Laura Leopardo (Brooklyn resident) testifies supporting ban

My name is Laura Leopardo, and I live in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn.

I urge the committee to pass Romach's law into 943.

I grew up in Chicago, which ended its horse-drawn carriage rides, as many major cities around the world, because they have recognized that this industry is no longer viable in dense urban environments.

I do appreciate that into 943 recognizes the livelihoods of carriage workers by providing workforce transition assistance.

That makes this legislation both compassionate and reasonable.

I had originally planned to present every documented carriage accident from the past two decades to illustrate the ongoing dangers of this industry, but there are simply way too many to fit into two minutes.

But the record does include runaway horses, collisions with taxis, buses, bicycles, pedestrians, parked cars, and other vehicles.

As it's been said, no amount of regulation can eliminate the inherent risk of horses operating in New York City.

As prey animals, as it's been said, horses can panic and bolt unpredictably.

Here are just a few examples from the most recent past.

Horses have bolted into midtown traffic on multiple occasions.

Passengers have been forced to jump from runaway carriages.

Multiple times, horses have crashed into signs and parked vehicles.

Multiple times.

Carriages have turned several times.

Drivers have been injured and hospitalized.

Then, as we all know, came June 17th.

18-Year-old Ramach was killed after a horse bolted.

After years of warnings and repeated accidents, the tragedy that so many feared finally occurred.

We cannot say this was unforeseeable.

The warning signs have been there for years.

It was a culmination of long pattern of increasingly serious incidents that the city turned a blind eye.

Passing into 943 is an opportunity for New York City to lead with compassion, responsibility, and common sense.

It will protect horses, support the workers through a fair transition, and most importantly, protect the public.

Okay, thank you very much.

Thank you to this panel.

Appreciate it.

I'm going to call a name I called before.

Chris Ramirez?

Is that person here?

Oh, you are here.

Okay, great.

Let me give you more names.

All right.

Go ahead.

Give yourself a second.

Go ahead.

Okay, I know you guys have had a very long day and I see everybody's attention dwindling, people on their phones, people conversing, and I really hope that I get your attention when I say that.

Of course.

That I found it very disrespectful and disturbing to hear that in a case about horses, that a councilman that's no longer even here would say, forget about the horse, it's already dead, and he won't hear anything that any of us are having to say.

Others want to speak about alternate means of transport and compare Amazon trucks, e-bikes,

trains, planes, cars, to live sentient beings.

Not any of the other things forementioned.

And that is the pretense of our objection, that so many drivers treat these horses in the same indignant manner.

Most of us grew up romanticizing the idea of horse and carriages.

We normalized it as a part of the background of the city.

But the reality is, for these horses, it's been decades of cruelty and neglect.

With the introduction of video cameras and camera phones in society, along with undercover investigations, countless videos are now in the forefront of what this industry is really about.

We begin with their homes, the coffin-sized stables, with not even enough space to turn around or lie down in.

It's rat-infested and there's no AC or heat.

These horses are not allowed to be in the city.

Horses freeze throughout the winter or swelter in the summer with no relief and limited ventilation.

If anything, contrary to what one of the testimony says, you cannot in fact openly visit one of these stables with open access.

I'm sorry I'm losing you guys again.

I'll wait.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

We really appreciate it.

And just, you know, just for the record, I was pushing back with anybody that was, you know, out of decorum up here.

So I've been doing that the whole day today.

I understand.

So.

No worries.

I wasn't able to finish it because I feel like I lost everyone's attention and I still have 10 seconds.

Go ahead.

And I want to address the painful metal bars in their mouth and the many videos that have surfaced of the drivers yanking at the attachments of the bars, causing extreme pain for these docile animals.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Okay, next panel, Lisa Goldberg.

Lisa Goldberg here?

That's you?

Okay.

Tilly the Clown?

Zach.

Baldian, I think it is.

Zach?

No?

Okay.

Margaret Lee?

No?

Okay, wait, give me one second, sorry.

Mr.

Melody Tim or something to that effect?

No?

Okay.

Marion Koenig?

Koenig?

And Linda Mann.

Okay, so from my right, your left.

Go ahead.

Just state your name for the record and then go into your testimony.

Linda Mann.

Okay, great.

Chair Shulman and members of the committee that are still here.

I know some of you have already made up your minds, and nothing I can say will change that.

But I was brought up to speak for those who cannot speak for themselves.

