Patricia N. Saffran
NYC Council Speaker Julie Menin and Mayor Mamdani have announced that they support the upcoming vote to ban (and destroy) the horse drawn carriage business. They have no valid reason to do so since the carriage horses represent the safest form of transportation in the City. By contrast, the hated and feared e-bikers caused 133 deaths only since 2019. I suspect that the family of the late Romanch Mahajan, who died regrettably in the only Central Park fatal carriage horse accident in 167 years, will be present in the Chamber for this totally misguided political vote. They’re suing ConEd, the main cause of the accident from stray voltage spooking the horse Samson, and other City agencies, for the huge sum of $105 million. So far they haven’t settled and are perhaps waiting until after next week’s vote.
The TWU, representing the carriage drivers, said it will sue if the Council votes to ban. That means that the City Council is perfectly fine with wasting taxpayers’ money, fighting a union, to condemn the carriage horses against the public’s wishes (who support them by 60%).
NYC Council Speaker Julie Menin and other City Council members had promised Romanch’s family that they would end the carriage horse rides. In a tear jerker moment, in the Chamber during the discussion of the bill, Intro 943, they renamed the proposed legislation Romanch’s Law. Since the Speaker has no valid grounds to end carriage rides, this grandstanding moment in solidarity with the family will at least carry the cooperative non-investigative press.
Mayor Mamdani supports the vote to ban even though, as a socialist, he’s supposed to back blue collar workers, many of whom are immigrants. He also said that he has spoken to the carriage drivers. It turns out that he never set foot in the stables or spoke to anyone. A carriage driver reported, “The Mayor is lying when he says that he has had discussions with drivers.” An equine veterinarian said, “Like all the mayors before him, including Di Blasio and Adams, Mamdani did not visit the stables and talk to the stakeholders himself to see how the horses actually live.”
In addition, the equine veterinarian said, “Until we see the newly rewritten legislation, it remains open whether the bill is unconstitutional because it mandates disposal of owned horses.” There are hints that the bill would be rewritten but that hasn’t happened yet. If they pass the bill, the City Council would be commandeering the horses, forcing them away from their owners and other carriage work elsewhere and forcing them to retire. This provision is totally undemocratic and the mark of the totalitarianism of a weird police state.
The following letter and a similar one was sent to NYC Council Speaker Julie Menin and Council member Virginia Maloney, who have not sent an answer.
To: NYC Council member Speaker Menin
Re: Carriage Horse Ban Vote Looming and Wrong to Vote in Favor
Dear Julie,
Why are you voting for the carriage horse ban, Intro 943? You have no justification for it whatsoever. You haven’t released the so-called feasibility study that you claimed to have done and I’d guess there is no feasibility, just empty promises and rule by fiat.
The City Council is wrong to condemn the horse drawn carriages, calling the business unsafe, since it was ConEd that caused the only fatality in 167 years. All New Yorkers know that the real problem is motorized vehicles such as e-bikes, scooters and pedicabs in the City that cause hundreds of serious brain and spinal injuries without police reports and 20+ deaths per year on average. You and many other Council members took lots of contributions from food delivery businesses on your last run for City Council to obligate you to protect the e-bikers.
The City Council’s legislative package concerning e-bikers is a joke and will never work as it doesn’t forbid motorized vehicles from all parks which it should. The e-bikers will never stop at red lights and will continue to go against traffic and ride on sidewalks. Many are arrogant and couldn’t care less about safety. Licenses mean nothing since they can hide or remove them if in trouble.
Of note, the City Council mentions nothing about how much it will cost taxpayers to retire the carriage horses. The answer – millions of dollars. Will taxpayers also have to reimburse the carriage drivers for the value of their defunct medallions valued at potentially millions? You need to do the math and if you do you’ll see that besides having no equestrian jobs to offer the carriage drivers if the ban goes through, you haven’t fully disclosed how much taxpayers will have to pay out for your folly of banning the carriage horses.
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