NEW in the Mayoral Matrix: “Do you back the proposal to ban horse-drawn carriages in New York City?”
Mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner won’t be taking his wife on a romantic horse ride through Central Park anytime soon.
That’s because the candidate took this week a stance on one of the race’s unexpected hot-button issues: tourist-hauling horse-drawn carriages in Central Park and midtown.
Weiner buried his new position in favor of banning carriages in one of the 61 single-paragraph policy proposals outlined in “Even More Keys to City,” which he released this week.
Visitors ride in a horse-drawn carriage in Central Park in New York.
AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews
“London, Paris, Beijing and Toronto have all banned horse-drawn carriages; it’s time for New York City to follow suit,” he says in the booklet, in which he refers to the practice as “inhumane.”
The stance puts him in opposition to front-runner Christine Quinn, who has been the target of attacks from an independent group, New Yorkers for Clean, Livable and Safe Streets, or NYClass. The advocacy group has put the other mayoral candidates on a tight leash to convince them to ban the horse carriages.
Contacted over the phone, NYClass spokesperson Allie Feldman said that the organization’s focus was its opposition to Quinn. Concerning Weiner’s campaign proposal, she only said: “We think it’s great that he’s in support of it.”
NYClass hasn’t come out in support of any mayoral candidate so far, though it has encouraged its members to vote for anyone but Quinn – even possibly Republican Joe Lhota if Quinn was to become the Democratic nominee.
Weiner’s campaign spokesperson could not be reached for comment.
