Brooklyn Bridge vendors may soon be banned
Worries about overcrowding and safety on packed walkway
New York City plans to propose a new rule as soon as this summer that will prohibit vendors on the pedestrian walkways of all New York City bridges, including the tourist-packed Brooklyn Bridge.
Despite bicycles being rerouted to the bridge’s street level, the Brooklyn Bridge walkway is sometimes so crowded that pedestrians are brought to a standstill, especially in the claustrophobic, narrower sections. Dozens of street vendors, at times taking up roughly a third of the pedestrian walkway, add to the crush.
The city briefly cleared vendors off the bridge in January, after a particularly dangerous crowding situation occurring on New Year’s Day. “The Brooklyn Bridge is a stampede risk right now. Doesn’t seem like anyone monitors the crowds. It was scary,” Kathy Park Price tweeted under a photo showing a human logjam as far as the eye could see.