As NYC Mayor Eric Adams calls for carriage horse ban, TWU calls him a backstabber and liar

New York City Mayor Eric Adams is calling on the City Council to ban carriage horses. 

Adams is also issuing an executive order to strengthen oversight of the longstanding, and controversial, industry.

The battle over the use of horse carriages in New York City has gone on for decades. He's asking the City Council to pass Ryder's Law, named after the horse that collapsed in city streets. Ryder died several months later. 

The law would phase out horse-drawn carriages and replace them with electric alternatives. 

"It's the humane thing to do"

"We are announcing here in Central Park that we have started taking the steps to ban the horse carriage industry in the city of New York. We think it's important, and it's the humane thing to do. We saw so many incidents where horses were running free, horses died on the street. We're better than that as a city," Adams said in a message on social media. "We want to be fair to the drivers and using several ways of incentivizing them moving away from the horse carriage industry." 

Adams said the carriages raise issues of safety for the horses, pedestrians and drivers.

"The last incident that involved a runaway, scared horse shows us why. This is a public safety issue," he said. "They need to put this on the floor and make sure that it is voted on and turned into law."

Opponents of the carriage horse industry hailed the move. 

"This is a life-saving step for both people and horses, and it makes clear what we and so many New Yorkers have long said: horse-drawn carriages have no place in our city any longer," Edita Birnkrant of NYCLASS said. "Runaway horses, terrifying crashes, human injuries and near fatalities, along with repeated collapses and deaths of horses on our streets prove this cruel, outdated industry cannot continue." 

His executive order would strengthen oversight of the industry and identify potential employment opportunities for horse carriage operators. 

Ryder's Law hasn't moved in the City Council, so it's not immediately clear where this will go from here.

Birnkrant, however, says the Central Park Conservancy's recent support for a ban could move the needle.

"It's like a host in a house telling their guests, 'It's time to go. You're breaking the rules. You're endangering everyone,'" she said.

"Eric is trying to find a job for himself" 

The drivers are represented by the Transport Workers Union. John Samuelsen, TWU president, called Adams a backstabber, saying he was motivated by real estate interest in developing the stables, not concern for the horses. 

"Eric Adams is a liar. He knows the horses are not mistreated. Independent experts and veterinarians have attested to this fact repeatedly. Eric knows it full well. Eric has made commitments to the TWU and to the carriage drivers and those commitments are predicated on his full understanding that the horses are treated in a very humane manner," Samuelsen said. "So it has nothing to do with any kind of belief that the horses aren't treated correctly. It's all about money and it's all about big Manhattan real estate and Eric Adams cutting a deal with them and selling his soul down the river. Shame on Eric." 

"He's abandoned blue collar New York in favor of Manhattan money. It has nothing to do with the horses, it has everything to do with Eric trying to find a job for himself after he loses this mayor's race, and as you know, he's not polling to well," Samuelsen added. 

Samuelsen said the TWU now considers Adams a Judas Iscariot.

Carriage drivers have long maintained their horses are well cared for.  

"This is corruption. It has nothing to do with the welfare of the horses, but it has to do with wanting to get us out of our Hell's Kitchen stables on the West Side so they can be developed," said Christina Hansen, a longtime driver and TWU Local 100 shop steward.

Hansen, along with many of her fellow carriage drivers, say they will likely lose their livelihood if the ban goes into effect. Despite the momentum to rid the city of horse carriages, they say the fight's not over.

"Why would we think this is a defeat? Bill de Blasio said he was going to ban us on day one," Hansen said. "Guess what? We are still here."

A City Council spokesperson said in part, "Mayor Adams politically using it for his reelection campaign is opportunistic and not helpful. This bill continues to go through the legislative process, which is deliberative and allows for thorough input from all stakeholders."