The City Council announced this morning that it will not be voting on a controversial deal that would have restricted horse-drawn carriage operations to Central Park. By extension, the bill would have banned pedicabs from operating in the park below 86th Street.
"We negotiated in good faith with the City Council and the Teamsters to reach this agreement," Mayor de Blasio said in a statement. "The terms of that agreement have not changed during these past weeks, but today the Teamsters decided to back away from the fair compromise they had previously endorsed. While we are disappointed this bill will no longer be considered Friday, the people of this city know what I believe, and we will work toward a new path on this issue."
The City Council confirmed that it had enough votes to pass the legislation before this sudden withdrawal. "Intro. 573-B was negotiated in good faith and was contingent on an agreement between the Administration, the Teamsters and the City Council," stated Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito. "The Council will not vote on any horse carriage related legislation on Friday since the Teamsters no longer support the deal."
The decision was confirmed this morning by the Teamsters, who decided to withdraw their support after negotiations carried out over the last 24 hours. Some union members were opposed to any route restrictions before the completion of the proposed Central Park horse stable. Currently, the horses are kept in stables on the West Side.
The dismissed legislation would have gone into effect in June, and decreased the number of horses from 220 to 75 by 2018.
"The Teamsters' first priority is always our members and their livelihoods," said George Miranda, President of Teamsters Joint Council 16, in a statement. "With the legislation now finalized, our members are not confident that it provides a viable future for their industry. We cannot support the horse carriage bill currently before the City Council."
"I'm pleasently surprised," said TWU Local 100 organizer Joe DeManuelle-Hall, who has been helping pedicab drivers organize for the past several weeks. "It means that they get to keep their jobs, which is the biggest win. They were put into this bill because they were immigrant workers without political power, and now they are much stronger."
Unlike carriage horse operators, pedicab drivers are independent contractors. Still, TWU Local 100 has helped them organize in recent weeks, rallying around their case that the proposed restriction of their operating area would effectively eliminate their jobs.
Banning horse carriages from city streets was central to de Blasio's mayoral campaign in 2013. In the past few weeks, the mayor reportedly made personal phone calls to city councilmembers, urging them to support his compromise.
