

Some of the language being used by the carriage drivers and their cronies is Code for discriminatory Anti-Semitic slurs.  They get to express their intolerant views about Jews without being accused of antisemitism.   And they get commiseration from the gullible public.   

 I am shocked that the media has allowed this disgrace to continue and that more Jews have not recognized this for exactly what it is and stood up to be counted.  Every fair-minded and socially conscious person should condemn these actions.   But I get it that people often do not like to acknowledge that prejudice and discrimination exist.  

What better fairy tale to create than to blame the campaign for a ban of horse-drawn carriages on a wealthy real estate developer … a bad guy.  A Goliath compared to a David – the “poor working-class drivers.”  The fact that he happens to be Jewish is just icing on the cake for them.  And the fact that many of them are hardly poor working-class is beside their point. 

As if  … our interest in shutting down this inhumane and unsafe trade could ever have anything  

to do with the fact that we are tired of all the horse spooking accidents, horse deaths, inhumane

living and working conditions; drivers constantly flouting the law in a business that has little actual oversight; horses going to auction and then on to slaughter in Canada and Mexico; horses slaving  for 9 hours a day 7 days a week and then going on 5-week furloughs only to return looking worse.  And we are tired of the City being held hostage by this tiny well-connected group of people.  What about all the others who have lost jobs over the years?    Who is crying for them?  What about all the obsolete businesses that were forced to close because they lost any real viability?

Nah – could not be that.  Must be because of this all powerful real estate developer, Steve Nislick, who apparently has Mayor deBlasio wrapped around his little finger.  But he did not donate any more to deBlasio than the legal amount allowed.  Many people did that.

These are some of the comments below that have been published for some time now in the media.  Because they were not challenged, they have gotten legs of their own. People want to believe in the bogeyman – the Goliath (Jewish) real estate developer.  But really -   why would anyone in his right mind lust after this stable property for five years – property that is not contiguous – on rather small lots.  If Nislick were interested in this area, he could have purchased other property that was available.  The owners would not have to sell it to him.  It does not make sense. 

The development of this area, which is called Hudson Yards,  has actually been going on for more than ten years.  The area extends from W. 28^th St. on the south to W.43^rd St. on the north and from Seventh and Eighth Avenues on the east to the Hudson River.    It  includes the land on which the stables on 37^th and 38^th St  are built  – but not the ones north of that.  So eventually these stable owners will be forced out of their businesses to make way for development that is good for the City as a whole.  

Stable on W. 38th St.

Stable on W. 37th St. 

Stall at the W. 38th St. stable (very small, hardly any bedding, horse has harness rubs) 

Although I believe Nislick should have spoken out much sooner, he recently did and his comments are on their web site. 
”I’ve never been interested in these properties and do not want them now. These are private stables, under private ownership by entities who can keep them or sell them as they see fit.  But I will not bid on any property if it is put up for sale, nor will anyone else in our organization. Our sole interest is in the health and safety of the horses.”

These are some excerpts from articles in the media: 

Lee Siegel in NY Magazine

And where does one put in the political landscape, the carriage industry’s accusation that the animal-rights people are using the issue to hand the Hudson Yards stables to real –estate developers (who could surely find the money to buy them honestly)?

When talking to the well-educated, often Jewish liberals who make up the animal-rights movement in New York, and to the Irish-American hard cases like Byrne-28 years driving a carriage so that he could afford to raise his daughters in Caldwell, New Jersey, and send them to Montclair Kimberly Academy – you can feel that you are I a Sidney Lumet film. 

USA Today

The drivers contend that NY Class is a cover for developers who have their eye on the property that stables take up along the City’s West Side. 

NY Daily News via Liam Neeson

“Neeson also speculated that real estate developers are pushing the ban to snatch up valuable real estate currently occupied by stables, currently located on Manhattan's far west side.”

“History teaches us that land grabs can manifest themselves in various ways. We all know the land on which these four stables sit is most valuable. Please do not become complicit in this type of practice,” Neeson wrote.”

