Staying on topic

Irrelevant industry, crude tactics, suffering horses
More proof that the industry is irrelevant, ridiculous, and circumvents the law came this week, when threatening phone calls allegedly were made to a pub that was to have been the setting for a fund-raiser in support of a ban. The intimidating calls, of course, which were described to a member of the Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages by a pub manager, are believed to be from someone in the carriage industry. The pub pulled the plug on the venue, the manager saying he feared for the safety of his employees. Drivers are already dismissing the entire incident as a lie. However, the pub manager reiterated his account (he himself used the word "riot") to a second coalition member, and also to Councilman Tony Avella, in phone calls.

Lest you think this is a first, consider that a well-known NYC business that has been running ads in support of an industry ban received intimidating phone calls before the campaign started--and the caller did identify himself. This was heard by a number of people.

Avella, a mayoral candidate and the sponsor of a measure to ban the industry (with the idea of providing a reasonable alternative), denounced this week's thug tactics at a hastily arranged news conference on Friday.

The idea that some scary phone calls would derail efforts to ban the industry is laughable and pathetic at the same time.