Hizzoner says ‘neigh’ to horse-drawn carriages within the metropolis.
Mayor Eric Adams on Wednesday endorsed laws to ban horse-drawn carriages in New York Metropolis. This coverage shift follows years of advocacy, public security issues, and high-profile animal deaths.
Adams, who additionally signed an government order directing companies to organize for the business’s finish, known as on the Metropolis Council to swiftly cross Ryder’s Legislation, a invoice that has languished for greater than a yr.
The measure would part out the horse-drawn carriage business by halting the issuance of latest licenses and banning carriage operations completely beginning June 1, 2026.
It additionally requires that retired horses be positioned in humane settings, barring their sale for slaughter or to different carriage companies. As well as, the invoice directs the Division of Shopper and Employee Safety to create a workforce improvement program to assist drivers and different workers transition into new jobs.
Govt Order 56 directs metropolis companies to organize for the business’s finish, improve oversight and enforcement, create a course of for drivers to voluntarily return their licenses, and establish new employment alternatives for staff.
“While horse-drawn carriages have long been an iconic fixture of Central Park, they are increasingly incompatible with the conditions of a modern, heavily-used urban green space,” Adams mentioned in an announcement.
“It’s not about eliminating this tradition,” Adams mentioned. “It’s about honoring our traditions in a way that aligns with who we are today.”
Adams emphasised that his administration will work with drivers as town transitions away from horse carriages. “We will not abandon the drivers themselves, who are honest, hard-working New Yorkers,” he mentioned, noting that town is contemplating new packages for electrical carriages.
‘Opportunistic and not helpful’
Calls to finish the business have intensified in recent times after a string of high-profile incidents involving carriage horses. In Aug. 2022, a horse named Ryder collapsed in Hell’s Kitchen throughout a heatwave, sparking outrage from animal advocates. Ryder later died of most cancers that October.
Animal rights activists and politicians, together with Metropolis Council Member Robert Holden, have led the cost to cross the horse’s namesake legislation since Ryder’s dying.
Final month, one other horse, Woman, collapsed and died from an aortic rupture close to Occasions Sq..
Different incidents this yr have raised further security issues, together with runaway horses bolting via Central Park.
Since Ryder’s now well-known collapse, Councilmembers Holden and Erik Botcher have been peddling laws that may outlaw horse carriages and exchange them with electrical carriages. Holden argues that the shift would profit each the animals and the drivers because the promised machines would be capable to run year-round and in any temperature.Picture by Dean Moses
Final month, the Central Park Conservancy, for the primary time, took sides within the off-again, on-again, years-long controversy between carriage drivers and animal rights supporters by calling on metropolis officers to finish horse-drawn carriages within the park.
An ‘absolute disgrace,’ union says
Transport Employees Union Native 100, which represents about 200 carriage riders within the metropolis, has lengthy known as the proposed ban “outrageous” and a transfer that may be a “devastating blow” to its members.
TWU Native 100 President John V. Chiarello mentioned Mayor Adams’ backing of the ban was an “absolute disgrace” and a betrayal of working-class New Yorkers.
“It’s disappointing to see Adams, who is polling dead last in the mayor’s race, now abandon hardworking people who make their living taking part in an age-old New York tradition,” Chiarello mentioned.
A spokesperson for the NYC Council mentioned Ryder’s Legislation is constant via the legislative course of, criticizing Mayor Adams for utilizing the problem for political acquire.
“The Council appreciates that this is a difficult and emotional issue for many New Yorkers, which has persisted for decades. Mayor Adams politically using it for his reelection campaign is opportunistic and not helpful,” the spokesperson mentioned.
“Mayor Adams and Randy Mastro have no credibility in the legislative process after the Council was forced to override their vetoes of grocery delivery worker and street vendor bills that their administration had supported,” they added.
Mastro: Metropolis Corridor ‘meeting the moment’ on business
Responding to criticism that the mayor’s timing is politically motivated, First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro described such claims as “emotional” and mentioned Mayor Adams is merely “meeting the moment” following the collection of horrific incidents involving horse-drawn carriages.
“A consensus is developing that there’s a need to act now and to phase out this industry,” Mastro advised New York News. “So this legislation has been pending for a year or more in the city council. It has 21 co-signers, which means it’s very close to passage, and the mayor hopes that the council will also meet the moment.”
The First Deputy Mayor mentioned that TWU 100’s feedback in response to Adams’ announcement used “rhetoric that’s totally uncalled for,” particularly since his government order directs metropolis companies to “find new jobs for these workers” and to “recognize and compensate those who voluntarily return their licenses.”
Mastro urged council management to expedite hearings and a vote, saying the laws is important to legally finish the carriage enterprise and guarantee a structured transition, saying they’ve a “moral imperative” to take action.
On the potential for new roles for present carriage drivers, the First Deputy Mayor steered that potential alternatives might embrace roles in a potential electrical carriage business, metropolis authorities driving positions, and different jobs involving horses.
“We’re going to respect the workers in this industry. We’re going to respect the licensees in this industry, and we’re going to respect these animals and do right by all of them,” he mentioned.
Amid the criticism, Adams discovered an sudden ally in fellow mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa, the Guardian Angels founder and longtime animal rights advocate.
The Republican nominee praised the mayor’s help for Ryder’s Legislation, calling the horse-drawn carriage business “cruel and barbaric.”
“Today, for once, I agree with the mayor,” Sliwa mentioned.
