NEW YORK — Mayor Zohran Mamdani and New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin have reached a deal to abolish the city's horse carriage industry — a critical breakthrough in a decadeslong, politically fraught effort to ban the tourist attraction.
Since 2010, mayors and local legislative leaders have tried to outlaw horse-drawn carriages from operating in Central Park, citing concerns about the safety of the animals as several have died in accidents and from exhaustion. But despite broad popular support, the efforts have failed, in large part due to political pressure from New York's powerful transport union, which advocates for hundreds of carriage drivers who make a living shuttling tourists on buggies around the park.
Now, that stalemate appears closer than ever to being broken.
In an announcement shared exclusively with POLITICO on Tuesday, a Menin spokesperson said Mamdani's administration has agreed to back a bill that would make it illegal to operate a horse-drawn carriage in the city, starting in June 2028.
With Mamdani onboard, Menin — who first announced her support for the bill in July — said she's scheduling a full Council vote on the measure for Oct. 22. The legislation has already secured formal support from more than half of the Council's 51 members, meaning it's on a glidepath to becoming law now that Mamdani is committed to supporting it.
"Horse-drawn carriages have long been part of New York City's history, but in an increasingly busy Central Park, this tradition has become a growing public safety liability," Menin said in a statement. "Next week, the Council will take decisive action by voting on [this bill] to protect New Yorkers, visitors, and the horses themselves."
Mamdani spokesperson Sneha Choudhary confirmed the mayor and the speaker have reached a deal on the legislation. She also said Mamdani is committed to working on helping carriage drivers find new work and added: "We have been working closely with the City Council, union partners, carriage drivers, animal welfare advocates, and community leaders to deliver a just transition that protects workers while ending horse-drawn carriages in Central Park once and for all."
Mamdani and Menin will, no doubt, be hailed by animal rights activists, who have long fought to ban the horse carriage industry, arguing it puts both animals and humans in danger.
On the flipside, the announcement isn't without political risk, especially for Mamdani, who has courted support from the Transport Workers Union, which advocates for horse carriage drivers and has been aggressively opposed to any plan that would disband the industry outright. The TWU has pushed for an alternative bill in the Council that would leave the industry in place with new safety regulations.
In response to news of the deal, Transport Workers Union International President John Samuelsen, whose New York members are mostly subway, bus and railway workers, blasted the finalized version of the bill for giving "no meaningful economic relief for workers."
"This is disgraceful political opportunism, and Zohran should not simply go along with it, particularly when immigrant families' livelihoods are being destroyed," Samuelsen said. "This entire situation is reprehensible."
Mamdani has long said he supports the concept of outlawing the horse carriage industry, but prior to Monday, he had withheld support for the Council bill under consideration, arguing it did not go far enough in ensuring protections for the horse carriage drivers who'd lose their livelihoods.
Ultimately, Mamdani — a democratic socialist who has positioned himself as a friend of organized labor — came around to backing the bill because the latest version includes several new labor safeguards, according to the speaker's office.
Under the updated bill, which was shared with POLITICO, the city must create a workforce transition program under which carriage drivers would receive career counseling as well as referrals to employment opportunities in both public and private sectors, including with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, local sight-seeing bus companies and pedicab operators.
Additionally, the bill requires the city to "consider" establishing programs to compensate carriage owners for the value of their businesses, their horses, their equipment and the licenses they hold to operate. The bill, which was first introduced by Council member Christopher Marte, notably doesn't require the creation of such programs or earmark a specific amount of money for that purpose, one of several reasons Samuelsen cited in lampooning the bill.
"It only says the city should prepare a worker transition plan by April 2027 and include weak measures like job fairs and job counseling. It says the city should 'consider' financial compensation for carriage owners who spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy city-issued medallions and build up their businesses," the union head's statement said.
According to Menin's office, the speaker will convene a working group focused on addressing any issues that come up during the industry's phase-out period. The speaker will invite the TWU and the mayor's administration to participate in that process.
On the other end of the debate, the finalized version of the bill requires carriage horse owners who want to sell their animals to do so in a "humane manner."
"A licensed horse may not be sold or otherwise transferred to a person for purposes of slaughter, resale for slaughter, or holding or transport for slaughter, or for use in a horse drawn cab business," a new paragraph inserted into the bill says.
The legislation notes that all licensed carriage horse owners must by March 1, 2027, certify to the city that they won't violate the sales restrictions.
"This legislation means so much to those who have spent years fighting with us to protect horses and prevent tragedy," said Steve Nislick, co-founding president of New Yorkers for Clean, Livable and Safe Streets, one of the main groups pushing for a carriage ban. "Thanks to Speaker Menin's fortitude and compassion, New York City is finally poised to close this painful chapter."
The latest incarnation of the bill began to gain serious momentum over the summer after Romanch Mahajan, an 18-year-old Indian tourist, died when he jumped off a carriage to try to save his mom, who had been flung off the buggy when the horse unexpectedly careened into a gallop.
Though many horses have perished in carriage accidents over the years, Mahajan is believed to have been the first human to die in such an accident in modern times. After his death, the bill was renamed "Romanch's Law."
The first serious effort to outlaw the city's carriage industry came in 2010, when then-Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito introduced a bill to replace the horse-drawn carriages with electric vehicles. After that bill died during former Mayor Michael Bloomberg's tenure, Bill de Blasio promised as part of his successful 2013 mayoral campaign to enact a ban — but he never made good on that pledge.
Former Mayor Eric Adams then also tried to outlaw the carriages in the final months of his term last year. But he too fell short amid resistance from the TWU and Council members aligned with the union.
This article has been updated to include comments from the Mamdani administration and the Transport Workers Union.
This article originally appeared on Politico at https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/mamdani-city-council-strike-deal-180000686.html