Make that Year 1 — not Day 1.
Mayor de Blasio on Friday pushed back the timeline for booting horse-drawn carriages permanently out of Central Park — from his first day in office to his first year.
On the campaign trail last year, De Blasio had said that banning the carriages was such a high priority he would do it on his first day in office.
During an online Google+ video chat with a half-dozen supportive New Yorkers, the mayor gave himself hundreds of extra days' leeway.
"There's a bill that's being drafted in the City Council that will lead the action, and we expect action on it this year," he said.
"It's just about as common-sense as you could possibly think, that a horse in the middle of the streets of Midtown — it doesn't belong, it isn't going to be able to live the kind of life that it should, and it's going to create a dynamic for everyone that creates problems."
Hizzoner, who has proposed replacing the carriages with vintage electric cars, has stood firm in the face of polls showing that a large majority of New Yorkers are in favor of keeping the iconic clip-cloppers.
He has also taken heat from supporters of the carriage drivers, including actor Liam Neeson.
"I don't understand how a man can make that sort of a statement if he hasn't seen the love and care we give these animals," horse owner and carriage driver Ian McKeever, 47, said Friday after being informed of the mayor's latest remarks.
"All he's done is listen to the other side. He's never once reached out to hear the truth."
A council spokesman said no information was available on the bill being drafted.
The video chat that yielded questions on the fate of the carriages was pitched as an event where the mayor would be "hanging out with New Yorkers from every borough."
But a closer look at the lighthearted event shows four of the six chatters weren't run-of-the-mill participants — they were supporters or campaign donors.
Environmental activist Christine Datz-Romero gave the de Blasio campaign $100 last year, small-business owner Jeff Cadavid gave $80, and Staten Island Imam Tahir Kukiqi contributed $1,000.
A fourth participant, Coalition for Queens founder Jukay Hsu, was a member of de Blasio's transition team.
"Hi, Mr. Mayor, it has been a privilege and an honor knowing you even before being elected . . . and we pray for your success," Kukiqi said before asking a procedural question on the mayor's signature initiative, universal pre-kindergarten.
A spokeswoman for Google referred a question about how many people tuned in to watch the "hangout" to City Hall.
Officials there didn't respond to multiple e-mails asking that question.
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