No more horse poop in sewers

From the Daily News:

The New York Racing Association has agreed to stop dumping water contaminated with horse manure and detergent from the Aqueduct Racetrack into city sewer drains.

The Brooklyn U.S. Attorney's office filed a lawsuit under the Clean Water Act alleging in 2013 and 2014 the racetrack had discharged more than 1 million gallons of wastewater into the Hawtree and Bergen Basins which ultimately flowed into Jamaica Bay.

An NYRA employee is responsible for making sure there are no discharges of contaminated water into storm drains when horses, wash pads, and manure bins are hosed down. Sixty-two trees will be planted at Belmont Park to help capture storm water runoff.

Pols think money grows on trees

From Crains:

It was fitting that the governor came to the council speaker's defense, because Cuomo has become a big advocate of the “propose now, worry later” style of governing. Consider his much-ballyhooed promise in July to overhaul the despised LaGuardia Airport. At the time, his administration said the Central Terminal would be replaced, as would Delta's newly refurbished Terminals C and D, and a new link to the subway would be completed—all for something like $4 billion.

Last week, The Wall Street Journal reported the cost of the Central Terminal alone had soared past $4 billion.

Mayor Bill de Blasio was the voice of reason this month in casting doubts on the Rikers plan, but he too has been guilty of this approach—if on a smaller scale. The $25 million cost of a new barn for carriage horses in Central Park was apparently pulled from thin air. His $2.5 billion streetcar scheme for the Queens-Brooklyn waterfront has more than a few question marks, too.

Why care about this? Because projects like these put pressure on governors and mayors to deliver something. Because they don't like to raise taxes and because both the city and state have such high debt loads, they will be tempted to make fiscally irresponsible moves to push the costs into future years.

De Blasio horse deal is a no-go

From DNA Info:

The City Council won't be voting Friday on the carriage horse deal after the union representing the industry backed out, according to the mayor.

The deal that would've cut the number of horse carriages in the city and confined their services to Central Park has been scrapped after the Teamsters announced Thursday they could no longer support the bill.

"With the legislation now finalized, our members are not confident that it provides a viable future for their industry. We cannot support the horse carriage bill currently before the City Council," said George Miranda, president of Teamsters Joint Council 16.

The Council had sufficient votes to pass the legislation, but without support from both sides of the agreement, the vote cannot happen, according to the Mayor's Office.

Lined up at the trough

From the NY Post:

In a stunning move, City Council members are mulling even fatter raises for themselves than the 23 percent boost recommended by a mayor-appointed panel, sources told The Post Wednesday.

The 51-member council on Feb. 5 is expected to push through a hefty raise package for all elected city officials that could include boosting council members’ salaries to as high as $150,000, the sources said. The council is also expected to approve Mayor de Blasio’s controversial plan to shrink the carriage-horse industry and move its entire operation within Central Park.

A three-member panel convened by Blasio last month recommended council members’ salaries rise from $112,500 to $138,315 and that Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito get a 37-percent pay hike to $154,375.

But some council members have privately griped about wanting higher raises — which would be their first since 2006 — because they’re being forced to give up annual “lulu” bonuses of $8,000 to $25,000 each for chairing committees.

Deal done for horse carriages

From NY1:

The Mayor's office and the Teamsters Union announced a tentative deal late Sunday that would reduce the number of horses and permanently move the carriages to Central Park.

Under the agreement, the number of licensed horses would drop from about 180 to 110 by December 1.

That number will eventually be reduced to 95 by the time a new stable is built in Central Park.

That stable is expected to be complete by October 2018, and will have room for 75 horses and 68 carriages.

Once the stable is finished, all travel and operations will be confined to Central Park.

There are still a number of issues to be ironed out, including how to compensate carriage drivers who will lose their jobs under the deal.

Horses may be moved to Central Park

From the Daily News:

The city is close to a deal with the horse carriage industry that would permanently move their stables inside Central Park — and could have a City Council hearing on the proposal as early as Friday, multiple sources told the Daily News.

Reps for Mayor de Blasio have been in meetings over the past few days with the Teamsters, the union that reps the drivers, according to the sources.

The city has agreed to pay to build new stables in Central Park as part of the plan to move the horses — who currently live in stables in Hell’s Kitchen — off the city streets.

The Teamsters also want the city to give buyouts to the drivers who will lose their job because of the move to Central Park, which won’t be able to accommodate the current number of 220 horses, the sources said.

The city has not agreed to buyouts, according to the sources.

The new bill calls for licensing 68 carriages and 75 horses to operate in Central Park. Those carriages will be in place by October 2018, sources said.

How convenient that this will free up valuable real estate on the west side!

