Central Park horse carriage drivers, animal rights activists plead with Mamdani at hearing for NYC ban on industry

Horse-drawn carriage drivers and stable owners begged Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Wednesday not to abolish their livelihoods by following through on his promise to sign looming legislation banning the 168-year-old industry from New York City's Central Park.

Meanwhile, at the same public hearing, convened as a routine part of the legislative process, animal rights advocates urged him to keep his promise. Some of the advocates held up photos of the teen tourist whose death in June from a spooked horse catalyzed the legislation going forward. A representative of the park conservancy also spoke in favor of the legislation.

Mamdani sat patiently at a table inside City Hall, saying little as speaker after speaker testified for an allotted two minutes or less. Some cried, some pleaded, some argued, some cajoled, some criticized, some praised him. The speakers differed on whether pulling a horse-drawn carriage is humane, age-old labor that gives a horse needed exercise and a purpose or an abusive anachronism whose days should be numbered. 

Mamdani did not sign the legislation but said later that he still plans to.

Among the dozens testifying was Conor McHugh, a driver since age 21 who is now 62, and whose eyes welled up with tears.

"This bill calls to take everything that I own, that I have worked hard for, away from me," McHugh said. He added: "You are never gonna do this. I know in your heart, you cannot do this to me or to my colleagues."

But, argued the animal rights advocates, it’s cruel to force horses to pull carriages in Central Park on paved roads and in heavy traffic, where they’ve been doing the job since 1858.

"You can’t regulate the spooking instinct out of a horse," said Donny Moss, an animal-rights activist added: "They work and live in squalor and they have for generations."

Under the legislation, passed last month after years of a logjam, the industry would be banned effective June 2028. The legislation requires job training for the drivers and the administration to consider, but not necessarily mandate, compensation for the owners and drivers. The horses would be prohibited from being sent to slaughter or to work elsewhere in the carriage industry.

Legislation to ban the industry had languished for years but picked up steam in June after the tourist, an 18-year-old from India, Romanch Mahajan, was killed in Central Park after being thrown from a carriage when the horse spooked and bolted. 

Speaking at a news conference outside City Hall soon after the hearing, Mamdani recounted having traveled to the stables to meet with industry drivers, including some who testified. He noted that some of those in the industry are still indebted from having bought medallions allowing them legal permission to operate. He committed to finding "a fair and just and real transition for them out of this workforce." 

"These are drivers who should not be demonized," Mamdani said. "These are drivers who care deeply for their horses, and they've built their livelihood through this work."