And from that strangely right wing Front Page :

“The man behind the Anti-Horse Jihad is Steve Nislick, a real-estate tycoon with an eye on their stables, , and a hand in Bill de Blasio’s greasy pocket.”

Mike Vogel from AM-NY

“But carriage-horse owners say that what's really behind the push to get rid of the Central Park carriage horses are developers who are perhaps looking to turn the stable properties into condos. According to Crain's New York, Steve Nislick, developer and founder of anti-carriage-horse group New Yorkers for Clean, Livable and Safe Streets, is a big de Blasio contributor.

Emily Hager – NY Times

Besides the animal rights campaigners, the industry is facing a classic New York peril: rising real estate values. Developers covet the stables on the Far West Side where the horses have long been kept.

Gothamist – comments by driver

 … got a group of people who are being fed nonsense. The guy who's funding all this is a real estate guy. His name is [Steve Nislick, co-founder an president of NYCLASS]. He's interested in buying the land. The stables are located right by the Javits Center and they want to put hotels up in there.

Change.org petition to the City Council

please do not bow to the new mayor's pressure and ban the beloved iconic New York City Central Park horse carriages. Our mayor has said his first priority is to pay back his campaign's billionaire real estate donor Steve Nilsick (the man behind NYCLASS & their well-funded push for the ban) with the valuable Westside stables properties. This is completely unacceptable & a great disappointment. All oversight agencies have no evidence of abuse. These are union jobs that would be destroyed and these horses would be sent to slaughter. They are some of the most well-cared for horses in the world & the only chance for many nyc children get to see these special creatures so please stop the mayor from taking them away.

The drivers are always looking to divert people’s attention away from the inhumane and unsafe conditions in the carriage business to something else -- be it police horses, horse racing, dressage -- but none of these hoped for diversions took hold.   With their contrived Irish brogues, they were quick to say that we are anti-Irish.  Wrong again.    We not only work with two Irish animal rights groups in Dublin, but we also have Irish Immigrants and Irish-American activists working in our campaign – along with people representing a diverse group of ethnic, racial, secular and religious backgrounds.  I am first generation Irish on my mother’s side – more Irish than many of the drivers.  So that charge simply did not work.  Besides the “greedy real estate developer” story was much better. 

So I hope you get the picture.  This is not so surprising when one considers what happened in July 2012 when a driver went off on a group of demonstrators.  Then it was much more blatant.  He was heard making anti-gay, anti-black and anti-women comments, which were taped.   

We are not on the same page as NY Class.  We  - Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages - are a grass roots animal advocacy organization that started the ban campaign in 2006.  We have contributed much substance to this campaign in the way of research, reports and articles.  We do not support the electric cars as an alternative industry because they are too risky, expensive and do not exist.  The logistics behind setting them up in a phase out is so badly conceived that they are not only guaranteed to fail, they would guarantee that there will be no ban.

I have always said that a ban of the horse-drawn carriage trade should not be dependent on the success of an untried and risky business such as this.    This is not what any of us heard when we voted for Mayor deBlasio who clearly said it would happen soon.   We hope he keeps his promise and does not get caught up in this electric car nonsense.

The business needs to be shut down with no strings attached.

If jobs are an important issue to this campaign then the best thing is the retrofitted horse-carriage – sans horse.  It is a fraction of the cost of the electric cars and is available.  And the changeover could happen in a short period of time.  The work to convert the carriages  could be done local. 

Please everyone – let’s have some honesty with this issue.  Stop taking the word of the drivers as gospel.  It does not reflect well on any reporter who puts their name to these stories.  

 

The mayoral administration must be strong enough to say ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!   They need to say that this  business will be shut down and the drivers either take this job offer – retrofitted  carriages – or find something else ... that we will no longer be manipulated by this entitled business that has gotten perks for years.  

These are two links to the Hudson Yards project.  It is huge project; it is the future and it is happening - and the horse carriage ban has nothing to do with it.   

http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/hyards/hymain.shtml  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hudson_Yards_Redevelopment_Project

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