I am swamped with messages asking me if I spent much time with Liam Neeson, talked to him, had dinner with him, exchanged ideas about the Carriage Horses. I have to be honest about, I never spoke with Neeson, or got any closer than mob of reporters swarming around him to catch his words and take his picture. New York is a tough town, there are celebrities all over the place, but Neeson is a powerful draw, the Clinton Park stables were mobbed.

Neeson took the few city council members who showed up on a private tour, everyone else was kept downstairs.

I was invited to come on Friday and nobody really explained why, I think it was a courtesy, a nod to the writing I have been doing about it on the blog, but it worked out very well for me, I got to do what I wanted to do, talk to the reporters and some drivers and some of the other people involved in the story. I learned a lot  about this very compelling story and will share it this week.

Neeson grew up with some of the owners and drivers in the carriage trade, many came from Northern Ireland. I was impressed by his loyalty to his friends, and also by his genuine knowledge of horses and appreciation for them. He walks in Central Park several miles each day, and knows the park well, he seems genuinely horrified at the idea of replacing the horses with electric cars.

I am not sure if the carriage horse people really expected the mayor to come or not, but either way, it was a media win for them. Neeson had a field day mocking the mayor for not showing up, he seemed genuinely angered by it, and the horde of reporters jumped all over the absence. So the horses were big news in New York and not, for a change, denying accusations and allegations about abuse. This time the other side seems a bit on the defensive. The odds against the horses are long, and while I didn’t get to hand out with Neeson – not something I expected or needed to to – I did get a taste of what a powerful force he will be in this conflict. Neeson believes that real estate development is a the real story behind the story. I haven’t seen any evidence to really support that, but I am not a New Yorker, I don’t know the city as well as others.

From my perspective, and from the reporters I was talking with Neeson is changing the dynamic of the debate, suddenly it is not so easy for the proponents of the ban to claim the horses are abused and dropping dead every day in New York City traffic. A very powerful and credible person is saying that is not so. The reporters say the mayor is trapped, he owes his election in great measure to the animal rights groups who want to ban the horses, he can’t back down, even though he is being uncomfortably squeezed now by the other side. This means this issue will be decided in the courts. The City Council is expected to receive legislation banning the horses shortly, and the legislation apparently will forbid the sale of the horses to any buyer who would permit them to work.

Most analysts believe this is not legal and will not stand up in court, so this will likely go to litigation, costing the city and the carriage horse trade lots of money. The carriage trade has as good a spokesperson as it is possible to get, Neeson is the kind of gentle, measured and very credible voice people will listen to. That will very much change the narrative of this story, that the horses are suffering, are poorly cared for, are being slaughtered by traffic and overwork. Judging by the more than 100 reporters present Sunday, more and more New Yorkers will be hearing a different story.