By Gabriela Resto-Montero and Jill Colvin
DNAinfo Staff
MANHATTAN — Business owners and residents are complaining that mounted police in the neighborhood are leaving behind horse droppings that clog the sidewalk and stink up the streets, the New York Post reported.
Police on horseback also patrol Times Square but the Times Square Alliance cleans up after them, the Post reported.
The Lower East Side doesn't have a similar neighborhood group and neighbors said if dog owners have to clean up after their pets then police should do the same with their steeds.
"It's unfair that people have to pick up after their dogs, but the cops don't have to pick it up," resident Fabio Jimenez told the Post.
Mounted police have been patrolling the neighborhood around Rivington, Ludlow, Essex and Norfolk streets since January in an effort to crack down on rowdy bar and club goers.
Mayor Michael Bloomerg said police have to make sure crowds in the area are patrolled and police officers on horseback are particularly effective.
"Unfortunately horses eat, and if the horses eat, we know what happens later on," Mayor Michael Bloomberg told reporters at a press conference in Queens Monday. "Unfortunately, training the horses not to make a mess is not one of the things we have an expertise to do."
