评论
打印
The administration of Mayor Bill de Blasio is poised to introduce legislation next week that would eliminate the New York City horse-drawn carriage industry, fulfilling a promise by the mayor to animal-rights activists who played an important role in securing his campaign victory last year.
市长比尔·白思豪(Bill de Blasio)已经带领行政班子严阵以待，他们将于下个星期（指12月18日当周——译注）引入一项立法，取缔纽约市的马车行业，以落实他作为市长曾对动物权益活动者做出的承诺。因为这些活动人士在他去年赢得竞选的过程中，扮演了一个重要角色。
Mr. de Blasio had pledged “on Day 1” to rid Central Park of its signature four-legged tourist attraction, a Victorian vestige that has been denounced as torture by activists who say the animals are mistreated and vulnerable to accidents when traversing Midtown streets.
白思豪从竞选的“第一天起”就宣誓，要取缔中央公园标志性的四条腿景点。那些维多利亚时代遗留下来的风貌，却被动物权益活动者们斥为一种折磨。他们说，这些动物受到了虐待，还说它们在中城区的街道上来回穿梭时，很容易出意外。
But the mayor’s efforts quickly turned into a steeplechase, with city officials stymied for months by union protests (the industry includes dozens of blue-collar jobs), celebrity ripostes (Liam Neeson made a well-publicized visit to the local stables) and legal and regulatory snags.
但这位市长的努力立刻变成了一场跑马障碍赛。市政府的官员们连月来受到了百般阻挠，比如工会的数次抗议（该行业涉及了数十种蓝领工作），名人的还击（利亚姆·尼森[Liam Neeson，演员，曾主演《辛德勒的名单》——译注]大张旗鼓地拜访了当地的几个马厩），还有法律和法规层面的阻碍。
Now, Mr. de Blasio’s team is unveiling a bill that would phase out the industry by the middle of 2016, while offering soon-to-be-unemployed carriage drivers a carrot of sorts: job training classes and a waiver of most fees for licenses to operate “green” taxicabs, which can pick up passengers outside the busiest parts of Manhattan.
现在，白思豪的团队即将推出一项法案，预计到2016年中期逐步取缔该行业；与此同时，给那些即将失业的马车夫们提供某种“胡萝卜”似的补偿：比如一些职业培训课程，以及一张豁免大部分费用的“绿色出租车”运营执照——这类出租车可以在曼哈顿最繁忙的地段周围接客。
The bill would also prohibit the use of horse-drawn carriages throughout the city, with exceptions allowed for film sets and some parades.
该法案还将明令禁止在全纽约市内使用马车，除非拍摄电影或进行一些游行庆典活动。
The legislation, described by three people familiar with its contents, would first have to pass the City Council, whose members are mixed on the proposal. A vote is not expected until next year, and a spokesman for the Council speaker, Melissa Mark-Viverito, said she was still reviewing the bill, which was first reported by Capital New York.
据三位熟知该立法内容的人士描述，这项法案首先必须在市议会获得通过，而市议会的议员却对这项法案意见不一。投票表决要到明年才有望进行，而市议会议长的一位发言人梅丽莎·马克-瓦维瑞托(Melissa Mark-Viverito)说，她还在审阅这项法案。此法案是由网络媒体Capital New York首先公布的。
Carriage horses in Central Park — a Manhattan fixture for more than a century — remain broadly popular with the public, and Mr. de Blasio’s effort to remove them has been lampooned on the cover of The New Yorker and assailed by The Daily News, which embarked on a campaign to “Save Our Horses!”
中央公园里那些驾车的马儿，近百年来一直是曼哈顿一道不变的风景，时值今日仍广受公众喜爱。所以白思豪要取缔马车的尝试，在《纽约客》(The New Yorker)的封面上被狠狠讽刺了一番，还遭到《每日新闻》(The Daily News)的攻击，该报发起了一场以“拯救我们的马！”为主题的宣传攻势。
But for the mayor, embracing the equine cause was a windfall before it was a headache.
但对市长而言，卷入这项与马有关的事业其实纯属意外收获，那时它还没有变成一桩头疼事。
NYClass, a small but vocal group of animal-rights activists, endorsed Mr. de Blasio in last year’s mayoral race, calling him an “animal hero” after he pledged opposition to the horse-carriage trade.
