I'm interested to see how his policies are going to end up shaping New York. Since he is an avowed leftist, I really would like to see if his ideas make a difference in New York.

I'd like to hear more about other ideas he has. After a little bit of research, it seems like the only thing he really cares about is affordable housing. I know at least one thing he's done so far, which to me is neither a good thing or a bad thing...removing the horses from Central Park and replacing them with antique automobiles.

If there's no need for us to care about what the mayor in NYC is doing, then lock the thread, but I think it will be a somewhat interesting watch.

1/6/2014 6:19:36 PM

you live in Manhattan? if not,

Quote :

"If there's no need for us to care about what the mayor in NYC is doing, then lock the thread"

1/6/2014 6:46:51 PM

Quote :

" I know at least one thing he's done so far, which to me is neither a good thing or a bad thing...removing the horses from Central Park and replacing them with antique automobiles."

what???

those horse drawn carriages are damn tradition. plus think of the added pollution from those fuel-inefficient old jalopies... this is an outrage.

1/6/2014 8:21:06 PM

Quote :

"“It’s over,” said New York Mayor Bill de Blasio on Monday, two days before his swearing in. “We are going to quickly and aggressively move to make horse carriages no longer a part of the landscape in New York City. They are not humane. They are not appropriate to the year 2014.”"

LOL

1/6/2014 8:22:58 PM

Quote :

" but I think it will be a somewhat interesting watch."

+1

Quote :

"you live in Manhattan? if not"

that's a pretty dumb standard as to why a thread should exist in this section.

1/6/2014 9:04:32 PM

look, I visit Manhattan/Brooklyn somewhat regularly, but there is nothing he could do that would affect me or 99.9% of the users on here

he's become a bogeyman for conservatives (without having done anything but be elected) and that's the only reason this thread was made

how about a thread for every mayor of every major city?

1/6/2014 9:16:02 PM

I realize the objective of starting this thread, and who the OP is, but as someone who likes what he's been hearing from de Blasio, I wouldn't mind a place to check up on his progress.

1/6/2014 10:24:25 PM

I just don't see the point of discussion, positive or negative, in a thread like this

just read the Gothamist if you're really interested in what's going on up there

1/6/2014 10:39:21 PM

it's not like we are talking about Cleveland, Ohio... this is New York City... it gets national attention like it or not.

1/6/2014 10:55:38 PM

they are both alike in that they have absolutely nothing to do with North Carolina

1/6/2014 11:04:25 PM

He's the progressive democrats deserve.

If his agenda is successful, it will help "real" progressives all over the country.

1/6/2014 11:32:31 PM

^

Quote :

"they are both alike in that they have absolutely nothing to do with North Carolina"

I wasn't aware The Soap Box was a NC only forum.

1/6/2014 11:50:35 PM

It's worth at least taking a cursory look at what the guy's doing now and then. They guy may run for president some day, as Giuliani did and Bloomberg was close to doing.

1/6/2014 11:56:17 PM

wait. this horses thing is legitimate? what a fucking joke

1/7/2014 8:47:28 AM

Quote :

"how about a thread for every mayor of every major city? they are both alike in that they have absolutely nothing to do with North Carolina"

The mayor of New York City is traditionally a high profile politician with national visibility. The City has more people than most states and probably has a police force and intelligence service better equipped than countries of similar population size. If we have threads talking about foreign crackpot leaders and their petty dictatorships with little direct bearing upon the daily lives of North Carolinians, we surely can have a discussion on the head of our Republic's largest city and the financial core of our nation's financial and economic system.

1/7/2014 8:58:34 AM

What the fuck people. Am I not allowed to keep an open mind? I had no ill-intent in making this thread. I'm honestly interested in seeing what his progressive policies will do - good or bad. Talk about prejudice....just because I'm a conservative doesn't mean I want every politician I don't agree with to fail.

And the world views New York as a bellwether for the country, so why not keep an eye on what is going on there?

1/7/2014 10:46:51 AM

I say we keep an eye on him.

I also say that eliminating the horse-carriages seems a bit silly.

