After promising to end the city’s controversial horse carriage industry during his electoral race, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has announced that the horses will be retired this year, providing a welcome timeline and a clear victory for animal advocates who’ve worked on the issue for years.

Animal-rights activists took a NYCLASS trip to Albany Wednesday, marking the rollout of an effort by the group -- best known for fighting the city's horse-carriage industry -- to increase the size of its political footprint.

Editorial: It’s time to ban horse-drawn carriages in New York City.

What do P!nk, Kathy Najimy, Peter Dinklage, Wendy Williams, Alicia Silverstone, Dave Navarro, Lea Michele, and Pamela Anderson have in common?

The carriage horse industry is making one final last ditch effort to keep their inhumane industry by spreading desperate lies to the media. It won't work, but only if we band together once again and let NYC City Council know how LOUD and STRONG our humane voter hoof power is!

Go here to send a letter to your City Council member RIGHT NOW >>

We know how abusive the carriage industry has been, and that's why we cannot stop pushing the City Council now. We cannot afford to sit on the sidelines now -- we're so close to winning this.

BY ERIN DURKIN / DAILY NEWS CITY HALL BUREAU

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2014, 12:03 AM

The man who spearheaded the drive to ban horse-drawn carriages is a polarizing figure — lionized by animal rights activists and damned by carriage drivers as Public Enemy Number One.

Steve Nislick, a 70-year-old parking garage magnate who loves horses, is an unlikely activist. But his organization, New Yorkers for Clean, Livable and Safe Streets (NYCLASS), is now a political player and is branching out to advocate on issues ranging from installing sprinklers in pet stores to banning foie gras.

BY ERIN DURKIN / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 15, 2014, 2:30 AM

Horse carriage drivers scrambling to stop the city from banning their industry have teamed up with a St. Louis-based consulting firm that bills itself as fighting “radical animal rights extremists.”

The Cavalry Group, a lobbying and advocacy organization, has launched a social media campaign targeting Mayor de Blasio for supporting legislation to outlaw the Central Park carriage rides.

“They used to hang horse thieves. Now they elect them mayor!” read one tweet from the group.

NEW YORK — A political battle is raging here over an iconic mode of transportation you might have used if you visited the city this winter: not the subway or yellow cabs, but Central Park’s horse-drawn carriages.

By CAHIR O'DOHERTY

November 14, 2013

Irish Central

They named their advocacy group Anybody But Quinn and in the end they got exactly what they wanted.

By Nick Powell

November 08, 2013

City & State

Of all the issues facing New York City’s next mayor—from improving public education to creating jobs to affordable housing—who would have thought that one of the most talked-about subjects throughout this year’s campaign would be the fate of the Central Park carriage horse industry?