Hold your horses? TWU threatens legal action if City Council passes horse carriage ban Thursday

If the City Council moves ahead with approving legislation to ban horse carriages in Central Park on Thursday, as it is all but certain to do, the union representing hansom cab drivers and owners threatened on Oct. 21 to immediately take legal action. Arthur Schwartz, an attorney for the union Transport Workers Union (TWU) Local 100, leveled the threat in a letter to city Corporation Counsel Steve Banks on Wednesday. Banks represents both the mayoral administration and the City Council in legal matters. "If it is enacted as it now stands for a committee vote tomorrow, we will seek a TRO [Temporary Restraining Order] the minute the ink dries," Schwartz wrote, referring to the bill having to clear the Health Committee before going to the full council. The missive comes after several days of TWU Local 100, carriage workers, and owners slammed the legislation for not including sufficient worker protections. The backlash was in response to City Council Speaker Julie Menin last week revea