GOODBYE HORSES: New York City isn’t horsing around anymore.
The City Council voted overwhelmingly today to abolish the Big Apple’s horse carriage industry, handing a historic win to animal rights activists who’ve pushed to end the tourist attraction for decades.
The vote doesn’t mean the industry sunsets overnight, though. The bill enacting the ban — which passed the Council with 40 yays, 7 nays and 2 abstentions — allows the roughly 200 carriage drivers who shuttle tourists around Central Park to continue operating until June 2028, when the industry will be reined into a legal halt officially.
Council Speaker Julie Menin, who started making the legislation’s passage a priority over the summer, told reporters before the vote that the carriage horse-related June death of Romanch Mahajan, an 18-year-old Indian tourist, was the last straw. But she also cited a long record of horses dying in the streets as part of the reason for the bill finally crossing the finish line.
“This has been a long time coming,” she said.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani — who initially withheld support for the measure over labor protection concerns — got behind it earlier this month, sealing the deal for it to become law. He hasn’t yet set a date for signing the bill.
Mamdani came on board after the Council modified the bill to give drivers pathways into other lines of work, and the phase-out period is key in that pursuit.
Under the bill, the city must create a workforce transition program under which drivers would, between now and 2028, receive career counseling as well as referrals to employment opportunities in both public and private sectors, including with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and hospitality and tourism outfits. The bill would also prohibit drivers from sending their horses to slaughter or using them for carriage duties in another city where it’s allowed.
Horse carriage drivers and their supporters remain furious.
The Transport Workers Union, which advocates for carriage drivers, announced yesterday that it will file a lawsuit to block the ban, arguing it violates federal and state laws. The union is especially incensed that the bill doesn’t require the city to pay out drivers for the value of their carriage licenses — an omission lawyers for the TWU say flies in the face of the Fifth Amendment’s prohibition on government usurping private property without compensation.
Just as the Council was getting ready to vote, carriage supporters received backing from a somewhat unexpected source: President Donald Trump.
“So sad to see the beloved Central Park Horse-drawn Carriage Industry ending after over a Century, based largely on one tragic accident,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post, referring to Mahajan. “When there is a car accident in the area, of which there are many, they don’t stop cars from entering the Park. So why would they stop the Carriages? It was a Great Tradition.”
Also before today’s vote, dozens of TWU reps and carriage drivers gathered outside City Hall to blast the Council for moving forward with the legislation. One of them brought along a ziplock bag of equine feces with a handwritten label on it reading: “This is horse sh*t.”
Christina Hansen, who’s been driving carriages for more than a decade, said she feels “disrespected” by the fact that the bill doesn’t guarantee she and her colleagues will be compensated for their licenses, which are worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“There are people who are owed money on medallions, who have planned families, had children, bought houses, taken out loans,” Hansen said. “What’s going to happen to them?”
Fellow carriage driver Danielle Slot, who voted for Mamdani in last year’s mayoral election, told Playbook she feels betrayed by his decision to back the bill without a provision mandating medallion reimbursement.
“You say you’re going after billionaires, but you’re really going after the underdogs,” Slot said. “These guys are hardworking, every single medallion is its own independent business, and many are immigrant owned. I expected better from Mamdani than to be a puppet.”
When asked why the bill only requires the city to “consider” medallion compensation as opposed to requiring it, Menin pointed a finger at the mayor. “To be clear, that was language that, you know, was worked out with the administration,” she told reporters at City Hall.
Dora Pekec, a spokesperson for the mayor, did not dispute Menin’s account, but said the administration is “in discussions” about compensation for medallion owners.
Mayors and Council speakers have tried to outlaw the industry since at least 2007. Momentum has built for a ban following tragic incidents in which horses have died or been severely injured in and around Central Park.
But until now, those efforts have fizzled, in part because of political pressure from the Transport Workers Union.
Carriage industry supporters argue that it can be reformed to ensure better safety standards without outlawing it outright. Council member Jim Gennaro, who introduced a bill that would do just that, said he believes Menin is at least partially politically motivated, pointing to the influence of NYCLASS, one of the main animal rights groups behind the push for a ban.
“NYCLASS does have the ability to turn winners and losers in mayoral elections and in borough elections, and I don’t think that fact has been lost on the speaker,” he said before voting against the bill. NYCLASS notably tanked former Council Speaker Christine Quinn’s 2013 mayoral bid by spending heavily against her because of her reluctance to support a carriage ban at the time.
Before the bill passed this afternoon, Gennaro tried to force through an amendment that would’ve delayed the phase-out deadline for the carriage industry until 2030, but it was rejected.
On the other side of the bitter debate, supporters of the bill gathered for a rally in City Hall Park before the vote. Among them were members of Mahajan’s family, who have been fighting for the legislation since his death.
“True justice means recognizing that these gentle, majestic horses do not belong on the congested asphalt,” Gaurav Mahajan, Romanch’s uncle, said. “By granting them the peaceful, green pastures they so deeply deserve, we fulfill Romanch’s purpose.” — Molly Reinmann and Chris Sommerfeldt
From the Capitol
RAILING AGAINST ALBANY: As Planet Albany denizens may have noticed, the Office of General Services this week began installing hand railings down the middle of several staircases near the state Senate chamber.
More railings are planned for the Assembly chamber-side stairs too. The project costs some $700,000, per WNYC’s Jon Campbell — further evidence that the most expensive government building construction project of the 19th century is never really done.
Aside from the cost, it’s an aesthetic change to a building teeming with history and one that is rarely altered.
Historian and former state Assemblymember Jack McEneny is taking the latest addition to the New York state Capitol in stride.