1/7/2014 10:54:19 AM

horses don't belong in city stables

1/7/2014 11:04:54 AM

From what i've seen on twitter, locals hated the horses because they pooped everywhere and stunk the place up.

It's easy to cast judgement on a decision like that when you don't live there though...

[Edited on January 7, 2014 at 11:14 AM. Reason : ]

1/7/2014 11:13:51 AM

You don't have to go anywhere, Raleigh gets a ton of complaints for horse poop on streets and sidewalks. The police are technically supposed to clean it up, but of course that doesn't happen. During the part of the year horse patrols are out, its a top complaint.

1/7/2014 11:26:57 AM

getting rid of those horse drawn carriages is bullshit, fuck this guy.

way to micro-manage.

1/7/2014 12:44:44 PM

Quote :

"From what i've seen on twitter, locals hated the horses because they pooped everywhere and stunk the place up."

To be completely fair to the horses, the locals do the same thing.

1/7/2014 1:08:52 PM

I feel like I was hearing about the terrible conditions the horses were kept in years ago, but then never heard anything about that again...until today when I read this thread

While the horse drawn carriage seems a quintessential NYC sight and something hard to imagine as being gone, they were strictly tourist traps so I don't really give a shit if they're gone...I sure as well was never planning on riding one again

1/7/2014 1:20:24 PM

im glad thegoodlife3 decided to shut up

more ridiculous mewing from the whiniest bitch on this board

at least it explains his taste in music

1/7/2014 1:25:54 PM

Quote :

"getting rid of those horse drawn carriages is bullshit, fuck this guy. way to micro-manage. "

huh?

Seems well within the purview of a mayor...

1/7/2014 1:48:50 PM

hes just pandering to the horses because democrats are planning to register them to vote

[Edited on January 7, 2014 at 1:52 PM. Reason : -]

1/7/2014 1:51:46 PM

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/01/07/could-this-be-the-real-reason-the-new-nyc-mayor-vowed-to-ban-horse-carriages-in-nyc/

The Blaze I know. probably nothing, but de Blasio sure is passionate about what would seem minor for the mayor of NYC. could be interesting to see if anything comes of this.

1/8/2014 1:51:23 AM

The lobbying connection seems to be the obvious driving force, but I don't think the reasoning cited there is too solid. I can see the stables shrinking in size MAYBE but I don't see them shutting down completely. Seems like a lot of effort to maybe shrink a stable.

Might make more sense of look at the classic car companies, or other replacement attractions?

1/8/2014 2:02:20 AM

The horses shit everywhere and their owners are hustlers who harass people.

They are fucking annoying and only brain dead tourists use them.

They only people who would be sad about them disappearing are some cranky old people in Queens and apparently idiots in north Carolina.

Also in response to the blaze article, so what if that's true? Actual people get booted out of their homes on a daily basis in NYC to make way for future development. These people are crying about not being able to have some quirky Irish man parade them around the city in a carriage before they go back to whatever dumb flyover state they reside in?

Puuuuulllleaase

[Edited on January 8, 2014 at 9:33 AM. Reason : Crrrryyyyyyyyyin]

1/8/2014 9:08:48 AM

you sound mad

1/8/2014 9:35:59 AM

That might have come off alittle angry. I'm using my iPhone and most of the anger came from how big of a pain it is to post with it.

1/8/2014 9:46:02 AM

Quote :

"Puuuuulllleaase"

you also sound like a teenage girl.

1/8/2014 10:09:32 AM

i don't think busy NY streets are a good place for horses

1/8/2014 10:12:23 AM

i thought they were mainly in the park.

1/8/2014 10:13:28 AM

I was in Central Park last summer, and the horses really are gross.

1/8/2014 10:27:17 AM

The carriages line up around the south side of central park. The entire area smells like horse shit.

The "sales" men harass everyone who walks by and try to dupe tourists into paying a load of money to cruise around the park in a carriage. In December I had to work off columbus circle and these guys relentlessly hustle every warm body. The commenters on The Blaze article are abunch of middle aged men who live in Long Island complaining about nostalgia.

