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Council sponsor and speaker urge ban on Central Park horse carriages after fatal incident
Summary
Council member Christopher Marte and Speaker Julie Menon led a press conference pressing to advance the sponsor's bill (referred to in the transcript as "Ramach Law") to phase out horse-drawn carriages in Central Park after the June 17, 2026 death of a visiting student. Family members testified, spokespeople promised worker and horse transition plans, and the family's attorney said legal claims are coming.
Council member Christopher Marte, the prime sponsor of the measure the transcript refers to as "Ramach Law," opened a press conference urging the New York City Council to move quickly to phase out horse-drawn carriages in Central Park following a fatal June 17, 2026 carriage incident.
"It's time to put an end to horse carriages in Central Park," Marte said, thanking advocates and council leaders who called for the hearing.
Speaker Julie Menon framed the push as a public-safety and humane-transition effort, describing Central Park as a densely used public space where interactions between vehicles, crowds and large animals can lead to serious accidents. She identified the recent victim'whom the family and estate identify in the transcript as Ramansh Mahajan'and said the council must act so the tragedy is not repeated.
"Ramesh Mahajan was just 18 years old," Menon said in the recorded remarks, and later she expressed condolences to the family and promised the council would work on a plan "to ensure humane transition for the beloved animals" and to support carriage workers as they move into other hospitality and tourism jobs.
Actress Edie Falco, introduced by Marte, described her own discomfort seeing horses in traffic and said she supported the ban. "For 40 years, I had been told that this ban would be happening. And there is something in the air now where it seems to me that it actually is gonna make it over the finish line," Falco said.
The victim's aunt, Sylvia Tukrao, spoke for the family, describing her nephew's arrival in New York on June 15 and the events of June 17, 2026. "He was so excited to start college...He was part of a family," Tukrao said, and she urged the council to pass the law so "his death will not go unremembered."
Sagar Chadda, identifying himself as the attorney for the estate of Ramansh Mahajan, told the press the City of New York "is responsible and liable for this death," citing what he described as longstanding, unaddressed safety shortcomings around carriage operations: no tethering posts, no hitching points and no safety devices to secure animals in busy settings. He said notices of claim are forthcoming and that lawsuits will follow.
Marte closed by offering the council's condolences and noting the hearing and public testimony to follow. The press conference ended with a brief offer to take questions; no substantive policy Q&A occurred on the record at that time.
The transcript shows inconsistent spellings of the victim's and some officials' names; where family and the estate provided a name, this article uses the spelling the family and attorney used in their remarks in the transcript (Ramansh Mahajan). The bill name is quoted as spoken in the transcript ("Ramach Law").
