New York City Council takes up mayor's bill to ban horse-drawn carriages

NEW YORK (WABC) -- The New York City Council took up a bill on Monday that would ban horse-drawn carriages.

Activists who support the ban rallied outside City Hall, sharing the sidewalk with members of the 18,000 strong Taxi Workers Alliance, which is fighting the ban.

Its members say the measure would destroy the carriage industry and throw people out of work.

Some City Council supporters of the ban have now gone back to supporting the carriage industry.

City council member Daniel Drom is the main sponsor of newly proposed legislation to ban the carriages.

"The horse carriage drivers (will have) the opportunity to get a green cab driver license," Drom said. "That is a value between $4,000 and $6,000. We feel that is an acceptable alternative."

Drivers like Christina Hansen say they are blind-sided.

"We are not cab drivers, we are horse people," she said. "And I don't care what color the cab is, unless it has a horse in front of it, we are not interested."

Now, the drivers are hearing this new legislation also calls for job retraining.

"So that they can get something else, perhaps in another industry," Drom said.

"They are against that," said Demos Demopoulos, executive director of Teamsters 553. "They have a job, a job that they love, and that is driving the horse carriage through Central Park."

NYClass, a group seeking to remove carriages from city streets, says in a statement: "This is the right creative solution that benefits all New Yorkers by adding jobs while also ending an unsafe and inhumane industry."

While both sides believe they have strong support to win their position, the City Council process can take six months or longer.