And today I will speak for those whose world is shaped by constant noise, crowds, traffic, and stress.

For those who are forced to live in an unnatural environment for their species.

Who never feel the natural ground beneath them, and for those who go back to enclosures that never come close to meeting their needs.

This is an industry built on confinement, whether in the park or in their stalls.

Walk by a hack line and see the sad, defeated look in those eyes.

Then go to a sanctuary where they feel safe, probably for the first time in their lives, where they are given adequate space and a

to live free from exploitation and abuse, where these sensitive, social, herd animals are allowed to live naturally and see the difference in those eyes.

I am a big believer in the concept of once you know, you can no longer say you didn't know when something happened.

This is where we are now.

You all know the danger.

We saw it in real time.

The world saw it in real time.

And there was a family in India who lived it in real time.

This hearing brings us one step closer to a city safe from that ever happening again.

It brings us one step closer to giving these magnificent beings the freedom they deserve.

For years, they have been waiting for us to step in to end their suffering.

They have waited far too long.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

All right, no clapping.

Go ahead.

Me?

Oh, hi.

My name is Tilly the Clown.

I am a drag entertainer here in New York City, and I felt that with the very rich history that queer people have in standing up for, you know, human and animal rights, I figured, you know, why not represent my community?

So I sit before you today as a drag entertainer in the greatest city in the world.

I'm an artist who benefits greatly from the tourism that sustains our nightlife, and I am grateful for that.

And there's a glaring archaic contradiction in our city.

When I left my city of Philadelphia 14 years ago,

was trying to find a better, the next step up.

I never thought that Philadelphia would end up being better than us.

We pride ourselves on being world-class destination with the best nightlife, museums, food, and we are still clinging to the exploitation of horse-drawn carriages.

This is not a matter of commerce.

It is a matter of biology.

A giant prey animal is not built to thrive in New York's overstimulating concrete environment.

Veterinary experts, many of which we've seen here today, have consistently found that pulling heavy carriages on unforgiving concrete leads to arthritis, hoof deterioration, chronic pain, and these animals are biologically imprisoned.

They are kept in cramped stables where restricted movement causes colic, a painful, often fatal condition.

While we are forcing them into a lifestyle that causes them internal agony.

We are gathered here today after the tragic death of a human about to embark on adulthood, Ramansh.

My heart goes out to his family and the loved ones for their devastating loss, but we should not have had to wait for human tragedy to act.

This has been a systemic failure for over a decade.

We have seen evidence in our streets for years from Tickles back in 2015, who was euthanized after a fracture because he was no longer a profitable product, to a more recent collapse of Ryder, who this bill was prior named after.

Even regarding Dennis, who died in the park, the industry may point to toxic plants as the cost, but the fact remains that these animals are being forced into urban environments where they're exposed to such dangers while working for this industry.

The current system is clearly broken, marked by an annual turnover rate of over 70 horses with zero transparency regarding where these animals are sent once they are removed from city rolls.

The union argues that we cannot phase out these horses.

I need you to wrap up.

Of course.

But we all know, as we've seen today, the network of over four dozen sanctuaries have written a letter of intent to take them.

Cities across the globe, from Philadelphia, Chicago, Salt Lake City,

to London, Beijing, Barcelona, and Montreal have all put this terrible practice behind them.

So my last words to you is thank you so much for your time, and let's make history and keep New York being on the future and the best city in the world.

Okay, thank you.

Of course, thank you.

Next.

Hello, my name is Lisa Goldberg.

I'm a New York City resident and an animal advocate and speaking in favor of Intro 943.

The Central Park carrot horses are denied the freedom to graze, roam, and form the deep bonds with one another that are natural to these highly social herd animals.

More than that, we've witnessed too many of them collapse and die on New York City streets.

Most recently, Denise.

lady and rider, but many others over the years.

You don't have to be moved by the plight of the horses, though, to recognize how incredibly dangerous it is to have horse-drawn carriages in New York City.

Horses are prey animals.

Their hardwired instinct is to spook and run when they perceive a threat, a loud noise, or a sudden movement, things that are everyday, unavoidable occurrences in New York City.

We've seen so much video footage documenting harrowing near misses where horses have spooked and bolted and passersby have narrowly escaped being trampled.

Now 18-year-old Romesh Mahajan has tragically been killed in a preventable incident that should never have been allowed to happen.

