NYCs horse carriage ban is actually a scheme to benefit real estate interests, John Catsimatidis claims

This is going to stirrup trouble.Businessman John Catsimatidis boldly claimed Thursday that the Big Apple’s new ban on the horse-drawn carriage industry was part of a scheme to make millions of dollars for the real estate industry.The CEO of grocery chains Gristedes and D’Agostino Supermarkets alleged politicians have more of an interest in turning three longtime Manhattan stables into ritzy skyscrapers than freeing the animals from the so-called slavery.“[Horse carriage drivers] own all those buildings on 11th Avenue where the stables are and they want to build skyscrapers where those stables are, so they want to kill the horses!” Catsimatidis fumed on 77 WABC’s “Sid & Friends in the Morning.”Catsimatidis called on the US Attorney to investigate how “real estate guys,” including the stable’s owners, have covertly been behind the longtime push to kill the industry.“They want to get rid of the horses.

The ambience in New York — they want to get rid of part of it.I want to know who they paid off and let the US Attorney do their job, because I’m not sure the local DAs will do their job,” he claimed.Host Sid Rosenberg passionately agreed: “You’re 1,000% right … It’s all about real estate money.”The conspiracy is one the Transport Workers Union and the carriage horse drivers have been ringing the bell about “for years.”All three stables housing Central Park’s carriage horses across Manhattan are employee-owned and are considered small businesses — but will be obsolete with the passage of Romanch’s Law Thursday outlawing the industry by 2028.“If they are banned and we’re not bringing in income, the stables will be forced to sell because they can’t afford the property taxes and they can’t afford a [Certificate of Occupancy] or renovations to use it for anything else,” said Christina Hansen, a carriage horse driver and TWU union representative.“The real estate people want the carriage people to sell,” she c...