NYC’s horse carriage ban is actually a scheme to benefit real estate interests, John Catsimatidis claims

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Cite

Donlevy, K. (2026, October 22). NYC’s horse carriage ban is actually a scheme to benefit real estate interests, John Catsimatidis claims. New York Post. https://nypost.com/2026/10/22/us-news/nycs-horse-carriage-ban-is-actually-a-real-estate-scheme-john-catsimatidis-claims/

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New York Post · collected 2026-10-22 · by Katherine Donlevy

Quick Summary

John Catsimatidis, CEO of Gristedes and D’Agostino Supermarkets, claims that New York City's recent ban on horse-drawn carriages is part of a real estate scheme benefiting developers rather than improving animal welfare. He argues that politicians are more interested in converting three Manhattan stables into skyscrapers than freeing the horses from what he calls "slavery." Catsimatidis suggests that the stable owners, who also run carriage businesses, will be forced to sell their properties due to high property taxes and loss of income when the industry is banned by 2028. Christina Hansen, a carriage horse driver and union representative, agrees but denies that stable owners are willingly turning against the industry for personal gain.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-22, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

Businessman John Catsimatidis claims that New York City's upcoming ban on horse-drawn carriages is part of a scheme to benefit the real estate industry. On his radio appearance on "Sid & Friends in the Morning," Catsimatidis, CEO of grocery chains Gristedes and D’Agostino Supermarkets, alleged that politicians are more interested in turning stable locations into skyscrapers than freeing horses from what he calls “slavery.” He called for an investigation by the US Attorney to uncover any potential corruption behind the push to ban horse carriages. Carriage horse driver Christina Hansen noted that without income, stables cannot afford property taxes and renovations needed to repurpose their buildings, potentially leading to their sale for real estate development.

Written for “Nyc Horse Carriage Ban Controversy” on 2026-10-23, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
The model judged this article politically coded and scored it +0.35, but all 3 of its quote(s) are attributed speech - words the article quotes from someone, not the article's own narration, so the score is not published.
Written under an earlier scoring contract, which gave a paragraph rather than checkable quotes. Re-analysing this article replaces it.
Leaning score withheld for article 100370: attributed speech only · logged 2026-10-22

Story

📰 Nyc Horse Carriage Ban Controversy
Politics · 1 article(s) covering the same event.

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 6% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
CBC News
⚖️ Leans left 🔴 6% hedged 1 of 18 📰 publisher trust 60
“Article A discusses a claim by John Catsimatidis about the motivations behind the horse carriage ban, while Article B reports on the city council's vote to advance a bill banning horse-drawn carriages.”
Fox News
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 11% hedged 5 of 46 📰 publisher trust 67
“While both articles discuss the proposed ban on horse-drawn carriages in New York City, Article A focuses on Mayor Mamdani and City Council Speaker Menin's announcement of a deal to phase out the industry, while Article B discusses John Catsimatidis' claims about real estate interests behind the ban. These are different aspects of the broader issue.”
BBC News
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 7% hedged 4 of 56 📰 publisher trust 69
“The articles discuss different aspects of the horse-drawn carriage ban in New York City and do not describe the same specific incident.”
New York Post
⚖️ Leans left 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 14 📰 publisher trust 66
“While both articles discuss NYC's horse carriage ban, Article A reports on the council vote and lawsuit in response, while Article B focuses on a businessman's claim about real estate interests influencing the ban.”
New York Post
⚖️ Leans strongly right 🔴 3% hedged 1 of 33 📰 publisher trust 66
“The articles discuss different aspects of the horse carriage ban in NYC and involve distinct claims and perspectives.”
New York Post
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 13 📰 publisher trust 66
“Article A reports on a lawsuit filed by a union after politicians voted to end Central Park's horse carriage tradition, while Article B discusses claims that the ban benefits real estate interests and allows for skyscraper construction where stables are currently located.”
New York Post
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 9% hedged 3 of 35 📰 publisher trust 66
“The articles discuss related topics but describe different perspectives and claims about the horse-carriage ban in Central Park.”
BBC News
⚖️ Leans left 🔴 5% hedged 1 of 20 📰 publisher trust 69
“The articles discuss different aspects of horse-drawn carriages in NYC: one focuses on the expected ban and legislation following a teenager's death, while the other is about a businessman's claims regarding motives behind the ban.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
18
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
6%
1 of 18 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
withheld
no quote in the article backed the model's score
Publisher signals
66/100
New York Post's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
1
Politics
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-22 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

