Latest / Sid & Friends In The Morning / Vickie Paladino | New York City District 19 Councilwoman Offers Update on Her Fight to Save the Central Park Horse-Drawn Carriage Industr...

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Vickie Paladino | New York City District 19 Councilwoman Offers Update on Her Fight to Save the Central Park Horse-Drawn Carriage Industr... · Sid & Friends In The Morning

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Vicki Palladino, the amazing Queen City Councilwoman, joining us this morning.
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: She is fighting, I love this fight, for the horse
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: owners that they're screwing in Central Park. Vicki, good morning, sweetheart.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: How are you?
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: Good morning, Sid. How are you? Hi, everybody. Yeah, it's
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: a battle we've got. They're going to pass through this legislation,
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: which basically is unconstitutional. 943A, it's called. And it's about
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: the horse and carriage industry and all of that. And
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: it started, you know, let me give people a little background.
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: It's all about the horse owners, okay? And eliminating them. Now,
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: we talk about the drivers. We talk about the people
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: who work the stables. We talk about all of that.
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: What this bill eliminates is any sort of plan for
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: the actual people who who own the horses. This goes
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: back generational, 100 years or more. It's a 160-year-old industry. Now,
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: how do you lop off the heads of horse owners
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: when they are the ones that brought this to the
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: country and they've been around forever? And we've got to
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: figure out that they must be first and have first
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: priority in the future transition to the alternative transportation program
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: that they established. You know, they meaning the city.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: You know, it's interesting, Vic, not to cut you off,
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: but I keep hearing about the plans that the mayor
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: and your favorite person, Julie Menon, even John Lieber at
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: the MTA, for jobs. But you know what? Until you
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: just mentioned it, congratulations, I haven't heard about the actual
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: horse owners. What do the horses do now?
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: Now, what do they do? Correct. Now, I have several
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: horse owners and medallion owners that live in my district.
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: They came to me four years ago, Sid. Four years ago,
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: when I first got elected, and they said, Vicki, we're
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: going to need your help. I said, not a lot.
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: And I thought this was like, I kind of pushed
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: it off in a sense saying, you know, guys, look,
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: you don't really have to worry about anything. You are
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: an institution. You are part of the makeup that makes
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: Central Park Central Park. I don't see how they're going
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: to be able to do this to you. Well, two
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: years later, you know, Bob Holden, my dear, dear friend,
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: And this is nothing against Bob, but it is about
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: the proposal of this bill to do away with the
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: horse and carriage. And I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa,
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: wait a second. And he pleaded with me to get
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: on that bill. And I said, Bob, I can't. I said,
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: I know too many of the horse owners. I've had
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: as many as 30 out of the 60 some odd
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: horse owners and medallion owners that invest hundreds of thousands
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: of dollars It's just one horse, okay? So I can't
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: go against these people.
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: Not only should I go against them, but they're lying. Look, look,
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: one horse died. That's terrible. One tourist died. Yeah, I mean,
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: people die in this city every day with the scooters
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: and the bikes. One tourist died. It was terrible. One,
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: they're lying. This is all about that prime real estate.
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: That's all the city cares about. And Bob Holden knows that.
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: Well, I know. Well, Bob was strictly about the horses
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: and the care of the horses. They're fine. I've been
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: to the stables. They're beautiful. These people, I'm going to
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: name Frank Riccobono. He's the guy who lives in my district.
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: He owns 12 horses, Sid. Now, here's the caveat. The
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: caveat is that the city wants to outlaw these people
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: from operating their business, confiscating their horses. private property to
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: stop them from doing not just... Now, let's remember, the
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: horse and carriages used to go by, say, Pat at
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: holiday time. They were allowed free reign on the street.
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: They reigned them in. They took them in and told
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: them they could only do Central Park. That's a number
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: of years ago. So they already cut the legs off
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: of them. Now... You did that. Now you come up
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: with this whole thing. And let's get to the bottom
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: of it because this really pisses me off. When I
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: hear about activism and activists and they packed that city
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: hall chamber, they waited for the horse owners at the
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: very end to testify. You're taking food off their tables.
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: This has been their life investment going back to grandpa
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: and the grandpa before them. This employs immigrants. Whether you
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: are Hispanic, Italian, Turkish, Muslim, immigrant, this is a full-body
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: thing here. And to think that they want to just
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: tell them that now that they can't have their horses
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: take the brides to the wedding or cart a horse
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: during Christmas time. They want to do it. What right
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: do you have to do that? to strip somebody of
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: their livelihood.
