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Carriage Horse Compromise 'Not a Done Deal,' Drivers Say

By Maya Rajamani | January 19, 2016 2:48pm
 A carriage horse driver maneuvers through Columbus Circle and down 59th Street on Jan. 18, 2016.
A carriage horse driver maneuvers through Columbus Circle and down 59th Street on Jan. 18, 2016.
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DNAinfo/Maya Rajamani

CENTRAL PARK — After city officials announced an agreement with the horse-drawn carriage industry to reduce the number of carriages operating in the city by more than half and prohibit rides outside of Central Park, several drivers expressed doubts that the decision marks an end to the deal.  

The city agreed to build a new stable in Central Park by 2018 housing 75 horses and 68 carriages under the compromise. Additionally, the carriage drivers would no longer be allowed to pick up passengers outside the park starting this June.

On Monday, however, several carriage drivers and a union representative expressed doubts that the agreement is final.

“[The reduced number of horses] — that’s front and center in the negotiation, [but] that has not been agreed upon,” said Stephen Malone, a carriage driver and union representative for the Teamsters Union. "It's been reported, but it has not been agreed upon."

Malone is one of 180 drivers who currently hold licenses to operate carriages in the city.

That number will decrease to 110 by Dec. 1, and by the time the new Central Park stable opens in 2018, the number of licenses will be reduced to 95 — 75 of which will be housed in the Central Park stables under the city and union’s agreement.

But carriage driver Christina Hansen pointed out the statement the two sides released was an "agreement in concept," noting drivers planned to continue fighting to keep as many horses and drivers employed as possible.

“There’s a lot of details that have to be worked out to make sure this makes sense for the industry… that it makes sense for our horses,” she said. “That’s what we’re concerned about.”

Malone — whose own horse resides at the Clinton Park Stables at 618 W. 52nd Street, which currently houses the majority of the city’s carriage horses — said drivers were “open to the possibility” of a stable being built in Central Park. But he said that, too, is still being negotiated and is “not completely a done deal."

The stipulation that carriage drivers will not be allowed to pick up passengers outside of Central Parks also "still being negotiated,” Malone added.

“We love giving rides down and around the hotels and restaurants, and it’s our right to do that, and we’re trying to preserve that possibility,” he said.

Hansen, whose horse Billy currently lives at the West Side Livery stable on 38th Street, said that if the drivers were to maintain the same number of horses, it "really would not affect.... us to go to the park."

If the Central Park stable is constructed and opens, the fate of the four Manhattan stables that currently house carriage horses — the Clinton Park Stables and three others on 37th, 38th and 48th streets — would be up in the air, said Clinton Park Stables manager Conor McHugh, a carriage driver of nearly 30 years.

“I’m not so sure what would happen… as far as what we would do with [the Clinton Park Stables],” he said. “I don’t know the answer to that question right now.”

McHugh and the owners of the West 52nd Street stable, as well as operators of the other three West Side stables, will deal with what to do with the locations “when the time comes,” he said.

As for Malone, his aim throughout the negotiation process has been to maintain the horse carriage industry’s place in New York City.

“Our goal has always been the long-term security of the industry, and that’s what we’re aiming to preserve… so people can come for decades and decades to come,” he said.