“I always thought it was only a matter of time that somebody would decide to do something,” he said in an interview when asked about the railings.
McEneny is an expert on the building and has given guided tours. He noted the staircases were not built with safety in mind.
“It was inevitable,” he said of adding the railings. “There’s a number of things that we did back two or three generations before that we wouldn’t do today.”
The stone staircases in the Capitol are indeed steep and very hard. (Fifteen years ago, your Playbook writer landed on his face while sprinting from the second to the third floor, necessitating an emergency dental intervention.)
The building, of course, has been altered over the years to fit the needs of people who work in it. That includes the installation of a small, hideaway elevator, which was used by a wheelchair-bound Franklin Roosevelt when he was governor.
“We require more things than we did at the time of its opening,” McEneny said. “We also have more attorneys who will sue.” — Nick Reisman
FROM THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL
BLAKEMAN GROUP GETS $2M: The main super PAC supporting Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman has received $2 million from a dark money group created to back Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential bid.
Securing American Greatness made the donation Tuesday to Strong and Safe New York, according to a filing submitted to the state Board of Elections. That group was formed by longtime Trump ally Taylor Budowich.
The pro-Blakeman group has now raised $10.3 million since July. That makes it the largest single independent expenditure group so far this election cycle, though a longer roster of outside spenders boosting Gov. Kathy Hochul means she’s still the beneficiary of more super PAC money. — Bill Mahoney
BROOKLYN BATTLE: The New York State Court of Appeals declined to weigh in Thursday on the long-running legal battle between factions of Brooklyn Democrats looking to lead the county party.
State Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, the former chair of the party, appealed a lower court’s decision that an August vote to change the makeup of the organization’s executive committee was invalid. The lower court’s ruling remains in effect after the appeals court decided not to take it up.
The issue of if state Assemblymember Nikki Lucas, Bichotte Hermelyn’s successor of choice, was properly elected is still playing out in the courts. — Madison Fernandez
GOV AND MAYOR: Hochul’s campaign today released a video co-starring Mamdani as they prepare to hit the trail together for her reelection.
The video highlighted their shared push for expanding child care, visiting a family that benefits from the service.
POLITICO first reported this morning that the governor and mayor will make two appearances together in the coming days with events on Friday and Sunday in Brooklyn. — Nick Reisman
FROM CITY HALL
MAM LEANS ON MENIN: Mamdani put public pressure on Menin today by showing up to a rally calling for the passage of labor legislation that she hasn’t thrown her weight behind yet — in part because of legal concerns.
The Delivery Protection Act, which was introduced by democratic socialist Council member Tiffany Cabán, would require Amazon and other retail giants to hire their own delivery workers. Currently, retailers can subcontract delivery employees via third party entities — a system that supporters of Cabán’s bill argue hampers workers’ ability to unionize and allows companies like Amazon to skirt accountability for labor violations.
Thirty-four of the Council’s 51 members have signed on as co-sponsors of Cabán’s bill, giving it a veto-proof majority of support, and a hearing was held on it in April. But Menin hasn’t scheduled a vote on the measure or offered support for it, even though she was a co-sponsor of a version of the legislation last year before becoming speaker.
Against that backdrop, Mamdani appeared on the steps of City Hall this morning with Cabán and other backers of the bill. In prepared remarks, he didn’t call out Menin by name, but blasted Amazon for pumping millions of dollars into lobbying against the bill.
“Corporations like Amazon operate on a model of exploitation, and they are spending millions of dollars to convince New Yorkers otherwise,” he said. “But it will not work because we are here together today to make clear that we are going to pass the Delivery Protection Act.”
By contrast, International Brotherhood of Teamsters General President Sean O’Brien, whose union represents Amazon workers, took direct aim at Menin, saying she must call a vote on the bill immediately. “Now is the time to get off your ass,” said O’Brien, who met privately with Mamdani before the rally.
When asked later in the day why she isn’t immediately moving forward with the bill, Menin cited concerns she said need to be worked out regarding potential job losses that could come from barring Amazon from relying on third party contractors. But she also said Mamdani’s own Law Department had reached out to the Council with “legal concerns” with the bill that needed to be resolved before a vote.
Menin didn’t elaborate on the legal issues. But a person with knowledge of the conversations between the Council and the Law Department, who was granted anonymity to discuss the ongoing talks, told Playbook one of the concerns is centered around ensuring the bill satisfies the high legal standard required for the city to mandate direct hiring in the private sector.
A Mamdani spokesperson didn’t immediately return a request for comment on the legal concerns.
Amazon spokesperson Steve Kelly pushed back against the criticism from Mamdani and O’Brien, saying the reliance on third parties “works because local entrepreneurs — people rooted in their communities — deliver a better experience.”
“And this model isn’t unusual — it’s how businesses and governments operate every day,” Kelly said. “New York City routinely contracts with outside companies to build its infrastructure, run its school buses, and deliver social services. This legislation would single out one industry for restrictions the city doesn’t even apply to its own operations.”
It’s a bit unusual for Mamdani to put the speaker on public notice like this over Council legislation. So far in his mayoral term, he hasn’t leaned heavily into legislative battles in the chamber over bills that are still under consideration. — Chris Sommerfeldt
IN OTHER NEWS
— DOUBLE AGENT: A campaign website for Thomas Kenny, an upstate Assembly candidate running on the Working Families Party ballot line, was created by an aide for Kenny’s ostensible opponent, Republican Allen Caruso. (New York Focus)
— ICE: Hochul’s office is pushing back against the detention of a state employee by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. (Times Union)
— BUS FARE: The MTA is temporarily shutting down its bus fair enforcement teams following an altercation between a Brooklyn public school dean and fare inspectors. (Gothamist)
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