New York Post · 13037 article(s) · 33 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 33 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Katherine Donlevy
39 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 The folky tunes of an extremely rare piano will once again sound in Manhattan Friday — nearly a century after Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia banned the instruments from the city streets.
🔮 I want to know who they paid off and let the US Attorney do their job, because I’m not sure the local DAs will do their job,” he claimed.
🔮 “It offers nothing concrete for blue-collar drivers and carriage owners who will be financially crushed, stripped of their jobs, their licenses, expensive city-issued medallions, small businesses, and way of life.
🔮 Queen Camilla is apparently trying a soft approach, hoping that will work.
🔮 Michelle, who did not share her last name, sent a bone-chilling string of texts to her boy assuring him he and his brother would survive the bloodshed — and repeatedly reminding him: “I love you so much.”
🔮 At the time, she was a 5-year-old Kindergartener at Silver Rail Elementary School, the same school where John, 17, would unleash the bloodshed years later.
🔮 They could see a police boat with rescue ropes at the ready racing toward a man standing on top of the bridge — and watched him jump seconds later.
🔮 Central Park’s horse-drawn carriage drivers said they feel “betrayed” and forgotten Wednesday after Mayor Zohran Mamdani and City Council Speaker Julie Menin struck a deal to ban the centuries-old practice.
🔮 “As we have said, the owner of the Second Avenue property originally approached us regarding a potential sale, and we recognized that the site’s proximity to our hospital could help support these long-term community healthcare needs,” said Steve Ritea of NYU Langone Health.
🔮 The irate Avila-Chevalier — a DSA candidate endorsed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani — turns to the supervising cop and gets in his face as he tries to hold the barricade, yelling “stop escalating… you are escalating… you are pushing.”
Also by Katherine Donlevy
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 39 articles by Katherine Donlevy →

Topics

77 WABC’s D’Agostino Supermarkets Gristedes Manhattan the Big Apple’s

Subjects

Catsimatidis PERSON · 3× Hansen PERSON · 3× Manhattan GPE · 2× 77 WABC’s ORG · 1× D’Agostino Supermarkets ORG · 1× Gristedes ORG · 1× John Catsimatidis PERSON · 1× New York GPE · 1× Sid Rosenberg PERSON · 1× the Big Apple’s GPE · 1×

Narrative

All three stables housing Central Park’s carriage horses across Manhattan are employee-owned and are considered small businesses — but will be obsolete with the passage of Romanch’s Law Thursday outlawing the industry by 2028. “If they are banned and we’re not bringing in income, the stables will be forced to sell because they can’t afford the property taxes and they can’t afford a [Certificate of Occupancy] or renovations to use it for anything else,” said Christina Hansen, a carriage horse driver and TWU union representative.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-22
🔮 I want to know who they paid off and let the US Attorney do their job, because I’m not sure the local DAs will do their job,” he claimed.

Claims (18 extracted, 1 hedged)

Businessman John Catsimatidis boldly claimed Thursday that the Big Apple’s new ban on the horse-drawn carriage industry was part of a scheme to make millions of dollars for the real estate industry. asserted
ban → claim → industry
The CEO of grocery chains Gristedes and D’Agostino Supermarkets alleged politicians have more of an interest in turning three longtime Manhattan stables into ritzy skyscrapers than freeing the animals from the so-called slavery. asserted
politicians → allege → slavery
“[Horse carriage drivers] own all those buildings on 11th Avenue where the stables are and they want to build skyscrapers where those stables are, so they want to kill the horses!” asserted
they → own → horses
Catsimatidis fumed on 77 WABC’s “Sid & Friends in the Morning.” asserted
Catsimatidis → fume → Morning
Catsimatidis called on the US Attorney to investigate how “real estate guys,” including the stable’s owners, have covertly been behind the longtime push to kill the industry. asserted
guys → call → industry
“They want to get rid of the horses. asserted
They → want → horses
The ambience in New York — they want to get rid of part of it. asserted
they → want → it
I want to know who they paid off and let the US Attorney do their job, because I’m not sure the local DAs will do their job,” he claimed. asserted
he → want → job
Host Sid Rosenberg passionately agreed: “You’re 1,000% right … asserted
You → agree → ?
It’s all about real estate money. asserted
It → ’ → money
The conspiracy is one the Transport Workers Union and the carriage horse drivers have been ringing the bell about “for years.” asserted
Union → ring → years
All three stables housing Central Park’s carriage horses across Manhattan are employee-owned and are considered small businesses — but will be obsolete with the passage of Romanch’s Law Thursday outlawing the industry by 2028. “If they are banned and we’re not bringing in income, the stables will be forced to sell because they can’t afford the property taxes and they can’t afford a [Certificate of Occupancy] or renovations to use it for anything else,” said Christina Hansen, a carriage horse driver and TWU union representative. asserted
Hansen → house → anything
“The real estate people want the carriage people to sell,” she claimed. asserted
she → want → carriage
Hansen denied, however, Catsimatidis’ claim that the stable owners were turning against their own, saying they held on to the properties for decades despite real estate developers sniffing around “for years.” The stables sit on prime real estate property that developers can level for high-rise buildings worth $1 billion — with a percentage carved out for affordable housing, Hansen said. uncertain
Hansen → deny → housing
The West Side Livery and Central Park Carriages stables in Hudson Yards are each owned by a single horse-drawn carriage operator. asserted
stables → own → operator
The Clinton Park Stables in Hell’s Kitchen are owned by 15 people who all either are or were carriage drivers — and pay a collective $25,000 for the monthly mortgage. “The carriage people up until this point have not sold because they need a place to keep the horses … but if there’s no carriage horses, who’s going to pay the property taxes? asserted
who → own → taxes
They’re losing their income, their businesses. asserted
They → lose → businesses
They’re going to be forced to sell,” Hansen said. asserted
Hansen → go → ?
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