If we cats were New York City residents, Zohran Mamdani would not have been our first choice as mayor (we'd probably have voted for Brad Lander). But with only a couple of stumbles — his 9/11 statement being one — Mamdani's been very impressive since taking office. He's made changes that matter deeply to New Yorkers in their daily lives, and has filled a bunch of potholes at the same time. It's the Jon Ossoff model of public service: Be there for your people when they need you.
Now, Mamdani has managed to pull off something that's been needed for years: banning horse-drawn carriages. Yep, it's going to cost some jobs. Yes, it'll put "Ghostbusters" and "Seinfeld" farther back in the Gotham historical timeline. And having a carriage clip-clop past you is charming. But horses have suffered and been abused, and it needs to stop. (Humans have died, too, just for the record.)
Mamdani is catching up to Montréal, which banned calèches in the historic part of the city at the end of 2019. As part-time Montréal residents, we thought we would miss the atmospherics, but we don't. It's much better to know that horses are not navigating the heat, traffic, and cobblestones of Montréal for people's ephemeral amusement. Same with New York. Thank you/merci, Zohran. We cats PURR.
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