PLEASE DO NOT MARK THIS AS SPAM! receiving this email from the Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages because you have either requested to receive this newsletter or you signed our petition on Change.org, opting in for more information. NOTE: If you would like to put this newsletter on Facebook, click on the link above "Having trouble viewing this email? Click here" and add to your Facebook page. We recommend that you get this newsletter directly instead of depending on others to forward it. If you wish to subscribe to get your own copy, please see below.
 
You may unsubscribe if you no longer wish to receive our emails.
9-15 June 7, 2015
 
 

logo for e-letter on black


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 Call Council Members ** Metro article ** One Green Planet - are carriages safe ** Help the chips abandoned by the NY Blood Center. **

NOTE: the best way to receive this newsletter is to subscribe directly. Although I post it on other lists, sometimes (for reasons unknown) they do not approve it - so you are subject to their whims. PLEASE CLICK HERE to subscribe directly. If you want to see past newsletters - CLICK HERE for our archive.

UPDATE ON CARRIAGE HORSE BILL - INTRO 573
It is tedious but we must all be patient - and YOU must help
This has been a long tedious process -- waiting for action on Intro 573. The Environmental Assessment Study has still not been published. A vote cannot be taken on Intro 573 until this study is completed. This is why we continuously ask you to CALL your Council Member AND members of the Transportation Committee where the bill resides. It will have to be voted out of this committee first before it comes to the full Council for a vote.

CALL THE CITY COUNCIL. THIS WEEK IT IS TWO: COUNCIL MEMBER JIMMY VACCA
We are trying to make it easier for you by asking you to call two Council Members this week. Please put this on your calendar. Both Council Members James Vacca and Carlos are on the Transportation Committee where the bill resides. Please call both Council Members and ask them to support the bill to ban horse-drawn carriages - Intro 573.

AND COUNCIL MEMBER CARLOS MENCHACA

METRO: A BAN IS IN SIGHT
read the truth about this tiny "industry"
At Last, a Carriage Ban Is In Sight for NYC - Metro JUNE 2, 2015. This is an important article for these reasons - please read it:
  • We have advertised with Metro for several years. This time, along with the ads we placed, which will go through the 30th of June, they offered us an article, which would be on their web site for one day but always be available and to have a spot in the print addition. Wow. We said "Why not." We actually wrote the article because no one knows this issue as well as we do.
  • This gave us a wonderful opportunity to finally get the truth out since most of the media - for some very sinister reason - is opposed to the ban.
So please read the article and share it. We stand by everything we write.

UNSAFE AT ANY SPEED
new article - at One Green Planet
ARE HORSE CARRIAGE RIDES SAFE FOR THE PUBLIC - One Green Planet - 6/3/15 - by Elizabeth Forel. From the article - Horse-drawn carriages used in the commercial hack line trade - such as New York City - are insubstantial at best - and an accident waiting to happen. They are made from a combination of wood, fiberglass, and metal. They are flimsy. They should not be on the road with cars, trucks, buses, taxis, ambulances, fire trucks, police cars, bicycles, motorcycles, and pedestrians. Yet they are. They are even allowed to work in highly congested Times Square. Do not think the problem will be solved if the drivers only work in the park. Central Park is wall-to-wall people - walking, jogging, cycling, skating, plus pedicabs, drummers and street performers. It is not "Sunday in the park with George" - nor is it an idyllic Georges Seurat painting. It is Times Square without the cars.

The classic carriage weighs about 1,000 lbs, it is open, it does not have seat belts. In comparison, an average automobile weighs about 4,000 pounds; an average city bus weighs 36,000 fully loaded; a city fire truck loaded with water and equipment can weight about 56,000 pounds. (image by Mary Culpepper)

ANOTHER ACTION - HELP CHIMPS ABANDONED BY NY BLOOD CENTER
Center fails in their responsibility to help these chimps
The New York Blood Center abandoned 66 of its lab chimps, leaving them to die on islands in Liberia with no food or water. Activists in New York City staged a disruption at its headquarters, demanding that the organization reinstates the funding. Read the account here on TheirTurn.net -- and see the video.

WHAT YOU CAN DO: If you are a NY Blood Center Donor as I am, you can contact them and say you will no longer donate blood unless they make good their commitment to help these chimps. I have been a blood donor for many years - about 5 times a year. The image here is from long time activist and former New Yorker, Gary Kaskel, author of the bio of Henry Bergh Monsters & Miracles. Gary cut up his donor cards and mailed them to the head of the Blood Center.

  • NY BLOOD CENTER - 212) 570-3000-- Call Christopher Hillyer, the President & CEO of the NY Blood Center, and demand that his organization fulfills its obligation and promise to provide lifelong care to the chimpanzees used in their medical experiments:
  • Write to - or send your cut up donor cards to: Christopher Hillyer, CEO, NY Blood Center,
  • Send a letter via HSUS
  • Note: if NYBC really cares about your blood donation, they will help these chimps, who are their responsibility. And if they do, you can continue to give blood - regardless of whether or not you still have your card.

HELP OUR ORGANIZATION BY SHOPPING ONLINE - iGIVE
If you buy online, you can help the Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages
igive Through a free registration with iGive, when you buy merchandise on line, your purchase will help us. Many organizations give a percentage of the sale to not for profit organizations at no cost to you. There are more than 1500 stores that include such popular ones as Amazon.com, Staples, Best Buy and Barnes & Noble. Click here to get started.

On iGive - the name of our organization is "The Coalition for NYC Animals, Inc." Click here to begin.

PLEASE JOIN US ON OUR SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS
Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Google Blog & Flickr

"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.