Karozzini have to go, ADT insists

OGrixti

Aug 1st 2009, 15:15

Karozzini should also start to have street insurance !

K. R.

Aug 1st 2009, 11:39

Finally...and let's hope that this time things do happen. That said the presence of them is picturesque...but only to those who have a severe cold and a congested nose! Then there are the owners constantly harassing tourists from across the street "Cab-a-horse Cab-a-horse!" and after the first 'no thank you' they go following them insisting and persisting. I appreciate they see it as 'marketing' but most of the times it is harassing. Then there are the left-overs across all the streets...so if my dog leaves his business and I don't 'flush' I'm fined...but if horse leaves his business on a major road, which please note is the size of my entire dog, nothing happens. Of course, I'm harmless but tatoos with cappetti and open shirts do impress and intimidate. It's about time all this stops and regulations are in place and obeyed by all!

p.grima

Jul 31st 2009, 23:32

@-smifsud-

" ...the Karozzin and horse was a way of life with no pullution or noise..."

You must be joking! What about the horse urine and dung on the streets. Isn't that pollution by your standards? It is by mine. Why should anyone have to watch his or her step?

I agree with ADT in this. Serves them right, they should have used the bibs when the government offered to subsidize them (up to 50%) by public money. Looks like they were too lazy or selfish to empty the bibs in the appropriate bins. They take the money from the tourists, so why don't they also take the dung too?

I could suggest to the Karozzin drivers to start using the bibs voluntarily at all times as a sign of good will.

A.Zahra

Jul 31st 2009, 21:45

@smifsud
Valletta is a heritage site which has developed over the years and it is still developing. The first buildings erected by the knights were plain lacking any decoration or ostentation. There are still a few around. The baroque buildings came a century later. During the British period Maltese developers knocked down many old palazzi to build flats and more modern houses. The flats are coming into fashion again today after a period of being not sought after. The houses need a lot of spending on to be made suitable to be lived in today. The fortifactions have a history of constant use and modification right up to the recent past. They are most certainly not like the knights left them.Valletta is not a presepju. It will have to naturally move with the times.

Franco Farrugia

Jul 31st 2009, 20:55

I think that it is shameful to read some unfair comments levelled at the horses, such as those written by Joe Briffa. Why he should describe these noble animals as 'filthy' is beyond me. really.

Lawrence Civelli

Jul 31st 2009, 20:34

I live in Fort Worth Texas,I cant the Govt.visit Malta every 2 years,and remember how the streets looked after they were restored with the new blocks in Mdina.Now when I see the damage that is being done by the Karrozzini and the horses it makes me mad. Now this town in Fort Worth to those who dont know anything about it,is a cowtown,with all the cowboys and the whole bit,but what Im getting to ,even the cowboys take care of their streets,the coaches that they use getting around they have a thick rubber on the wheels for street protection.
Why cant the govt.fors them to do the rubber on the wheels,is beyond me.
Love those Cowboys. Keller Texas.

mary bugeja

Jul 31st 2009, 20:01

ADT needs to sort out the horsewith karetun on the double carrige at Zebbug ,in Qormi , Marsa and Rabat the trouble ,and the accidents they could cause for traffic i love to know if they are insured if the horse goes mad and damage any cars ADT check these horses out first, not the tradition Maltese Karozzin in Valetta and other tourists areas.

Anthony Magri

Jul 31st 2009, 19:06

Why not suggest instead of criticising the cabmen. A place for these horse drawn vehicles could be found on one or several bastions on the outer side: just outside St. Mark street, (is-sur tal-hadidin),not far from Baviera, or Saint Elmo, or even Sta Lucia bastion. These may be out of the way, but one cannot have everything at arms reach.

smifsud

Jul 31st 2009, 18:54

@Grima.....Valletta is a modern city ???....please undersatnd what Mr Portelli and i are saying is we love the Karozzin and i at least think Valletta is Heritage site protected against any change to it ..so to keep comparing shoes, electricity is not fair and its not the same issue ...the Karoozin and horse was a way of life with no pullution or noise ..yes we and must improve the faults about it and we will ....but to take a tradition and historical part of our past is a mistake...this is my humble opinion with all respect to everyone on here in what they think.

joe briffa

Jul 31st 2009, 18:49

Karozzini have to be banned once and for all,they are only a nuisance and no attraction at all,filthy horses,and hazardous..just ban them

Charles Micallef

Jul 31st 2009, 18:08

Do we really need a cabby service inside Mdina to take tourist around the 300 meters inside the city and in the meantime making all that damage to the recently installed cobbled road surface? I am sure that there are other interesting parts of Rabat that the Karozzins can sell!

ABorg

Jul 31st 2009, 17:57

Well done ADT. The smell of urine and dung permeates the open-air cafes and shops in the corner in front of the Palace. Brand Malta indeed. X'misthija! The bullish attitude, indicipline and foul language of karozzini owners have not endeared them to the general public. Our sympathy goes to the poor horses.

Charles Sammut

Jul 31st 2009, 17:13

How about Mdina. The recently laid paving is all but ruined by horseshoes and steel rims.

