Dallas City Council postpones vote on ban of horse-drawn carriages

A decision on whether to ban horse-drawn carriages in Dallas got postponed by the Dallas City Council, who voted to return the issue to committee for further study.

The ban was one of more than 70 items considered by the Dallas City Council meeting on June 26; it had been previously approved by thecouncil's Quality of Life Committee at their meeting on December 5.

Supporters of the ban say that horses on crowded city streets are vulnerable to stress and injury, both to themselves and to people. Similar bans have already been instituted in cities such as Chicago and Salt Lake City.

Dallas has one company with a permit to operate: Northstar Carriage, which offers rides from Klyde Warren Park and the West End, but which has been documented to be operating outside of designated zones and during excessive heat.

The vote drew a dozen or so speakers including the owner of Northstar Carriage, as well as animal advocates such as Shelby Bobosky, Executive Director of the Texas Humane Legislation Network, who also serves on Dallas' Animal Advisory Commission. Bobosky noted that in cities that have instituted bans, the horse carriages have been successfully replaced by electric-driven carriages.

Strangely, the topic also drew some odd ghosts from the past such as Dwaine Caraway, the former city council member convicted of taking bribes; 83-year-old Betty Culbreath, who served on a commission decades ago; and failed city council candidate Yolanda Williams, who declared that she was not racist. Was someone handing out $20 bills? All three repeated lobbyist-style phrases including "PETA propaganda," the Budweiser Clydesdales, the potential loss of the Dallas Mavericks, and a warning to not let outsiders tell Dallas what to do.

As soon as the discussion turned back to the council, District 14 council member Paul Ridley leapt in with an amendment that would replace the ban with a set of limitations such as not allowing horses to work if the temperature exceeded 90 degrees — which would seem to acknowledge that the ban had some credibility.

Ridley restated his bizarre predictions about the horses' future, hinting that they might be put to sleep if the city did not allow them to keep working. (In December, he said, “If we ban this operation, what’s going to happen to those horses? They’re probably going to be put down because they are expensive to maintain, and if they don’t generate income, there’s no motivation to keep them around.")

"We want to be data-driven and not emotion driven," Ridley said — then followed that with a completely emotional plea: "I appeal to your better instincts and the preservation of our Texas historical legacy. I would also point out that if we ban this business, we are sending a bad message to future entrepreneurs that, at the stroke of a pen, this body could outlaw their business, and this could give them second thoughts about forming their business in Dallas." Data-driven!

Council member Adam Bazaldua, who'd brought the original ban to the council for a vote, offered his own amendment to postpone the vote so that the Quality of Life committee could evaluate regulations and how they might be enforced. His amendment was approved in a 10-5 vote with Bazaldua, Chad West, Zarin Gracey, Carolyn King Arnold, Jaime Resendez, Omar Narvaez, Paula Blackmon, Gay Donnell Willis, Kathy Stewart, and Jaynie Schultz voting in favor; and Eric Johnson, Cara Mendelsohn, Jesse Moreno, Tennell Atkins, and Ridley voting against.