7 - January 21, 2012
 
 

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HORSE SENSE
Periodic updates about issues and actions concerning New York City's Carriage Horses +
Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages www.banhdc.org

Horses Without Carriages International www.horseswithoutcarriages.org

PLEASE FORWARD TO FRIENDS & COLLEAGUES: Lobby Day ** Support state bill **

LOBBY DAY FOR THE BAN HORSE-DRAWN CARRIAGE BILL - MAY 1, 2012
What you can do now in preparation to push for the Avella/Rosenthal bill
horse NEW YORKERS: We recently met with Senator Tony Avella about the bill to ban horse-drawn carriages in NYC. A Lobby Day has been scheduled for May 1, 2012 in Albany when advocates will meet with their legislators. Please make plans to be there and stay tuned for more information. For now, Senator Avella has asked that everyone do the following to promote the bill:
  • CALL both your New York State Senator and Assemblymember. Calls are very important now and the Senator asked that you call both the Albany office and the District office. You will be making four calls. Please do this even if you have already sent letters or signed the petition.
  • To find out who your representatives are and their telephone numbers. Click here - NYS Senate and Click here-NYS Assembly
  • This is what you should say: When you call your state Senator's office, mention Bill #S5013, the Bill to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages in NYC, introduced by Senator Tony Avella. When you call your NYS Assemblymember, mention Bill #A7748, the Bill to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages in NYC, introduced by Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal. THIS IS CRUCIAL - Please be sure to get the bill numbers right and to mention the names of each legislator
  • Ask both your Senator and Assemblymember to sign on as a sponsor to the respective bill in their house.
  • Tell him/her why it is important that they support this bill - you can say the industry is inherently inhumane; horses do not belong in the heavy congested traffic of NYC; it is very unsafe - there have been many accidents in which horses and people have been injured and horses have died - is a person next?; there have been 7 accidents since July 2011 - one horse died; tell them that in every media poll taken since 2006, including in Crain's NY Business and the Daily News, the results have always been at least 75% of the respondents in favor of a ban of the industry
  • for reference, see the letter that is part of our petition on Change.org. Scroll down under Petition Letter. Click Here.
  • Ask your representative if they would like to receive more information. Get the person's name and e-mail address and contact us - coalition@banhdc.org
  • Please give us feedback on your calls. E-mail us at coalition@banhdc.org
  • Let us know if you will be coming to Albany. E-mail us at coalition@banhdc.org

NON NEW YORKERS: We greatly appreciate all the support we have received from those of you who live outside New York State. You are the potential tourists. You are the ones our mayor says come here with "taking a horse-drawn carriage ride" as #1 on your To Do list. You can help by calling the Committee Chairs:

  • Please make four calls -- two to the Senate Committee Chair and two to the Assembly Committee Chair (to both their District and Albany office.)
  • The bills are in the Cities committee in both the Senate and Assembly
  • Senate: Senator Andrew J. Lanza -- District Office (718) 984-4073 ; Albany Office - (518) 455-3215
  • Assembly: Assemblymember Carl E. Heastie -- District Office - 718-654-6539; Albany Office - 518-455-4800
  • For Senator Lanza - mention Bill #S5013, introduced by Senator Tony Avella
  • For Assemblymember Heastie - mention Bill # A7748, introduced by Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal
  • Tell them where you live; that you have been following this issue for some time and support a ban on horse-drawn carriages. See information above for reasons. Make sure you tell them that you would never ride in a horse-drawn carriage and appreciate all the other things NYC has to offer.

This is a link to the bill. For those of you who do not know, there are two houses in the New York State Legislature - the Senate and the Assembly. Identical bills must be introduced into both houses. They will have different numbers but the language must be the same. This is a link to the Senate bill, which is identical to the Assembly bill.

SUPPORT NY STATE BILL TO BAN HORSE-DRAWN CARRIAGES
Please sign this petition
This petition has gone viral!!! We currently have over 115,000 signatures in support of the state bill. So PLEASE sign it if you have not done so already and pass it on to friends and colleagues.Click Here to Sign Petition.

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead.

Thank you for caring about the horses, Elizabeth Forel - Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages - a standing committee of The Coalition for New York City Animals, Inc.

Please DONATE to our campaign to ban the inhumane and unsafe carriage horse industry.