New York City and romance go in hand. Whether you're on a first date or in a committed relationship nothing seems more romantic than hopping aboard a horse-drawn carriage for a stroll around Central Park. However this iconic tradition may be coming to an end according to a strongly-worded statement straight from the New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio's mouth.

When asked about the age old tradition of working horses in New York City, and more specifically Midtown Manhattan, de Blasio didn't mince words. In fact, de Blasio called the practice of using horses to shuttle people around inhumane and out of place in a modern day New York.

"Horses do not belong in the middle of traffic in New York City. They do not belong in an urban environment like this. It's not safe for them. It's not fair when you think about what their lives should be and what our society is like," de Blasio told The Daily Show host Jon Stewart.

The Mayor instead wants to substitute horses for nostalgic-looking electric cars. These vechicles would be driven by current horse-drawn carriage drivers. And despite de Blasio's statement being overwhelmingly focused on the horses well-being others do not agree with his proposal.

"If they did not come to New York City, most of these horses would be dead," said Ian McKeever, an Irishman who owns nine Central Park horses and has been driving a carriage in the city since 1987.

McKeever is certainly biased -- after all, he makes a living through his horses, but does that mean he's wrong.

"When you give a horse a job, he is protected," McKeever said.

Protected from senseless slaughter that is. Select foreign buyers don't have any qualms about serving horse meat to their countrymen. So they line up for horse auctions in Pennsylvania's Amish country and bid away. The healthy, strong, beautiful horses are literally minced to pieces when instead they could be employed by people like McKeever.

However, like Mayor de Blasio mentions, the loud, packed, polluted and ever-changing city streets aren't human. Horses getting killed in accidents isn't unprecedented. The streets are always hard on their hooves.

What do you think of removing horse-drawn carriages from New York City streets? Is de Blasio's proposal just a continuation of former Mayor Michael Bloomberg's nanny state policies? Tell us what you really think in the comments section below.