EXCLUSIVE | Speaker Menin talks with amNewYork about what made her support historic end to Central Park horse carriages

The first legislation seeking to ban the now 168-year-old Central Park horse carriage industry was introduced by former City Council Member Tony Avella nearly 20 years ago, in 2007. It was the first salvo of nearly two decades of battles between the animal rights groups and lawmakers seeking to end the practice and the unions representing carriage workers and owners defending their businesses. Over that time, incidents in which horses collapsed, died, and broke free — running around the park drives or into traffic just outside the greenspace — continued to pile up. Up until June of this year, City Council Speaker Julie Menin said in an exclusive interview on Oct. 19 with amNewYork, she had been largely on the fence. But as she told this publication, the "tipping point" for her in the debate took place on June 17, when 18-year-old Indian tourist Romanch Mahajan became the first person to be killed while riding in a horse carriage in recent memory. "When Romanch sadly lost his life ov