Jay Lloyd’s Getaway: End of NYC’s Horse-Drawn Carriages?

By Jay Lloyd

NEW YORK, N.Y. (CBS) — Can you picture New York City’s storied Central Park without the horse-drawn carriages? The city’s new mayor, Bill de Blasio, can.

So if you yearn for that romantic ride in the park, you’d better catch it soon.

Will the Tin Lizzy replace the elegant carriages and the soothing sound of a horse’s hooves in fabled Central Park?  If Mayor de Blasio has his way, they will.

Animal rights activists are cheering. Romantics — and even the people who run Central Park — are alarmed.

Generations of New Yorkers and visitors have taken those carriage rides, the perfect end to special occasions: fancy balls, proms, romantic dinners.

Carriage driver Kevin Harriott reminded me that his carriage has been the setting for many proposals of marriage.

“Valentine’s Day, the Christmas period, (it’s) very, very popular,” he said.

But now, replica antique cars have been unveiled that could replace the venerable horse and carriage.

Would “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” have the same romantic magnetism as the carriages that fueled songs, stories, and film?  The Tin Lizzy proponents have thought of that:  the cars will be electric.

Now, that’s romantic.

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