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: Well, there's the same right as this, and you told
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: me about this this morning. You're right. Our communist mayor
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: who's trying to take away people's houses and apartments. Same thought.
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: Same thought. It falls right into... private ownership. These are small,
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: it's a lack of a better word, small business people. Now,
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: Frank owns 12 horses. The last horse he bought was
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: last year, the year before, and it cost him $ 350, 000
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: for one horse. He's got two children. He treats that
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: horse as well as he treats his two kids. And
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: to Bo's point the other day on your show, when
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: he said, Why aren't we going after these cyclists these
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: motor scooters that go 20 and 30 and 40 miles
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: an hour, don't get in their way. They'll mow you down.
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: I can guarantee you. And my heart goes out to the,
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: the young guy who lost his balance on the cart
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: because of a shock, which did not come from the horse.
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: And so it was particular, the way it was put
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: out there was totally wrong in the first place. Now
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: you get these animal activists screaming, we hate, you know,
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: people like you and me, we love animals, okay? We
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: love animals. We love horses. We love animals. Don't go
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: calling people names and painting them. Did you see Julie's
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: press conference in front of City Hall with Christopher Marte
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: and all of them? They had 100 people standing behind them.
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: They made This industry sounds like a bunch of murderers.
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: I heard.
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: It was ridiculous. Ridiculous. There's no proof to any of it. Again,
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: you may as well shut down Aqueduct and Belmont and
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: the rest of these places because.
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: Well, what's coming next? Yeah.
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: As far as I know, these horses... Now, look, if
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: you want to say... When we have these very, very
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: hot days during the summer, if we reach 95, 100 degrees,
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: you don't want the horses outside. I'm sure the owners
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: would have no issue with that. They love their horses, too.
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: What are we shutting it down for? Why? Because there's
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: real estate money. Menon is lying. The mayor is lying. Holden,
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: he may love horses. So do I. This is complete nonsense.
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: That's right. And now let's think about Central Park and
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: the conservatory. You know, we're putting forward today, the purpose
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: of today's press conference, and let me make this clear,
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: is to put forward the plan, their proposal, the horse
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: owner's proposal for the alternative to using their horses. Like
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: they have come to the realization that they will no
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: longer be able to use their horses. They put together
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: a beautiful proposal. I've been working with them now, losing
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: sleep for the last couple of weeks because they are
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: so downtrodden and they need help. They said, Vicki, you're
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: the only one that can help us. And what am
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: I supposed to say?
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: No? No, no, you got to do it. No, you're great.
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: I got to do it. It's the right thing.
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: It's the right thing to do.
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: And you know what? We got to look. What about
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: the pedicabs? These guys that are all over Times Square.
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: They don't belong in Central Park with their flashing lights
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: and their loud music. Keep that BS in Times Square.
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: Central Park has got class. It's got a history. These
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: guys put together the most beautiful proposal. And for the
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: mayor and for Julie to push this through tomorrow. like
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: grease lightning, grease lightning to push this through without giving
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: these horse owners and their proposal and their plan. They're
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: going to have their storyboards out there today. Today, and
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: people are going to be able to see, we're going
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: to be handing out the proposals to the press. This
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: was done at very short notice, so we've been planning
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: and thinking about it for two weeks. I wanted to
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: make sure every eye was dotted Every key was crossed
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: before I got before a microphone and stood up and
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: I wanted to fully understand what their exact motive was.
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: And if it was lined up with mine and mine
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: is as theirs is that you must have an alternative plan,
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: not just for the people who drive the cars, drive
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: the horses or clean up the stables. We got to
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: get to the very bottom. of the ownership of the
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: horses and of these medallions. They may not take their
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: business away.
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: I just had a listener say the city will probably
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: confiscate the horses and kill them.
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: You're going to come into my house?
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: You're going to come into my house? And you're going
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: to burn down my house? I don't think so.
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: I don't think so. I got to ask you one
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: more thing. Were you involved with this city council meeting?
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: I had Joanne Areola on a couple of weeks ago,
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: and she talked about it on this show, the ambulance times.
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: That's becoming a big issue. People are dying in this
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: city because the ambulance times are way too long.
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: Here we go. I was all over the news yesterday.
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: I spoke at the emergency management hearing yesterday. And here's
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: a very, let's keep it real simple, folks. This city
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: pays the EMS workers $ 37, 000 a year. Who can live
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: on that? So if you wonder why there's a shortage
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: of EMS workers, who, by the way, are in charge
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: of driving these ambulances and these emergency vehicles, which they
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: have 90, 90 that they cannot use because they do
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: not have money. sufficient staff. Yet this city passed a
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: budget of $ 126 billion, of which the EMS saw nothing.