I hope the City Council will respond to the Mahajan family's tragedy by passing Romesh's law immediately,

because if horses continue to pull carriages in New York City, it's only a matter of time before the next inevitable tragedy.

Thank you very much.

Yes, ma'am.

I'm Margaret Lee, New Yorker, animal defender.

My thanks to Speaker Menon, Bill's sponsor Chris Marte, and co-sponsors of Intro 943, and all who made this hearing possible, today's hearing possible.

Many New Yorkers have waited decades for this moment.

Immense and devastating heartbreak has finally brought us to this hearing on national celebration of the horse day.

I am here in support of Intro 943, Romange's Law, named for 18-year-old Romange Mahogany, who died while riding in a Central Park horse-drawn carriage with his family.

I am also here as one of the great majority of New Yorkers who have been long pleading for an end to this dangerous and cruel industry.

Many of us even voted based on promises to ban horse carriages, only to be disappointed time and time again.

The truth is simple.

Horses do not belong on New York City streets.

No amount of legislation, regulation, training, infrastructure changes can make horse carriages safe or ethical.

The tragedies that preceded Romach's death were foreseeable, and until this industry ends, more tragedies

will inevitably follow.

Four years ago, Ryder's Law, named for the exploited horse who collapsed while pulling a carriage, never even received the hearing it deserved.

Despite the support of most New Yorkers,

It was repeatedly blocked while activists like myself spent years urging this city to choose compassion over tradition and profit.

Today you have the opportunity to do what should have been done long ago.

Pass Intro 943 and move it urgently, speedingly forward now.

Before another horse or another person risks being harmed.

Let New York finally become the compassionate, forward-thinking city it aspires to be.

Release these long-suffering horses to caring sanctuaries waiting for them, where they can run freely, and show the world that compassion has finally

prevailed.

Thank you very much.

I want to thank this panel.

Appreciate it.

All right, next panel, Lisa Reddy, Steve Batista,

Shiloh Hoffman.

Ellen Ruddick-Sunstein.

Howie Voges, sorry.

And Ed Schultz.

Okay, starting with you.

Make sure your mic is on.

No, you have to push the button.

Okay.

All right.

And identify yourself and then testify.

Hello, I'm Skyler Hoffman.

Okay.

And I want to be respectful of your time, so I'm going to try to actually finish this early.

Sign of respect.

Let's start off with...

Poison shrubbery.

Poison shrubbery.

It's kind of ridiculous, right?

Like, the audacity and greed of this horse carriage industry to expect that Central Park change everything to accommodate for their needs kind of seems a little funny to me.

And I really think that this is greed.

I mean, I am an organizer and I'm very interested in unions and labor.

And so when I see this sort of union that they have, but it's all of managers, and it's mainly representing their own greed, I think to myself, this is ridiculous.

We're saving them.

Who are we actually saving?

People that want to force other beings to suffer to make them money.

Let's get rid of this industry.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you.

Next.

Good afternoon.

My name is Steve Batista.

I've been a dog walker on the west side of Manhattan for

26 years.

So the congested gridlocked avenue paths the carriage industry takes to and from Central Park coincide with my own work territory.

I've seen it all.

I've seen horses electrocuted.

I have seen horses clipped and injured by vehicles.

I have seen horses jump curbs and bolt onto sidewalks.

I have seen horses frantically pulling empty carriages lost by their drivers.

I have seen terrified, overtaxed animals inhaling exhaust fumes and suffering in extreme weather conditions, suffering year after year in bondage.

In August of 2025, a horse named Lady collapsed and died on 53rd Street in Hell's Kitchen.

A carriage driver admitted to my face that the horse was forced to work with cancer.

I have seen enough.

We all have.

The TWU

and whatever shameless shills that may remain on the city council are insulting New Yorkers when they falsely claim that any animal welfare reforms are applicable in this situation.

The only answer to this ugly relic of history is a full ban.

Mahatma Gandhi famously said,

that the greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.

As I stand here today with my fellow citizens of conscience, I ask you to realize the greatness

of this city and its movement towards progress by supporting the passage of Intro 943.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Next.

Hi, my name is Ed Schultz.

I'm a New York City public school teacher.

I'm a proud union member, a son of an immigrant, and I'm a grateful constituent of City Council Member Shahana Hanif.

Thank you all for being here, by the way, so late.

I come today to urge you to pass Romancia's law.

