Cherise DeBose (TWU Political Director) testifies opposing ban

Good afternoon, Chair Shulman, committee members, staff.

My name is Cherise DeBose.

I'm the political director for TWU Local 100.

We appreciate the opportunity to be able to testify today, but I would be remiss if I did not begin to express our disappointment with this legislative process.

Many members of this council have chose to co-sponsor Intro 943 before ever sitting down with the workers whose lives would forever be changed by this legislation.

Before speaking with the TWU, before hearing from the families who have devoted generations to this industry, and before this public hearing was even held, many council members had already decided the outcome.

This is not what meaningful public participation looks like.

Public hearings should exist to inform legislative decisions.

Not simply ratified decisions that have already been made like a kangaroo court.

Our members deserve due process.

They deserve to be heard before the city council votes to eliminate their livelihoods.

You say that people don't want this business, but this business has survived two pandemics.

The Civil War, Superstorm Sandy, there's so many things that occurred in this city, and this business is still here.

The Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits government from taking private property for public use without just compensation.

Nobody can say what's going to happen to them financially and what will happen to the contributions that they have already made and the investments that they've already made to operate this business that was regulated by this city of New York.

Where are the sanctuaries that you speak of?

How many horses have been committed to placements?

Who is paying for the decades of feed, veterinary care, transportation, and maintenance?

Those questions remain unanswered.

Our members consider these horses part of their families.

They do not want them sold at auctions or placed in uncertain circumstances.

Ironically, this council recognized in this year's budget just how expensive animal care can be by funding assistance for low-income pet owners.

Central Park belongs to every New Yorker.

It does not belong to the exclusively wealthy donors and advocacy organizations or private conservancies.

We offer our condolences as well to the Mahjong family.

But last year, also a pilot named Sean Johnson, Augustine Escobar, his wife, and three children died in a helicopter that crashed in the Hudson, celebrating one of their children's ninth birthdays.

You can never say what could happen.

I pray to God that we all could.

Not have these tragedies and avoid them.

But that's the fabric of our lives.

We can't avoid these tragedies.

It's not, and I'm not holding any industry accountable for any wrongdoing.

But like Ramach, their deaths are also very tragic and heartbreaking.

But their deaths have not been tied to a political agenda.

Transit workers work very hard and some of them have died on their jobs along with other members in the labor movement.

And sometimes we don't even get an offer of condolence from anybody that's sitting in this room.

And I pray that that also change.

I appreciate your time today to testify.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We have some questions by the council members.

First, Speaker Menon has questions.