Morano questions administration on regulatory limits and inherent risks

Councilmember Marano?

Thank you, Chair, for your willingness to hold this hearing.

I know it's been a long time coming.

I also want to thank the Speaker for her leadership on this issue.

I know it takes a lot of courage to be the first sitting Speaker to take this particular position on this issue, but

aside from taking a position that I happen to agree with, I want to commend you for the really responsible way in which you're addressing concerns about job loss and things of that nature and not seeking to demagogue the issue at all.

And it's a tough thing to do, and I want to thank you for your leadership on that.

I'd also be remiss if I didn't mention the leadership of former Councilman Holden.

And had we acted on this legislation when he was in the council, perhaps a young man would still be alive today.

That being said, thank you, Deputy Commissioner, for your testimony.

And to the extent that you need Mr.

Ortiz to assist you with my questions, please just have him do so.

I want to start with something in your testimony that really jumped out at me.

You tell us the health department reviews health certificates.

You check that horses are examined every four to eight months.

You review furlough records.

You make periodic observations.

You monitor weather.

You issue weather-related suspensions.

And you actually conduct the training course that aspiring carriage drivers must complete.

That's a lot of regulation.

And yet an 18-year-old young man is dead.

So I want to ask you a question that I don't mean rhetorically at all.

At what?

At what point does a regulator have an obligation to say, well, we've regulated this activity as much as we reasonably can, and the inherent risk remains?

So I would say that the health department is exercising the authority that the city council has given to us.

And my understanding is that is that is your question is why we are here today.

Right.

And because I keep hearing proposals for another inspection, another training requirement, another rule, another layer of enforcement.

I'm wondering, can you identify for me a regulation that would eliminate a horse's instinct to bolt when frightened?

I think, Council Member, this is, I would say this is probably the third administration I've worked in now where we, as an administration, have been supportive of winding down this industry.

And I think your point is well taken that, you know, we could be working on the margins to try and address what's happening in the industry to find short-term solutions.

But ultimately, we as an administration are supportive of a long-term solution that protects the conditions of workers, the horses, and New Yorkers.

Let me ask you something else, and I'll be considerate of everyone else's time.

If there were no horse-drawn carriage industry in New York City today, and someone came to your department with a proposal to create one, to place large prey animals in one of the most heavily visited urban parks in the world,

attach open passenger carriages to them, and sell rides to the public, knowing...

Everything your department knows today, would the health department recommend that the city approve that new industry?

It is your, what you imply is well taken, and I think as my colleague is saying, that is why we are here today.

Thanks very much.

Thank you very much, Councilmember Murano.

Next is Councilmember Narcisse.