8- 42/01 January 6, 2013
 
 

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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 AND COLLEAGUES ** NYS Avella/Rosenthal bill ** Electric car bill will not happen ** important mayoral race ** carriage owners want to be seen as victims ** Report on our success in getting water in the 5th Ave. trough ** Please donate ** our accomplishments

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It helps to get the message out
We love that you want to share our newsletter with others. You can do so by e-mail or on Facebook and Twitter by using the link provided above - "Having trouble viewing this email? Click here." It helps us to get the message out. However, the original material is copyrighted so if you want to repost only a portion of the newsletter, you may do so only if you indicate the source - i.e., the Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages with our web site - www.banhdc.org. This enables people to learn more about the issue by contacting us.

THE ONLY BILL TO SUPPORT
New Numbers: S667-2013 and A997-2013 in the NYS legislature
bullying The only bill to support in the campaign to ban horse-drawn carriages in NYC is the Avella/Rosenthal bill in the State Legislature. It is a pure ban. There are no strings attached. This is a link to a petition we have on change. org. Please sign it if you have not done so already.

You can read the legislation by clicking on the bill numbers, S667-2013 and A997-2013. Text in CAPS is new. Text with a strike through is deleted. All other text will remain.

The bill is in the Cities committee in both houses. Please click on this link for the Senate Cities - and for the Assembly Cities and take the following action:

  • Send an e-mail, snail mail letter or make a phone call to the members of each Cities Committee in both the Senate and Assembly.
  • Click on the link provided and you will get the committee members; click on each name to take you to their page where you will see how to contact them.
  • SENATE: Senator Tony Avella, the bill's sponsor, is on the Cities Committee - send him a big THANK YOU for proposing this bill. Everyone else should be asked to sign on to S667 as a sponsor.
  • ASSEMBLY: Alec Brook-Krasny and Brian Kavanagh are on the Cities Committee and have both signed on to the bill. Send them a big THANK YOU. Everyone else should be asked to sign on to A997 as a sponsor.
  • Send an e-mail, snail mail letter or make a phone call to your own representatives. You may find them by clicking here for the Senate and here for the Assembly
  • Short letters are preferred. Be clear, polite and precise. Let them know that many people want this business to be shut down because it is inhumane, abusive and unsafe. It is time NYC comes into the 21st century.

THE TRUTH ABOUT THE ELECTRIC CARS
They will not happen and the carriage owners know it
nose to tailpipe Let's all stop playing the Emperor's New Clothes Game. Intro 86A, the electric car bill, will not happen and should not happen because it will hurt the horses. This is not about one organization criticizing another. NY Class, the organization behind the electric cars, has brought a lot of good attention to the issue -- but the truth must come out. This is about what is best for the horses to get them off the street. Please read and understand this. It is all documented.
  • The bill, Intro 86A, calls for a phase out of the carriage industry over three years. There are 68 carriages or medallions to be replaced. The first year 23 cars will replace 23 medallions; the second year another 23 cars will replace another 23 medallions. The last year 22 cars will replace the last 22 medallions.
  • According to the Village Voice, the cars will cost $175,000 each or $11,900,000 for 68. The prototype will cost $450,000.
  • The organization behind this is NY Class, supported by the ASPCA, PETA and HSUS.

  • We have reviewed their "Annual Filing for Charitable Organizations" 990s - that are filed with the NYS Charities Bureau. It showed that NY Class had combined total support for 2008, 2009 and 2010 totaling approximately $650,000, while only approximately $79,000 had been spent on "research studies" that were presumably done to create the "classic cars" described throughout NY Class' fundraising literature.
  • This represents less than 14% of the organization's total support dollars going toward the fundamental mission of this charitable organization and which represents much less than the "30%" of NY CLASS' time (and money) that it proposed to spend on research activities in its 2008 By-Laws.
  • NY-Class raises about as much as it spends. The most recent IRS 990s for 2010, show only $20,639 at the end of 2010 as net assets or fund balances. At this rate, it will take over 500 years to raise the money necessary to create these electric cars. According to the NYS Charities Bureau, form 990 was not filed for 2011.
  • Available money aside, there is no business plan available for these cars that has been made public. The organizer of any investment should disclose the risks, and most dispassionate investors will do their own due diligence. In this case the initial risks are very substantial - raising the capital to produce the first fleet on pure speculation; lack of a known market; unknown revenue expectations; competition from the existing carriage horse business; lack of any operating history; illiquidity for any capital invested in the cars; potential of a law suit filed by the carriage horse industry, which will still be viable for three years in a phase out.
  • Even if there had been enough money for the cars - and there isn't - Council Members have said they would leave the decision up to the customers/tourists as to which they liked better - horse carriages or electric cars. A BAN OF THIS INHUMANE CARRIAGE TRADE MUST NOT BE DEPENDENT ON THE SUCCESS OF AN UNTRIED BUSINESS.

    • THE MAYORAL RACE IS CRUCIAL FOR THS ISSUE
    please stay informed
    At this time we do not know who we will support in the mayoral race. We are very concerned that some of the candidates have said that they are supporting the electric cars to make people think they really care about the horses. It is either a ruse or they simply have not investigated the project and are uninformed.

    The worst thing that could happen to the horses is to have someone like this win the election. Then the truth comes out that there is no money to build the cars and the project is shelved. But because no one supported a pure ban of the industry, the horses lose. Please do not let this happen. ACTIVISTS AND CELEBRITIES: It is up to you to support and make happen the Avella/Rosenthal bill. "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men [and women] do nothing." Edmund Burke

    WHY THE INDUSTRY WANTS YOU TO BELIEVE THEY ARE THE VICTIMS
    pity the poor horses The carriage owners have surely studied the reports I mention above. But knowing the cars are not a threat to their business does not sit well with the image they want to portray, which is that of the victim. Their fantasy, which they try hard to promote to anyone who will listen is about the big bad, greedy and wealthy real estate mogul who is out to grab the land on which the stables sit and to take their property - their horses and stables. It is class warfare. They want to be seen as poor working class immigrants. We have seen this countless times written over and over again by them and their small band of supporters - and through their TV interviews. It is another sham.