Trib visits NYPD Mounted Unit

From the Queens Tribune:

The NYPD Mounted Unit, or police officers who ride on horses, could be called the NYPD’s secret weapon. As is the case with the canine unit, the animals enhance the officer’s ability to do their job. They help them see further down the block. (The officers call themselves “the ten-foot-cops.”) They prevent them from getting snuck up on. They allow them to get a job done faster.

But ‘weapon’ wouldn’t really be the right word. Because the peaceful giants that the officers ride inspire the opposite reaction from a “weapon.” Mostly, the faces of children and adults alike light up with wonder and excitement when they see the mounted unit clomping down their street. And that ability is more potent and beneficial than the horses’ keen senses and size could ever be. So call them the department’s secret “strategy.”

Citywide, there are about 50 officers that are part of the mounted unit. Eight of those officers belong to Troop F, based in Cunningham Park. Depending on where they’re needed, these officers will patrol Forest Park, Steinway Street in Astoria and Citifield, as well as in the Bronx, Manhattan and Coney Island.

This week's de Blasio leadership summary

He's giving up on banning horse carriages.

He's removing pedestrian plazas in Times Square to prevent bad behavior (but the one on Northern Blvd is still apparently a go).

He's sending Willets Point back to the drawing board. (Which is kinda interesting, because as public advocate, he thought the plan was just fine.)

What do you think of these decisions? Good? Bad? Spineless? Is he learning when to hold em, fold em, walk away and run?

Paul Vallone had a great vacation

From the Daily News:

Flip-flopping City Councilman Paul Vallone had little explanation Sunday for his inconsistent position on Mayor de Blasio's proposed horse carriage ban.

"We are listening to the horse drivers, seeing both sides. It's very important. I want to make sure we can see the final bill before I make a vote. I think, after meeting everybody, it's been very, you know, informing of both sides," the Queens pol said in San Juan at the conclusion of a Caribbean cruise with family.

The Daily News caught the councilman as he got off the luxurious cruise liner and prepared to return to New York City.

"You are going to have to wait till I get home, my dear," Vallone told a reporter asking why he'd reversed his position on horse carriages. He did confirm the vacation had been delightful.

What the News failed to report is that Mr. V was on the cruise with a developer friend of his...

A real horse's ass

From the Daily News:

A day after calling for a “compromise” that would save hundreds of jobs in the embattled horse carriage industry, Queens Councilman Paul Vallone was acting like a jittery thoroughbred — issuing a statement reiterating his loyalty to the animal rights group NYCLASS — and saying he would in fact vote for a ban.

“While reaching a compromise would be ideal, if it came down to an all-or-nothing decision I would ultimately side with NYCLASS and support the bill,” Vallone, who is on a cruise, told the Daily News in an email.

It’s a walk-back from his earlier statements, in which he blasted the mayor for refusing to consider a solution that would make both sides happy, and claimed that more regulations would eliminate the need for a ban.

“At this point, he’d like to see a compromise, and prevent the loss of jobs,” his spokesman, Lionel Morales had said on Monday.

And in an earlier interview in the Times Ledger of Queens, which was published on Monday, Vallone said he’d learned a lot talking to drivers recently, and felt the industry could be saved.

“I think the best thing to do is to put in more restrictions and further regulate the industry,” said Vallone. “And then you will have the best regulated industry as oppose to eliminating it.”

Vallone could not be reached for further comment because he is out of town on a Caribbean vacation.

His recommitment to the politically connected NYCLASS — which endorsed him in 2013 and paid over $8,000 for campaign literature championing him — infuriated members of the horse carriage industry.

I like it when the newspapers do the Photoshops for me.

Dromm is go-to guy on banning horse carriages

From the NY Observer:

Councilman Daniel Dromm, a Queens Democrat, will introduce a bill to ban horse-drawn carriages from city streets, according to a source with knowledge of the legislation.

Mr. Dromm, one of the body’s more liberal members, has been at the forefront of the drive to outlaw the carriages and his role in the bill’s introduction comes as little surprise. Last night, the Observer reported that long-awaited legislation will be introduced as early as the next City Council meeting on December 8.

The bill, a de Blasio administration initiative, will offer displaced carriage drivers free green taxi medallions on the condition that they purchase handicapped-accessible cabs. The union representing the carriage drivers panned the proposal while animal rights activists celebrated Mayor Bill de Blasio’s apparent commitment to one of his more high profile and unpopular–according to polls, at least–campaign pledges.

The end of Queens horse racing?

From the Queens Chronicle:

Several sources have confirmed that demolition of Aqueduct Race Track for a new soccer stadium is not off the table.
It was announced last month that Major League Soccer was looking at Aqueduct as a site for a soccer-specific stadium to host the New York City Football Club, an expansion team that will begin playing next year at Yankee Stadium.

