Philadelphia activists to protest horse-drawn carriages

Philadelphia peace activists are holding a pro-horse rally in Philadelphia tomorrow near 6th and Market Streets in Center City. The protest is blocks from where a car rammed into several horse-drawn carriages Monday.

Philadelphia peace activists are holding a pro-horse rally in Philadelphia tomorrow near 6th and Market Streets in Center City.  The protest is blocks from where a car rammed into several horse-drawn carriages Monday.

The Peace Advocacy Network is calling on Councilman Frank DiCicco to end what they call a dangerous and exploitative practice before there’s another accident.

Councilman DiCicco says he’s not planning on banning the carriages.

He says they’re part of the tourism industry and they employ a lot of people.

“I grew up in an era where milkmen delivered milk by way of a horse drawn wagon,” says DiCicco. “It was a way of getting product around. I think horses are built – God made them for certain purposes and I think they were built to be used in the fashion they’re used. The Amish people still use horses to plow their fields.”

Brandon Gittelman, the vice president of the Peace Advocacy Network, says without horse drawn carriages, people can tour the city in creative fun ways on the trolley, duck boats or bikes.

“There are other ways for people to entertain themselves and there are other ways to enjoy the city,” says Gittelman. “And, as demonstrated this past Monday at 6th and Race Streets, these horse-drawn carriages do not mix well in traffic. They’re really dangerous and essentially accidents waiting to happen.”

But DiCicco says that Monday’s pile-up does not change his view of horse-drawn carriages.

“There was an unfortunate accident,” says DiCicco. “There are accidents that happen every day in the city of Philadelphia. There are pedestrians who are hit by cars and either injured or killed. I don’t see anyone out there saying eliminate motor vehicles from the streets of our city also.”