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: We have been fighting for pay parity. We've tried all
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: through this last budget cycle to make sure that these
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: EMS workers would get a decent salary so that they
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: could stay on. And then eventually they will move into
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: the fire department. But the idea that this emergency time
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: has been cut the way it is, it is so
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: bad that if you are golf a bit, I'm telling you,
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: Anything happens to me, throw me in the backseat of
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: the car and drive me to the hospital.
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: I would tell you to throw you in the backseat
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: of a horse carriage, but they're not going to have
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: those anymore.
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: Here's the bottom line. The city did not allow any money,
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: any money. Everybody remember this. Where's the money? And why
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: has it, this has become a public safety issue. This
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: is definitely a public safety issue. And this is, we
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: talked about it yesterday. We've talked about it weeks before
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: the budget's done. Somebody told me, Vicki, this is collective bargaining. Bull,
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: you know what, on the collective bargaining. We could have
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: figured out and worked it out in the budget. You know,
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: they take the simplest things. There's solutions to every problem.
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: There is no such thing as a problem if there's
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: a solution for everyone. And if we were able to
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: do what we needed to do with this present legislative
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: body and this current mayor, I don't know where we're going.
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: I cannot predict the next three years. It doesn't look
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: pretty good.
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: No, it's terrible.
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: It's really scary stuff.
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: Well, let me ask you this because I got to run.
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: You know, you talk about the mayor and scary stuff.
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: And are you ready to primary a lady who happens
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: to be a very good friend of both of us,
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: Jessica Tisch? Are you ready to primary Tisch and run
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: for mayor?
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: Not me. No, I don't think so. I don't think so. No,
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: I don't. I don't think that's the direction I'll take.
• 13:24
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: Jessica's awesome. And I really think that if Jess wants
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: to do this job, you know, I also want to
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: see what Republicans they put out. Just go.
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: I don't have any me. That's it. I'm the only
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: one you've got.
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: You know what? Look, you and me, we'll have a
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: private conversation about all that. Uh, right now I have
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: to think of today. I have to think of tomorrow.
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: I have to think that right now being a voice
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: for those people who feel they lost their voice like you,
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: like you is our primary goal right now, because honestly, uh,
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: What the hell do we have to lose, Sid? If
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: we don't talk now, it's speak now or forever hold
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: your peace. And everybody, Blakeman, I was at a big
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: meeting last night with my community board, and they're talking
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: about running power lines from 80 miles east into my district.
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: It's quite controversial. And I told everybody at that meeting,
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: thoughts Democrats. I looked at each and every one of
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: them and I said, you know what? I want to
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: know how you're voting. Okay. I want to know how
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: you're voting because I'm going to tell you right now,
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: all the bitching and complaining that's going on here and
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: has been going on for months, two years. I said,
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: I've been listening to you bitch and complain. Let me
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: make something very, very clear. If you do not vote
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: for Bruce Blakeman come this November, which is only 10,
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: 15 days away now, don't come to me with your
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: problems because you just elected someone who's going to just
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: continue on and make this place worse than it's ever been.
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: You want change. I understand you're a Democrat. I get
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: all that. Vote down the line if you want on
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: your Democratic ticket, which is ridiculous and stupid to start with.
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: But let me tell you this. You better color in
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: that little blue dot for Blakeman.
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: Well, listen, you mentioned Bob Holden earlier, Democrat, and he's
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: been publicly endorsing Bruce Blakeman, as has Deborah Messing and
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: Bonnie Lautenberg. You are, Vicki, you're a great American. You
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: really are. I love you. You know, you're one of
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: my all-time favorites.
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: Thank you.
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: Thank you for hopping on. Thank you, sweetheart.
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: And I was going to do a video for you,
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: but I'll.
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: Do it now. All right, do that. I want that.
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: I want it from you. Vicky Palladino right there, the
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: amazing Queens. You're welcome, sweetheart.
• 15:53
  Speaker 3: Thanks for listening to Sid and Friends in the Morning.
• 15:57
  Speaker 3: You can hear Sid and Friends in the Morning weekday
• 15:59
  Speaker 3: mornings at 6. If you like the podcast, share it
• 16:02
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• 16:07
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• 16:11
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• 16:18
  Speaker 3: and X. See you next time for a new episode
• 16:20
  Speaker 3: so you never have to wonder.
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: What the heck is going on here?