All bets are off.<\/p>\n
A handful of angry horse-drawn carriage drivers in danger of unemployment rallied in Central Park Friday to demand the city trot back on its promise to kill the iconic and historic industry.<\/a><\/p>\n Nine union workers accused Mayor Zohran Mamdani of hypocrisy for brokering a deal that would kill their jobs, arguing the supposed working-class champion\u2019s actions would drain their savings, destroy small businesses and endanger their families.<\/p>\n \u201cBefore you became mayor, you participated in a 15-day hunger strike to support yellow taxi medallion owners facing financial ruin \u2026 Now you are mayor, and we face the prospect of losing our businesses without guaranteed compensation,\u201d fumed Atakan Aktay, a 13-year veteran driver who says he plunged his life savings into his business.<\/p>\n Christina Hansen slammed the bill as an incomplete plan that leaves behind the drivers and union members. Lone Pine Press<\/p>\n \u201cWhere is that same compassion for us? How can you fight for one group of medallion owners while allowing another group to face financial devastation? To us, that feels hypocritical and humiliating,\u201d Aktay railed. <\/p>\n \u201cWe will not quietly surrender our life savings. We will fight for our families and our futures. We are not asking for special treatment. We are asking for fairness, dignity, and justice.\u201d<\/p>\n The rally at the park\u2019s 59th Street and 7th Avenue entrance called for Mamdani, City Council Speaker Julie Menin and other politicians to enter back into negotiations with TWU Local 10 rather than plow forward with the current Romanch\u2019s Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n The bill \u2014 which Menin pledged to pass next week \u2014 would make horse-drawn carriages illegal to operate in the five boroughs beginning June 2028.<\/p>\n The bill would make horse-drawn carriages illegal to operate in the five boroughs beginning June 2028. Lone Pine Press<\/p>\n The legislation also states the city must create a workforce transition program involving career counseling and job referrals in the public and private sectors.<\/p>\n But the bill falls short of offering compensation for the workers, some of whom have invested hundreds of thousands of dollars to build up their businesses, according to their union.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is not a plan. It\u2019s a concept of a plan that sometime in the spring, the mayor will assign some agency to look at some consideration, to publish on a city website of what he\u2019s going to do with absolutely no funding, no legislative mandate or anything,\u201d said Cristina Hansen, horse carriage driver and TWU shop steward.<\/p>\n