Julie Menin

City Council votes to ban horse-drawn carriages in Central Park

Photo credit: Bee on Unsplash

October 23, 2026

City Council votes to ban horse-drawn carriages in Central Park

The New York City Council on Thursday voted to end the use of horse-drawn carriages in Central Park by June 2028. The bill in question, drafted with the cooperation of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s office, passed by a veto-proof margin of 40 to 7, as expected.
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Policy

Horse-drawn carriages to be banned in Central Park after deal between Council and Mamdani

Credit: Bee on Unsplash

October 14, 2026

Horse-drawn carriages to be banned in Central Park after deal between Council and Mamdani

By Michelle Cohen

City Council Speaker Julie Menin and Mayor Zohran Mamdani have reached an agreement on legislation that would end the use of the horse-drawn carriages in Central Park by June 2028, the New York Times reported. The issue has been a contentious one for over 150 years and the subject of fierce debate between animal rights activists and labor unions that represent the industry's drivers and business owners. The topic once again came to the forefront when a visiting teen died after being thrown from a carriage in June; according to Menin, the bill is likely to pass with a veto-proof majority in a council vote scheduled for October 22.
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Policy

City Council unveils plan for 5,000 new homes on Staten Island’s North Shore

Credit: Alex Krales/NYC Council Media Unit on Flickr

September 30, 2026

City Council unveils plan for 5,000 new homes on Staten Island’s North Shore

By Aaron Ginsburg

The New York City Council has unveiled a plan to transform Staten Island’s North Shore into a vibrant “downtown,” with more than 5,000 new homes, public realm upgrades, and jobs. Unveiled Friday by Speaker Julie Menin and Majority Whip Kamillah Hanks, "NorthShoreNYC" draws inspiration from similar initiatives in Jersey City and Hoboken, envisioning vacant and underutilized city-owned land along the waterfront as sites for mixed-use housing, public improvements, and new jobs. The project builds upon former Mayor Eric Adams' 2023 North Shore Action Plan while addressing how current zoning rules, a historical lack of coordinated planning, and inadequate public investment have prevented the waterfront area from becoming a walkable community.
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Affordable Housing

City Council to convene rare special hearing on AI risks, with industry leaders invited

Credit: NYC Council on Flickr

September 16, 2026

City Council to convene rare special hearing on AI risks, with industry leaders invited

By Aaron Ginsburg

Amid growing concerns about the potential dangers of artificial intelligence, the full New York City Council will convene early next month to examine the technology’s potential risks, with AI industry leaders invited to testify. Speaker Julie Menin on Tuesday sent letters to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, inviting them to join the Council on October 5 for a special public hearing on AI. The hearing follows a recent incident in which OpenAI agents went rogue and hacked into a company’s infrastructure, as well as warnings from leading industry figures that AI could cause catastrophic harm, including human extinction.
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Policy

NYC Council will bring back year-round outdoor dining

King, a restaurant in the Village. Photo by GuardianKC, CC BY-SA 4.0

February 5, 2026

NYC Council will bring back year-round outdoor dining

By Devin Gannon

The New York City Council will make outdoor dining year-round again. During a speech at A Better New York's (ABNY) Power Breakfast on Wednesday, City Council Speaker Julie Menin said she plans to advance legislation introduced last year that would bring back the pandemic-era program, allowing for roadway dining in winter and reducing the cost to businesses.
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Rendering via WXY architecture + urban design

August 1, 2018

City seeks proposals for film and television studio at Bush Terminal in Sunset Park

By Devin Gannon

New York City is seeking proposals to develop and operate a 200,000-square-foot media production space on the Sunset Park waterfront. The Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment and the New York City Economic Development Corporation announced Thursday it is looking to build a state-of-the-art film, television, sound recording or other similar production space at the Made in New York Campus at Bush Terminal. Scheduled to open in 2020, the campus is expected to become a hub for garment, manufacturing and media production.
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New Developments

February 3, 2017

NYC launches citywide book club, One Book, One New York

By Michelle Cohen

On Wednesday the city announced that it's bringing back the One Book, One New York program to get New Yorkers reading and support independent bookstores in the five boroughs, the New York Times reports. Starting in early March, residents from all corners of the city will be encouraged to read the same book, which will be chosen in an online vote from a small group of finalists. The five choices are: Ta-Nehisi Coates’s “Between the World and Me,” Paul Beatty’s “The Sellout,” Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s “Americanah,” Betty Smith’s “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn” and Junot Díaz’s “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.” But the first challenge the program faces is to get New Yorkers to agree on a book.
Read on, New York

City Living

Julie Menin

City Council votes to ban horse-drawn carriages in Central Park

Horse-drawn carriages to be banned in Central Park after deal between Council and Mamdani

City Council unveils plan for 5,000 new homes on Staten Island’s North Shore

City Council to convene rare special hearing on AI risks, with industry leaders invited

NYC Council will bring back year-round outdoor dining

City seeks proposals for film and television studio at Bush Terminal in Sunset Park

NYC launches citywide book club, One Book, One New York

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