The carriage horse industry has always claimed that their horses are retired to sanctuary when they can no longer pull.

This despite the fact that former New York City carriage horse named Bernard was rescued from a notorious kill buyer auction in Pennsylvania in 2024, as reported on by the New York Post.

I find it telling that today the carriage industry has repeatedly threatened that they will sell their horses to slaughter if this bill passes.

One would expect that every carriage horse should have a retirement plan from the very first day they're connected to a carriage.

That's the industry's responsibility.

And if they don't, they are literally one serious injury away from being sold to a kill buyer, which they've acknowledged today.

I teach my students that a fundamental part of democracy is that the majority rule.

A vote for Romancia's law is not just a vote to protect horses and public safety.

It's a vote for democracy, as an overwhelming majority of New York City residents want this bill to be law.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you very much.

Next.

Hi, my name is Ellen Sunstein.

I'm a former equestrian turned horse advocate.

Thank you for the opportunity to testify in strong support of Romantia's law.

When I was a child, I rode a horse-drawn carriage through Central Park.

I offered a carrot to the weary horse, and he took it from my hand.

I didn't realize at the time that that gentle horse was forced to pound the pavement day after day, even when it was swelteringly hot or blisteringly cold.

At night, he'd go back to a tiny stall, likely aching and exhausted.

I have known many horses in the years since, but I never forgot the feeling of that horse's breath in the palm of my hand.

I've often wondered what became of him.

Did he drop dead in the street like Lady and Denise?

Was he whipped like Ryder or kicked while screaming like Luciana?

Did he die after being forced to haul tourists in a heat wave like Billy?

Did he spend his last moments alone and terrified in a 60-square-foot stall?

Such extreme confinement is harrowing for a horse, whose most fundamental needs include social contact, free movement, and access to forage.

When deprived of these needs, they can develop colic, ulcers, or musculoskeletal issues.

They may sway endlessly or exhibit other repetitive stress-induced behaviors.

As I've seen myself, some become shut down and unresponsive in a state similar to depression in humans.

Intensive confinement is not horsemanship.

I loved New York as a child.

and I still do, but the carriage trade is a stain on the city.

No one can save Lady, Denise, Ryder, or Billy.

No one can save Romant, though you can honor him.

I can't save the gentle, exhausted horse I met all those years ago, whose name I forget, but whose suffering I can't.

But you can save the next horse.

Please pass Romant's law.

Thank you very much.

I want to thank this panel.

Really appreciate it.

Okay, the next panel is Joe Schinkel, Benjamin Larkin, Lackin maybe, Rosemary Espinel,

Elizabeth Farrell and Nicole Revere.

You may begin.

Good evening.

My name is Benjamin Konigsberg.

I'm a native New Yorker and I support Intro 943 prohibiting our city's horse-drawn carriage industry.

This isn't about tradition or tourism.

It's about the horses.

Every carriage horse exists because humans intentionally bred them into a life of servitude.

They didn't choose this work.

We chose it for them.

Sorry, sorry, Benjamin.

I said Benjamin Lackin.

That's you?

Oh, I thought you said another name.

Okay, sorry.

Go ahead.

Horses evolved to roam freely and live in family groups.

Instead, carriage horses spent much of their lives confined to stalls as small as 60 square feet.

Research has shown that prolonged stall confinement is associated with chronic stress, gastric ulcers, and other serious physical and psychological welfare problems.

They walk on hard concrete and asphalt, breathe exhaust, navigate loud noise and dense crowds despite their natural instinct to flee perceived danger at a moment's notice.

To control them, they wear bits in their mouth.

And veterinary research has documented that these bits can cause pain and injuries to the sensitive tissues of their mouth.

We all remember Ryder, whose collapse shocked New York and raised questions about industry oversight, including allegations that records regarding his age had been falsified.

And of course, Romance, whose tragedy reminds us that this industry is not only dangerous for the horses, but for New Yorkers and tourists.

So the question before us isn't whether carriage horses are treated better than others.

The question is why do we continue exploiting sentient beings for entertainment when humane alternatives already exist?

And all of these harms stems from one fundamental belief that horses exist for us to use.

They don't.

Horses, like all animals, exist for their own purpose.

They value their own lives independent of what they can provide to humans.

They are not property.

The measure of a city is not how it entertains its tourists, but how it treats the most vulnerable beings in its care.

Please vote yes on Intro 943.

Thank you.

Thank you.