“The discussions leave open the possibility of the racetrack being torn down and the stadium being built on that site,” one high-level source said. “[The New York Racing Association] would make Belmont Racetrack a year-round venue and hold winter racing there.”

The source did say, however, that is not the most likely or desired option, noting that the favored choice is to build the stadium on top of lightly used parking fields owned by the city on the southern end of the Aqueduct site, near the Belt Parkway.

But building a stadium even on the 20 acres of city property currently leased by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey would require going over some hurdles.

During a Uniform Land Use Review Procedure in 2004 dealing with PANYNJ property leased from the city in Queens, Community Boards 10 and 12 suggested forcing the plots of land at Aqueduct that includes those lots to go through ULURP in the event they are proposed to be used for anything other than parking.

The ULURP would require public hearings and approval from Borough President Melinda Katz, the City Planning Commission and the City Council.

Should something go awry with that option, the track proposal could emerge as a backup plan.

The track itself is on state-owned land, which would require state approval to both demolish the track and build the stadium.

Is Aqueduct on the brink of closure?

From Crains:

The New York Racing Association is considering shutting down the financially troubled Aqueduct Race Track in southeast Queens, an action that would take down the money-making casino next door unless state law were changed.

Establishments with video lottery terminals, including Resorts World Casino at Aqueduct, cannot exist under the law without being tethered to a race track, according to John Sabini, the former chairman of the New York State Racing and Wagering Board. Aqueduct is the lone state-owned racetrack in New York, so crafting a bill to make the casino there an exception would not be complicated.

"Because it's state-owned they could do a carve out, a quick piece of legislation," said Mr. Sabini, a former state Senator from Queens.

Horse stable fights sale to Korean church

From the Queens Chronicle:

Joy Tirado is no quitter.

She’s the owner of the Western Riding Club, a traditional stable in a residential neighborhood of Fresh Meadows, who is fighting to keep the facility open. And now its future may rest with a judge who will determine the outcome.

Since May, more than 1,000 area residents have signed petitions to keep the stable open. State Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside) tried unsuccessfully to get it landmarked and the Knights of Columbus held a fundraiser so Tirado could hire an attorney.

That’s because her landlord, John Lightstone, 87, who lives in the adjacent house, wants to sell the property to the Reformed Church of America, a Korean congregation. Church members told her they would tear down the barn and turn it into a parking lot and use the house for the church.

“I was never told the property was listed last year,” said Tirado, who has been there for three years. “I only found out in March. We don’t even know the price, as it’s ranged from $699,000 to $800,000.”

She was supposed to be out by the end of July, but the K of C came through with enough money for her to hire an attorney, who filed a legal complaint, and now “everything is on hold,” according to Tirado.

Her lawyer said that Lightstone’s attorney has not yet responded and has 30 days to answer the charges, which include the right of first refusal to purchase as is spelled out in her lease and a good-faith clause, among other issues. It is likely the owner will ask for a 30-day extension beyond that.

With a little breathing room Tirado is hoping to raise funds to buy the property at 169-38 Pidgeon Meadow Road and turn it into a community center and stable. “It would go from the Western Riding Club to It Takes a Village Ranch,” she said.

Nabe lacks sewers and is buried in horse crap

From the Queens Chronicle:

Caught in limbo on the border of Brooklyn and Queens, members of the Jewel Streets Block Association are frustrated that their community is forgotten by the city and used as a dumping ground by everyone else.

Elizabeth Watt, president of the group, gave a walking tour of her neighborhood to city and state representatives last Thursday, hoping that a message will get out that she wants action.

The Jewel Streets community, which residents have nicknamed “The Hole” because it lies many feet below the grade of Linden Boulevard, includes Sapphire, Amber, Emerald and Ruby Streets between South Conduit Avenue and the Lindenwood development of Howard Beach.

Comprised of fewer than 20 blocks, the Jewel Streets area, zoned R-4 residential, is home to a scattering of residents who are surrounded by vacant lots, abandoned cars, make-shift stables made of truck trailers, and piles of dumped garbage, construction debris and tires.

The community is one of only two small, isolated areas of Queens that are still not hooked up to the city sewer system.

Homeowners and city officials agree that, once sewers are installed, the vacant lots will be snapped up by developers and the neighborhood will get cleaned up.

But Watt hasn’t heard from the Department of Design and Construction or the Department of Environmental Protection since representatives came to her civic group’s meeting in June.

What makes the community unique, aside from the fact that residents are still waiting for sewer construction, is the proliferation of horse stables constructed from old trailers, vans and odd scraps of wood and metal.

The stables, some of which house other animals such as poultry, sit side by side and occupy roughly two or three blocks. Several homes, including Watt’s, are on the lots surrounded by stables.

