Scores of sellers once peddled cheap souvenirs to tourists on New York City’s famous Brooklyn Bridge. But they were evicted on Wednesday. A new city rule prohibits vending on the heavily trafficked crossing.
The ban aims to ease congestion on the pedestrian walkway. In recent months, the number of tables offering items like New York-branded hats and keychains had multiplied. Other entrepreneurs set up rotating selfie platforms that allow tourists to take panoramic videos of the New York Harbor.
As crowds flocked to the bridge over the holiday season, the situation turned dangerous, according to New York City Mayor Eric Adams. He points to videos that show walkers leaping from the pedestrian promenade onto a bike lane several feet below to bypass a human traffic jam.
About 34,000 pedestrians used the bridge on average weekend days last fall, up from 17,000 in 2021.
“It’s not only a sanitary issue, it’s a public safety issue,” Adams says.
Police officers were stationed along the mile-long span on Wednesday. Disgruntled vendors stood at the Manhattan entrance to the bridge, glumly facing their former marketplace. City employees hung signs declaring “No vending allowed.”
The new rules prevent any “peddler, vendor, hawker, or huckster” from selling goods or providing services on any of the city’s bridges or elevated walkways. None of the hundreds of other bridges had nearly as many vendors as the 140-year-old Brooklyn Bridge.
“The tourists liked the vendors. They always seemed to have business,” says Robert Fernandez. The Brooklyn resident frequently walks the bridge. Still, he says it was “much easier” to cross on Wednesday without the “choke points” caused by the street commerce.
Some sellers said they planned to wait a few weeks for the fuss to die down before trying to come back. Others set up tables across from the bridge, hoping to unload their wares.
MD Rahman sold hot dogs and pretzels out of a cart on the bridge for 15 years. He says he initially planned to defy the city’s rules. But when he saw the officers on the bridge, he decided not to take the risk.
Rahman says he understands the need to crack down on illegal vendors. But he criticizes the ban as too broad. He believes it shouldn’t apply to licensed sellers like himself.
On Wednesday afternoon, despite the absence of vendors, a group of pedestrians were stuck in foot traffic beneath the bridge’s stone arches. The hold-up? A line of tourists had stopped to take photographs of the “No vending” signs.
