Patricia N. Saffran
With the NYC Council’s July 16, 2026 Health Committee Hearing on proposed Intro 943, Romanch’s Law, on July 15, and in the aftermath, one thing has become patently clear: the City Council has been engaging in a propaganda war to pass this bill. As Joseph Goebbels said, “It is the absolute right of the State to supervise the formation of public opinion.”
The bill is named for Romanch Mahajan, who died accidentally when he fell out a carriage after the horse Samson inexplicably spooked and ran off. This is the first such accident in Central Park in 167 years. The bill would ban carriage horses from Central Park and seek to prevent them from ever working again. Except for new testimony on Romanch from his family in mourning, the hearing contained no new or provable evidence that there’s abuse or lack of safety with the Park horses. The City Council already failed in court to make abuse charges stick involving the horse Ryder who died naturally.
It’s important to note that an annual rate of carriage horse caused human fatality in Central Park is only .006% (i.e. 1/167 years), hardly a number for which to condemn a whole industry.
As to the grieving Mahajan family at the Hearing, they are tourists from India. It’s unlikely that they knew the underlying facts about real estate interests, who with the help of their minions the animal lobbyists, have been scheming for years to obtain the stables. The idea of the Mahajan family asking for a ban had to have been planted in their minds after Romanch died by a representative of the anti-carriage horse contingent.
During the opening statement of the hearing NYC Council Speaker Julie Menin, used an oddly didactic tone, as if the public must obey her. She said that there were complaints about the industry from constituents for years [but not nearly anything like the thousands of complaints about e-bikers and pedicabs] and, “The time to act is now.” Was she paraphrasing, ‘Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country?’ She alluded to passing the bill would honor Romanch’s ‘blessed memory’, a sentimental expression that smacks of audience manipulation.
Some of the public has been negatively influenced by the inaccurate statements in the media to believe the horses are dying or unhealthy. Co-host of the hearing, Council member Lynn Schulman, for instance, said that carriage horse Deniz died from ingesting poisonous plants, but she failed to say that the toxic yew plants were planted by the staunchly anti-carriage horse charity The Central Park Conservancy, thus hiding their role in Deniz’s demise. Others in the public aren’t so easily fooled about Speaker Menin and the City Council. One resident on the Upper East Side said, “Since de Blasio, the City Council has been trying to get rid of the horses.” A doorman on East 69th St said, “It’s all about corruption.” An observer of the proceedings from Vancouver said, “What a parody of intellect, an antithesis of common sense, etc.”
Despite appearing sincere, Speaker Menin presented no logical justification for her statement about acting ‘now’ to destroy carriage rides. The Council has no justification either for their sponsoring this bill to ban since they know full well that the fatality and accident rate of all other forms of transportation including e-bikes, motorized pedicabs, cars, bikes and buses is much higher.
The City’s 311 and 911 complaint phone lines say that calls about e-bikers and pedicabs, and not carriage horses, are by far the most complaints that they receive. 311 even has to use special screens for these complaints since there are thousands of them. The Central Park carriage drivers themselves claim that they have made thousands of complaints about the motorized pedicab drivers who physically attack them, and they say that the police almost never show up.
Despite knowing for years of the carriage drivers have been assaulted by the pedicabs drivers at 6th and 7th Avenues, Council member Gale Brewer proudly said during the hearing, “I take pedicabs.” Ironically, she had even written a letter on March 7, 2024, to former NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban, asking for more police protection to prevent these assaults. Now Council member Brewer takes rides in pedicabs despite the thuggish nature of some of the pedicab drivers. Caban did nothing and the current NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, has done nothing as well to prevent the carriage drivers from being physically attacked by the pedicab drivers.
A hospitalized jogger who was run into by a speeding e-biker going the wrong way in Central Park only recently came out of an induced coma. She was hit the day after the hearing! Her full communication skills haven’t yet returned. Commenting about the accident, Janet Schroeder, of NYC E-Safety Alliance, said, “The horse accident, that happens once in 150 years. The Council is so up in arms over horses in the Park, and they’re not even talking about e-bikes [the far greater source of serious accidents].” So far, the police are neglecting their duty, as they have done for years with e-bikers, and haven’t charged the e-biker with any malfeasance.
Following the hearing, instead of substance, the City Council issued platitudes to further passing the bill such as may be found in Council member Virginia Maloney’s released statement. She thanked her constituents who asked for her opinion of Intro 943, Romanch’s Law. Council Member Maloney explained that she became a co-sponsor of the bill as, “I was incredibly moved by Romanch Mahajan’s family who attended the hearing and gave powerful testimony about the urgent need to end the out-dated and unsafe horse carriage industry in New York City.” Defying logic, she’s siding with ending all carriage rides because of one unfortunate accidental death in 167 years.
With the notable exception of Council member James Gennaro, an equestrian, who is pro-carriage horses, the bill’s sponsors and others may have a majority to pass this misguided bill. The Council continues to ignore Council member Gennaro’s bill, Intro 937, to bolster horse and driver safety and to put in badly needed hitching posts.
Since there’s no proof of abuse or mistreatment of the Park horses and there’s only the one fatal accident ever in the Park, if Intro 973 passes, it’s possible that the carriage drivers through their union, the TWU, will sue the City. They already sued NYCLASS an anti-carriage horse lobbying group, for making defamatory statements against them. One incident bears further attention.
In the suit, the drivers claim that NYCLASS, Co-founder and President real estate maven Steve Nislick, says that he rescued carriage horses Bernard and Chocolate/Chance from slaughter. It turns out that Bernard was bought by a farm supervised by carriage driver Christina Hansen and was never in danger of slaughter.
Nislick claimed he rescued Chocolate/Chance from slaughter.The actual story is that another real estate maven, Jim Neuwens, adopted Chocolate, who had worked at Chateau Stables, from 4 Chance horse rescue in Lancaster, PA. After the adoption, Neuwens somehow transferred or sold the horse to Steve Nislick. He renamed the horse Chance, for the rescue apparently, and both Nislick and Neuwens attempted to hide her identity and location. Then Nislick falsely claimed that he rescued the mare from slaughter.
The mare eventually showed up on an eventing farm in NJ where Nislick’s wife, who only learned to ride as an adult, rode the gentle mare who had a perfect temperament for a beginning rider. The TWU suit claims that Nislick still falsely takes credit for rescuing Chocolate/Chance from slaughter. This story is important because it shows that truth about the horses’ health is somehow buried and neither the animal lobbyists nor the Council members have any substantial proof of abuse or lack of care of the horses.
It’s a pity that taxpayers’ money will be spent defending the City Council’s unethical position if they pass this bill, regarding the Central Park horse drawn carriages. The industry is historical, safer than all other forms of transportation, and it deserves to remain for tourists to enjoy.
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