“If I could afford to move, do you think I’d stay here?” said Watt, who, with several other residents of the area, has had an ongoing conflict with the stable owners.

College Point has oldest service station in NYC

From the NY Post:

A historic gas station in Queens has been in business for so long that when it first opened, the only mustangs and broncos it serviced had stirrups, not seatbelts.

Farrington Service Station in College Point opened in 1868 — just three years after the Civil War ended. And while other gas stations have come and gone, remarkably, Farrington’s has been owned by the same family on the same street corner for 145 years.

“My father and my grandfather before him always said, ‘Never sell your luck,’ ” said John Farrington, 56, who co-owns the station at 15th Avenue and 126th Street with his brother, Michael.

“That gas station has been our luck in this family for five generations. We would never get rid of it.”

The station has undergone numerous face-lifts as it’s gone from servicing horses to fueling automobiles — first with Sinclair Oil, then BP and, finally, with Gulf.

Unstable stables

From the Daily News:

A popular urban stable in Queens is being temporarily shuttered after city officials said an “alarming” number of horses died at the site, the Daily News has learned.

Six horses died in the last half of 2012 without “adequate explanation” at the Cedar Lane Stables, a city concession run by the Federation of Black Cowboys, Parks Department inspectors said.

Some horses were malnourished and housed without proper food and bedding, according to documents obtained by The News. One horse named Wyatt tried to eat its bedding of wood shavings in a stall with no water or hay.

The existing concession — a “rough board” arrangement — allows the federation to rent out about 50 stalls to individual horse owners for about $165 a month. But the cowboys are under no obligation to care for those animals.

Some owners who board at the stable hire caretakers to make sure their horses are exercised, groomed and fed. But others do not. Members of the Federation are also boarders at the stables.

Horses keep dying at Aqueduct

From the Daily News:

A 3-year-old gelding was euthanized at Aqueduct Racetrack Sunday after fracturing its right knee — the eighth horse to die in 27 days of racing at the Queens facility.

Formal Attire was trailing the leader on the rail entering the far turn at Sunday’s second race when the injury occurred. The horse was euthanized a short time later.

The state Racing and Wagering Board has declared five other horses race-day fatalities since Dec. 12. Two additional horses were put down due to infections, but the Racing and Wagering Board said Monday that one of the horse’s — Volition — infections had nothing to do with the injury on the track.

Last year at Aqueduct, 21 horses died in 74 days of racing.

“We continue to be very concerned about the equine fatalities at Aqueduct and are saddened by Formal Attire’s death,” the NYRA said in a statement Sunday night.

The rash of deaths has prompted calls for greater oversight of racing at Aqueduct, but the inner-dirt track has been inspected and declared safe and many jockeys and trainers have recently praised the condition of the winterized track.

A recent report by the Task Force of Racehorse Health and Safety, ordered by Gov. Cuomo, found that 11 of the 21 horses that perished last year could have been saved had they been more closely monitored.

Looking into Aqueduct horse deaths

From the NY Times:

The New York State Racing and Wagering Board announced Friday that it would order necropsies for all horses that sustain deadly racing injuries on Aqueduct’s inner dirt track after four fatalities at the racetrack’s meet, which opened Dec. 12.

On Thursday, Pleasantfriday broke her right front leg while turning for home, sending jockey Cornelio Velasquez to the ground. Pleasantfriday, a 5-year-old mare, was taken away in a van and later euthanized.

Necropsies of horses that are fatally injured were among the recommendations of a task force requested by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo to investigate the increase of fatal breakdowns at Aqueduct Racetrack last year.

The four-member panel concluded that more than half of the 21 racehorses that died might have been saved had racing authorities more closely monitored their health and the liberal use of prescription drugs intended to keep them racing for purses inflated with money from the track’s adjacent casino.

Restaurant puts kibosh on horsemeat entrees

From the NY Times:

M. Wells Dinette, the highly anticipated reincarnation inside MoMA PS1 of a celebrated Queens restaurant, has been open for only five days, but its chef and owners have already removed a controversial item planned for the menu.

The restaurant’s chef and co-owner, Hugue Dufour, said Thursday that he would not serve horse meat tartare, in response to outrage from animal rights advocates and concern about legal ramifications from health officials.

Mr. Dufour, a French Canadian who ate and cooked horse meat when he trained as a chef in Montreal, had not imported the meat yet from Canada. But after he announced his plans in an interview with New York magazine two weeks ago, animal rights advocates formed two petitions through change.org that drew approximately 1,300 signatures demanding its removal.

Mr. Dufour and Ms. Obraitis said they had been receiving angry e-mails and postings that threatened their personal safety. The museum, they said, also received letters demanding that its upscale cafeteria not serve the meat.