Tag: NYC

Patricia N. Saffran, NYC Council Carriage Horse Ban Vote Looming – Unethical to Vote in Favor

James Fetzerblog

Patricia N. Saffran   NYC Council Speaker Julie Menin and Mayor Mamdani have announced that they support the upcoming vote to ban (and destroy) the horse drawn carriage business. They have no valid reason to do so since the carriage horses represent the safest form of transportation in the City. By contrast, the hated and feared e-bikers caused 133 deaths only since 2019. I suspect that the family of the late Romanch Mahajan, who died regrettably in the only Central Park fatal carriage horse accident in 167 years, will be present in the Chamber for this…

Patricia N Saffran, The Myth that Retirement for the Central Park Horses is Safe 

James Fetzerblog

By Patricia N Saffran   The NY City Council remains committed to ending the Central Park horse drawn carriages, vote pending, although they have no provable reason for doing so. Allegations of abuse remain unproven. In addition, the recent unfortunate fatal accident of tourist Romanch Mahajan was the first such accident in the Park in 167 years. His falling from a carriage is probably the result of ConEd stray voltage in the ground making contact with the carriage horse Samson’s metal horse shoes. This faulty voltage, no matter how weak or strong,…

Patricia N. Saffran, NYC Council Vote Looming to Ban Central Park Horse Drawn Carriages, Hypocrisy 101

James Fetzerblog

Patricia N. Saffran With the NYC Council’s July 16, 2026 Health Committee Hearing on proposed Intro 943, Romanch’s Law, on July 15, and in the aftermath, one thing has become patently clear:  the City Council has been engaging in a propaganda war to pass this bill. As Joseph Goebbels said, “It is the absolute right of the State to supervise the formation of public opinion.”   The bill is named for Romanch Mahajan, who died accidentally when he fell out a carriage after the horse Samson inexplicably spooked and ran off. This is the…

Patricia N. Saffran, Frontal Assault at the Sherman Equestrian Monument in New York’s Central Park

James Fetzerblog

Patricia N. Saffran New York City officials finally got rid of the highly polluting, unsightly large food trucks surrounding Augustus Saint-Gaudens’ historic masterpiece, the Sherman Equestrian Monument, off Fifth Avenue. https://jameshfetzer.org/2023/07/patricia-n-saffran-sherman-monument-ambushed-on-fifth-avenue-central-park/  Now the monument has a new enemy, an awkward, clunky, appalling Citibank bike rack, placed right in front of the valuable sculpture.   After the Plaza Hotel’s lawsuit against NYC DOT to remove the abysmal Citibank bike rack from their entrance was tossed by a judge, https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/judge-tosses-lawsuit-by-plaza-hotel-asking-to-have-citi-bike-rack-removed/  the bike rack continued its green mission in front of the hotel, all the while…

Patricia N. Saffran, Sherman Monument Ambushed on Fifth Avenue, Central Park 

James Fetzerblog

By Patricia N. Saffran Augustus Saint-Gaudens’ glorious William Tecumseh Sherman, known as the Sherman Monument, 1902, on Fifth Avenue, Grand Army Plaza, New York City, is one of the most important Beaux Arts sculptures in the country. The plinth was designed by architect Charles Follen McKim of McKim, Mead and White. Stanford White, of the same firm, was the architect of the Metropolitan Club, 1893, one block up on the avenue. The nearby landmarked Plaza Hotel dates from 1907, fronted with the picturesque Pulitzer fountain, 1911. Bergdorf Goodman, 1928, sits…