If this had been a Western instead of West 52nd Street, Liam Neeson would have settled this argument with six-shooters.
But this is Manhattan, so the Irish-born actor simply called out the man in the black hat — Bill de Blasio — for declining an invitation to tour stables kept by the city’s horse-carriage drivers. As Neeson put it, “He should have manned up and come.”
At issue for the drivers is the mayor’s plan to get rid of the horses and replace them with electric cars. Of course, the car he proposes hasn’t even been built, and the price tag will be north of $150,000 each.
Colm McKeever, an Irish immigrant father of three who owns and drives horses, says trading his horses in for an unproven car is a risk he can’t afford. “They are asking me to gamble with my family,” he says. “At my age, I just can’t do it.”
Demos Demopoulos, executive officer for Teamsters Local 553 which represents the drivers, tells The Post the car misses the whole point: the horse. “The ability to pet, feed carrots to and interact with the horse is what is most alluring,” he says. “It is that experience with the horse that creates lifetime memories for the children and adults who visit New York City and take a carriage ride through Central Park.”
The mayor says he will get to the stables at some point — but that his election gives him a mandate to shut these drivers down. Count us skeptical: A January Quinnipiac poll shows 61 percent opposed to the horse ban. A just-released poll of business owners shows 76 percent opposed.
Apparently New Yorkers believe their mayor should be helping working people — not stripping them of their livelihoods.