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NYPD to Meet with Residents Before Closing TriBeCa Horse Stable

NYPD horses have lived on Varick Street in TriBeCa for nearly 100 years.
NYPD horses have lived on Varick Street in TriBeCa for nearly 100 years.
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Flickr/mtzerian

By Julie Shapiro

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

TRIBECA — The NYPD will meet with residents before making a final decision on the fate of TriBeCa's beloved horse stable, Community Board 1 Chairwoman Julie Menin said this week.

The NYPD reportedly plans to boot the horses to make way for a massive World Trade Center command post but won't make any moves until after a meeting this Thursday morning, Menin said.

Menin said she spoke to Michael Yanosik, commanding officer of the NYPD's Facilities Management Division, and he promised that Police Commissioner Ray Kelly would take the community's views into account.

"I was pleased with that," Menin said. "We don't want to lose the Mounted Unit."

The NYPD did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Menin and others oppose moving the Varick Street stable because they say the Mounted Unit provides essential crowd control for the frequent protests in lower Manhattan's streets.

Menin said the World Trade Center command post is important as well, but said she thinks the NYPD can find another place for it downtown that would not require displacing a nearly-100-year-old horse stable, which has become a charming local landmark.

Police told Menin that the command post would house up to 250 officers and would just be temporary — in a couple of years, the NYPD plans to move its operations into new headquarters on the World Trade Center site itself, Menin said.

Thursday's meeting with the NYPD, which was first reported by the Tribeca Trib, will be closed to the public, because the community board did not have enough time to advertise it in order to fulfill public meeting laws, Menin said.

If the private meeting does not dissuade the NYPD from moving the stables, Menin hopes to hold a public meeting as early as next week to give the city more feedback.