    If one could see these NYC stables, this "land grab" would not make sense because there is nothing special about their property. They are located on the far west side of Manhattan between 10th and 12th Avenue - not a desirable neighborhood. Two of the stables are only 25' wide; one is 75' wide. There are no records for the fourth. The foot prints are small. Somehow, I doubt that the head of NY Class is so desperate for property in this huge city that he is only interested in these stable properties.

    THE POWER OF GRASS ROOTS ACTIVISM
    Paws - PR blog
    VICTORY IN NYC - THE POWER OF GRASS ROOTS ACTIVISM. This is a nice PR blog that acknowledges our victory persuading the Central Park Conservancy to look into the water trough issues and gives advice about community organizing as a highly effective tactic when properly executed.

    OPPOSING VIEWS REPORTS ON THE WATER TROUGH ISSUE
    aspca trough NYC Carriage Horses: Dry Water Trough in Central Park to be Filled Finally! - by Phyllis M Daugherty - 1/11/13. Activists won a small but very important victory for New York City carriage horses this week by flooding the offices of the Central Park Conservancy and City politicians with letters and e-mails demanding that the dry water trough for horses in Central Park be kept filled with water. Elizabeth Forel, president of the Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages, sent out an Alert on December 30, Carriage Horses Continue to be Deprived of Water. This is what she described: There are two water troughs for the horses in Central Park. One near Sixth Avenue that works - and one near Fifth Avenue that is turned off in the cold months. Presently, it is bone dry and used as a trash receptacle. The Central Park Conservancy is responsible for the management of day-to-day activities in Central Park (New York City) - including making sure the water troughs for the horses are kept clean and in working order. They fail miserably in this task and they need to be held accountable for their failure to take action. They have been asked to solve this problem for over one year but have both ignored us and then put us off. Money should not be a problem. They are a wealthy not-for-profit organization. According to the Better Business Bureau, they had $13,737,000 income in excess of expenses for 2010. What adds insult to injury is that this trough was donated to the ASPCA many years ago and is engraved with an inscription. But the ASPCA turns its head to this suffering while they continue to ask you for donations.

    VICTORY - CENTRAL PARK CONSERVANCY AGREES TO LOOK INTO ISSUE - Temporary Water Provided. On January 6, Elizabeth sent out this notice to advocates: This is an excerpt from the response from the Central Park Conservancy: "As the Conservancy looks ahead to capital work in Grand Army Plaza later this year, however, we are exploring the option of separating the Fifth Avenue water trough's plumbing from the larger irrigation system so that it may operate independently. "In addition, representatives of the Horse Carriage Association have agreed to fill the Fifth Avenue trough up manually this winter."

    Elizabeth told OpposingViews.com on January 11, "While I am grateful to the Central Park Conservancy for finally seeing the urgency of this request - to provide water to the horses at this site - I can't help but be astounded that it took me over one year of phone calls and e-mails, which culminated in a grass roots campaign, to have them pay attention. "Why couldn't they do the right thing up front? After all, this water trough does fall under their management responsibilities. Until the administration sees the wisdom of shutting down this inhumane, abusive and unsafe carriage trade--which is nothing more than a side show--and retiring the horses to safety - at least let's make the horses' lives a bit more bearable and treat them with respect." To see the dry, trash-filled water trough, click on this link to the newsletter from last week. Source: http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs187/1101376025369/archive/1112004961332.html coalition@banhdc.org

    PLEASE DONATE TO THIS CAUSE
    The Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages is gearing up to advertise as much as possible this year to promote the Avella/Rosenthal bill in the NYS legislature. This is the only bill worth supporting because it is a pure ban and it is not dependent on the success of an untried industry. We are an all-volunteer organization, which means that 100% of your donations go into the campaign. For more information about us - please check out our accomplishments indicated below.

    Please help us by donating what you can. You may donate by check or credit card. Click here. The orange "make a donation" button will allow you to donate by using Paypal. Other wise, you may donate by check.

    A REVIEW OF THIS ISSUE AND OUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS
    When we began this campaign in 2006, we knew it would take a long time. It has been seven years and we still have patience. In that time we have brought this issue to the public through every means possible. Many people are aware of it now and support a ban. It had not been an issue since 1995 because people simply did not know what to do since the industry is so politically connected. But campaigns take a long time. The abolition of human slavery and women's suffrage took many years to achieve and people did not give up. We hope to get a good mayor this November - one who is smart, courageous and compassionate. In the meantime, we soldier on and continue to support the Avella/Rosenthal bill in the state legislature to ban horse drawn carriages.

    For those who do not know the background, click here for highlights and our accomplishments.

    PLEASE JOIN US ON TWITTER, FACEBOOK & YOUTUBE

    HELP OUR ORGANIZATION BY SHOPPING ON LINE
    Also check out Cafe Press to purchase CBHDC merchandise
    igive Through a free registration with iGive, when you buy merchandise on line, your purchase will help us. There are over 700 stores that include such popular ones as Amazon.com, Staples, Best Buy and Barnes & Noble. Even Cafe Press is available if you purchase some of our merchandise. Click here to get started.

    On iGive - the name of our organization is "The Coalition for NYC Animals, Inc." We also have three stores on Cafe Press with great t-shirts, bags, hats, mugs, mouse pads, etc. Purchasing this merchandise helps our organization. Click here.

    "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.