去年，一家规模不大但积极发声的动物权益活动组织NYClass，为白思豪的竞选活动做了宣传。他们在白思豪宣誓反对马车运营之后，称赞他是一位“动物英雄”。
That placed Mr. de Blasio, a proud populist, in the odd position of opposing a working-class industry populated by Irish immigrants. And despite talk about curbing the influence of money in politics, Mr. de Blasio did not object when a “super PAC” financed by NYClass spent roughly $1 million on ads attacking his major opponent in the Democratic primary, Christine C. Quinn.
但这就把白思豪这位骄傲的民粹主义者摆在了一个突兀的位置上，与一个由爱尔兰移民组成的工人阶级为主的行业，形成了对立。尽管白思豪声称，要限制金钱对政治的影响力，但他并没有反对一个受NYClass资助的“超级PAC组织”（Political Action Committee，政治活动委员会） 花费近100万美元（约合人民币615万），来通过宣传攻击白思豪在民主党初选中的劲敌，克里斯汀·C·奎因(Christine C. Quinn)。
After Mr. de Blasio took office, his administration struggled to find feasible ways to check the carriage industry, batting about ideas like installing stables in Central Park. Animal-rights advocates also stepped up pressure, telling the mayor in a recent meeting that they were prepared to finance an ad campaign and mail pamphlets directly to voters.
白思豪当选之后，他的行政班子想尽了各种可能的法子来管控马车行业，还打击了在中央公园内搭建马厩这类想法。动物权益保护者们也在施压，他们在最近一次会面中告诉这位市长，他们准备去资助一项宣传活动，并直接给选民们邮递宣传手册。
The donors behind NYClass, which is led by a local real-estate and parking-garage magnate, include several of Mr. de Blasio’s biggest campaign supporters — among them a labor group led for years by his cousin, which contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to NYClass.
NYClass组织由当地一个房地产与停车场业大亨领导，其背后的捐款人中有几位是白思豪竞选活动的最大支持者——其中有一家劳工组织多年来一直由他的堂系亲属领导，该组织为NYClass捐助了数十万美元。
The close ties between Mr. de Blasio’s campaign and NYClass have drawn scrutiny, with critics accusing the mayor of a quid pro quo. (Mr. de Blasio has said his opposition to horse carriages comes from genuine concern for the animals’ welfare.) Federal investigators have also examined the actions of a political affairs firm that worked with NYClass on its ads during the campaign.
白思豪的竞选活动与NYClass组织之间的紧密关系，已遭到了审查，有批评者指责这位市长有利益交换之嫌（白思豪曾说，他反对马车行业是真心诚意地出于对动物福祉的关怀）。联邦调查员也已审查了一家政治活动事务所的多项行动，该事务所曾在竞选中参与主办NYClass的宣传活动。
Allie Feldman, the executive director of NYClass, applauded Mr. de Blasio on Monday, saying in a statement: “This is the right creative solution that benefits all New Yorkers by adding jobs while also ending an unsafe and inhumane industry.”
本周一（指12月1日——译注），NYClass的常务董事艾莉·费尔德曼(Allie Feldman)夸赞了白思豪。她在一份陈述中说：“这是一个有创意的正确解决方案，不仅增加了就业，同时又终结了一个不安全且不人道的行业，从而造福了所有纽约人。”
The Teamsters union local representing the Central Park carriage drivers objected in strenuous terms. “This is awful news to give a working family just before the holidays,” George Miranda, president of the Teamsters local, said in a statement.
代表中央公园马车夫的当地车夫工会(The Teamsters union local)以激烈的言辞提出了反对。“这是一个工薪家庭在圣诞节前夕听到的最可怕的消息，”当地车夫工会的主席乔治·米兰达在发表的一份声明中说。
Mr. de Blasio, asked about the legislation after an event in Harlem on Monday morning, offered a simple and blunt reply.
周一早晨，白思豪在参加了哈莱姆区(Harlem)的一项活动之后，被问到这项法案的相关事宜，他给出了一个简单、生硬的回答。
“We think it’s time to end horse carriages in the city,” the mayor said, “and we’re going to act on it.”
“我们认为，是时候结束纽约市的马车运营业了，”这位市长说，“我们将为此行动起来。”