Joe Grima

Jul 31st 2009, 17:03

J Portelli. One of my two grandfathers wore sandals (qorq) but my father went to school wearing a pair of shoes. When I was a little child I studied with the help of paraffin lamp. We did not have electricity in our home yet. My kids studied with electricity in the home and with airconditioners on. Changing from a paraffin lamp to elctricity is not cutting oneself from the past . It is called progress. Keeping horses that leave putrid smells wherever they stand is an inconsonant past conflictiing with Valletta as a modern city. For once one of our institutions has had the gumption to do what is right.

g.c.Forte

Jul 31st 2009, 17:02

@ A.D.T. It is about time to stop planning and act. planning, planning and never acting. To make some organized shelters (tents ), you do not need to have advisors, experts managers, n.g.o`s so a tent costs 200.00 euros it will come priced 2000.00.e. May I ask, when there will be a function were the President will be needed to be escorted by the police horses cavalery, does the horses drops ? I think that we need to eliminate these horses, and invests in RICKSHAWS. I will suggests that Merchant street will be the entrance and Old Bakery street will be the exit.

D Vella

Jul 31st 2009, 16:50

@ J.Portelli . . . if you are nostalgic for the stench of urine and miss meeting stinking piles of horse dung in practically every street, I am sure some special arrangement could be made to accommodate you, just give the Karozzini owners your street address ! ! On the other hand, please stop this inane insistence that anchors our Capital city in the middle ages ! ! !

If the owners of the horse drawn carriages treated their animals properly, respected other people, including tourists and fitted the bibs to their carriages just as their counterparts in several European cities did MORE THAN A CENTURY AGO they would find that people would be more inclined to sympathise with them.

A. Zahra

Jul 31st 2009, 16:36

@jportelli.
So you are nostalgic for times past including the stench of horse urine. I am not. I crave a future where all yesterday's and today's unpleasnt things are gone.

smifsud

Jul 31st 2009, 16:18

@J.Portelli ......haha ur right my freind we are losing everything ....next is Hobz biz-zejjt and Biggila .....haw sad it it ...well i hope a compromise is reached and the Karrozin and the horses are treated well ...and the drivers are trained in people skills to be polite and dont CHEAT !!!

j portelli

Jul 31st 2009, 15:58

Why everyone in this small Island is trying to cut all the ties we have with our past.
Valletta was a place where karozzini used to be the only transportation available.
Who is going to protect the Maltese history and even cuisines. First no Mazzit(blood pudding), then no Kirxa(cow stomack), and in the future no Karozzini, no Fireworks and what else we are going to misssssssssss.........

D Vella

Jul 31st 2009, 14:59

Hear Hear . . . . Maybe now we can enjoy our capital city without having to put up with the smell of horse urine and excrement all over the streets!! If these people are uncivilised and don't want to cooperate, then they have to go . . . nobody owes them a living after all and they need to drag themselves out of their eighteenth century mentality!!

Charles Micallef

Jul 31st 2009, 14:49

@Pamela Hansen

and so say all of us who frequent Valletta and have to avoid the areas where these cabs are standing, again to avoid the urine and stench that they bring along with them especially on a hot day!

Paul Vella

Jul 31st 2009, 14:29

Whatever happened to the regulatory loin sack there was so much hype about when it was introduced? Walking through the streets of Valletta on any day is like walking through a stable, it is already bad enough with all the pigeon droppings which piles up for months. By the way, has anyone ever seen the streets of our city (built by gentlemen for gentlemen) getting watered down or throughly cleaned? I happened to be in Sevilla a couple of years ago and there the streets are washed every other night. Some might argue that we cannot have water wasted away like that..but what about second or even third grade water..should be good enough and surely worth keeping the streets of Valletta clean both for locals and tourists alike. Bring back the loin sacks or else bar the karozzini from even stepping into the streets..after all they are a very small minority who are also damaging the streets with the horses hooves and metal wheel rings..look at the once so beautiful Mdina paving for evidence!! This whole project cost us the tax payers millions and is now being ruined by an outdated touristic transport system.

Edward de Gray

Jul 31st 2009, 13:14

It Is about time ADT keeps it word and rid Valletta of the nuisance and damage the horses hoofs are doing to the streets. The smell in front of the palace is most times unbearable.

Joe Azzopardi

Jul 31st 2009, 13:14

For once ADT is absolutly right.

Pamela Hansen

Jul 31st 2009, 13:08

About time that the karozzini drivers were made to tow the line.
They are arrogant and think they own the road. They leave their horses droppings for the street cleaners to clear up creating a stinking mess in the meantime.
They (the men) are an eyesore in the square and the smell of horse urine is dreadful.
The ADT should have acted long ago.
Just as they should have done about the buses and coaches emissions, which are still appalling. Try walking up Tower Road from the Ferries. At least we now have a bit of open space so that you can wait at the bottom, under the shade of the trees, until the fumes disperse.
The water feature is also very nice and the square is now an oasis, with no fast food outlets.
So far anyway!

C.Sammut

Jul 31st 2009, 12:54

Well done! This should benefit both karozzini owners, the tourists, the public and the horses!