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They’re being sent out to pasture.
Central Park’s horse-drawn carriage drivers said they feel “betrayed” and forgotten Wednesday after Mayor Zohran Mamdani and City Council Speaker Julie Menin struck a deal to ban the centuries-old practice.
Some of the concerned small business owners said they fear they could end up homeless as the agreed-upon bill doesn’t clearly lay out what will happen to the 200-strong workforce or their herd of horses.
“I feel pretty betrayed. We were told the bill would get amended to actually do something for us drivers and horses. It was not,” Jill Adamski, 39, told The Post as she worked with her horse, Scout.
“I’m concerned. I don’t know how I will possibly earn enough money to care for my horses. I developed a bond with them, so they don’t want to be separated from me.”
Adamski, who has worked in the industry for a decade, has invested “thousands” into her dream career, and fears she won’t be able to line up another equine gig — or a job in general.
“I have no idea how I’m gonna really live. I’m assuming I’m just going to live out of savings for a little bit, and eventually, probably be homeless, but I don’t really have a plan.”
Adamski is among the roughly 200 carriage drivers, owners and stable workers facing unemployment should the legislation — dubbed Romanch’s Law, after the teen tourist who died in a fall from a carriage over the summer — pass next week, as Menin declared Tuesday.
The bill would make horse-drawn carriages illegal to operate in the five boroughs beginning June 2028. Animal advocates have long pushed to end the practice, and the proposal picked up steam in the council following the June death of 18-year-old Romanch Mahajan.
The legislation — which Menin said she expected the 51-member council to pass with a veto-proof majority next week — includes vague language about sending the 160 carriage horses to rescue farms and sanctuaries.
The bill states the city must create a workforce transition program involving career counseling and job referrals in the public and private sectors — but falls short of offering compensation for the workers, some of whom have invested hundreds of thousands of dollars to build up their businesses, according to their union.
When pressed on the issue Wednesday, Mamdani remained ambiguous, only promising that “we are not leaving anybody out to dry.”
“We are having a broad conversation about what that can look like so that none of these workers and owners are the ones who are made to pay for the sunsetting of an industry,” Hizzoner said.
“I want to be very clear that our commitment to the workforce is going to be one that will become more explicit than what is broadly gestured at in the legislation.”
But some horse-drawn carriage operators griped that they were largely ignored during discussions over the bill, saying they’ve lost faith in politicians, including Mamdani — whom many of the industry’s employees excitedly voted into office for his promises to uplift the working class.
“We are really upset to hear about the ban. I love my work, I love horses, I love Central Park, I love people,” said Emrah Eogru, 48, an immigrant from Turkey who has worked as a hansome cabbie for four years.
“I don’t have any idea after this work. I don’t know, but we’ll see,” he said.
Fellow cabbie Tony Moran, 63, said the drivers “don’t even know what’s going on” with the bill — despite workers like himself investing 40 years to support his family of six.
“Politicians are dirty people,” another carriage driver, who asked to remain anonymous, said as he and horse Apollo pulled tourists around Central Park.
“Why you have to take my job now? You want to ban the horse because somebody died? How many people get hit in the street? You want to ban that?”
Another driver, who also asked for anonymity, fumed: “I’m not educated. I’m not skilled to do another job. City council members said, ”We’re going to give you another job’… they lie.”
“It’s illegal what they’re doing. They don’t negotiate with us, they’re not negotiating for anything, they want to get rid of us,” the 67-year-old carriage operator said.
The Transport Workers Union has vowed to fight the legislation ahead of the October 22 date council vote, saying the bill would be economically devastating and accusing Menin of using “the tragic death of a tourist to contrive a public safety crisis.”
“Council Speaker Menin’s bill has no meaningful economic relief for workers. It only says the city should prepare a worker transition plan by April 2027 and include weak measures like job fairs and job counseling,” TWU President John Samuelsen said in a statement.
“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.”
— Additional reporting by Hannah Fierick