On Tuesday, New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin and Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced they'd struck a deal to finally outlaw New York's 334-year-old horse carriage industry.
The law would make it illegal to drive a horse-drawn carriage in the city beginning in June of 2028.
John Samuelsen, the head of the Transport Workers Union, which has been representing the carriage industry since 2020, claimed he was blindsided by the news. That's despite the fact that calls to ban the industry reached a fever pitch after the June death of tourist Romanch Mahajan, 18, who fell from a carriage after the horse pulling him bolted in Central Park. The legislation to ban carriage horses is now called "Romanch's Law."
"I think the whole thing is reprehensible," Samuelsen told Hell Gate. "The speaker of the New York City Council, Julie Menin, used an absolutely tragic moment to contrive a public safety crisis with the horses, which is laughable and nonexistent."
