Conservative Party speaker assesses de Blasio’s first 100 days in office
Nicole Gelinas says carriage horse ban idea is troubling
April 10 will mark Bill de Blasio’s 100th day in office and a New York Post columnist offered an assessment of the mayor’s tenure so far, telling the Brooklyn Conservative Party that the mayor’s proposed ban on carriage horses on city streets bears particular scrutiny.
Nicole Gelinas, the keynote speaker at the Conservative Party’s annual brunch at the Bay Ridge Manor on April 6, called the proposed ban on the tourist-friendly carriage horse industry “a targeted attack on the small business community.”
Banning carriage horses “seems like a small, niche issue, but it’s not,” said Gelinas, who is also a fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a contributing editor of City Journal.
For one thing, de Blasio’s plan marks a first, according to Gelinas. “It’s the first time a mayor is trying to make a legal business illegal,” she said. While his predecessor, Michael Bloomberg, banned smoking in most public places, he didn’t outright outlaw the practice, Gelinas noted. “This is a precedent,” she said, referring to the carriage horse ban plan.