Also Smath, you sound like an 8 year old girl boo hooing about the removal of some horseys.

1/8/2014 10:35:00 AM

In summation, no one will really miss them, the place will smell better, the horses won't have to be kept in city conditions, Columbus Circle will be a nicer place to be, end of story

1/8/2014 10:40:41 AM

However the outrage on both sides is silly. If some developer wants to bulldoze the stables and put up a building with $3500 1bed apts on top of it then good for him. Thats between the owner of the land and the buyer. Not abunch of butt hurt guys who live in westchester and Nassau county.

1/8/2014 10:41:51 AM

Quote :

"i thought they were mainly in the park."

"mainly". also they have to walk down streets to get to the park.

1/8/2014 10:45:23 AM

It makes me think of this episode


and home alone 2

1/8/2014 11:02:27 AM

I agree the outrage on both sides is a bit over the top. It's more curious to me than anything. There is an entire industry (albeit small one) being shut down, though. Lots of people to lose their jobs.

I live in manhattan and run the south side of central park every other week. The horses do smell, of course, but they do not stink up the whole south side. It's not that bad. Also, the carriage drivers do not hassle that many people. Maybe they target you if you look like a tourist running around taking pictures of Godzilla, but that's to be expected.

The idea that he's doing it in the name of animal rights is laughable, though, and I wish he would just be honest about it, or drop it altogether. But...it's politics so I guess that's wishful thinking.

And it's politics that the opposition will gripe about whatever the new progressive does.

1/8/2014 11:15:42 AM

Quote :

"The idea that he's doing it in the name of animal rights is laughable, though"

why? horses don't belong in a giant city.

1/8/2014 11:19:17 AM

To the point about an entire industry being shut down (and I realize you are calling it a small one, so I am just expanding on that) according to this site (just the first thing I found on Google), there are only around 200 horses in NYC pulling carriages...so the number of people losing jobs over this isn't something I find incredibly significant

http://www.onegreenplanet.org/lifestyle/the-truth-about-horse-drawn-carriages-in-new-york-city/

1/8/2014 11:26:23 AM

As far as he harassment they have guys who seem to work for both the carriages and petty cab guys.

I sat and watched them work for about an hour and it's kind of ridiculous. But yes if you don't look like a tourist they leave you alone.

Regardless I live in Brooklyn and rarely go to central park or anywhere near it. I do find the outrage from people who dont even live within driving distance of NYC is confusing.

[Edited on January 8, 2014 at 11:40 AM. Reason : What else are people pissed at deblasio about?]

1/8/2014 11:39:35 AM

Yeah, the pedicabs are worse in my experience. I appreciate them though, along with the carriage drivers. They're mostly immigrants or children of immigrants who've achieved their little niche of the American Dream. More power to em.

1/8/2014 12:00:44 PM

I think we're talking about different things. Who are the guys with the folders who troll people walking around? They seem to be working for the carriage guys and when I was there they had on big puffy blue coats. I don't think it was the city sights guys but something similar.

1/8/2014 12:11:29 PM

Pedicabs are the bicycle carriages, for lack of a better way to explain right now...he's not talking about the dudes who help the horse guys I don't think

1/8/2014 12:16:31 PM

Yes. It seems they are own and ran by the same company. Or at least that how it looked.

1/8/2014 12:19:31 PM

yeah, sorry, i got em mixed up.

the guys in the puffy coats holding the signs who help the carriage drivers are the most annoying. then the pedicab drivers, especially on the west side of the park at various entrances, and then the actual carriage drivers who don't do anything at all (of course, b/c they're up in the carriage).

are the puffy coats just for the carriage drivers though? or for the pedicabs too? anyways, doesn't matter.

i'm a fan of them all hustling to make ends meet anyways

[Edited on January 8, 2014 at 1:51 PM. Reason : ]

1/8/2014 1:49:02 PM

Nobody is pissed at him. Just seeing if his policies are going to make a difference down the road.

1/8/2014 5:26:52 PM