Vendors crowding Brooklyn Bridge to soon get the boot under Mayor Adams’ crackdown
You’ll soon have to be on solid ground to buy your street meat.
Illegal vendors overwhelming the Brooklyn Bridge will be kicked off the elevated pedestrian path when the clock strikes midnight on Jan. 3 under Mayor Eric Adams’ newest crackdown, the Department of Transportation exclusively told The Post Thursday.
Flyers warning hawkers of the impending ban will pepper the popular connector early Friday, giving vendors five days to pack up their mountains of wares and find a new spot.
“The Brooklyn Bridge is one of New York City’s most stunning gems. Tourists and New Yorkers alike deserve to walk across it and enjoy its beauty without being packed together like sardines or risking their safety,” Adams said in a statement shared with The Post.
“That’s why we’re giving vendors fair warning: As of January 3rd, they won’t be allowed to set up shop on pedestrian walkways or bike lanes on our bridges — giving New Yorkers the ability to use those public spaces safely and freely. We’re not going to allow disorder to continue in these cherished spaces.”
The new rule, which prohibits vending on pedestrian walkways and bike lanes on bridges and bridge approaches, will affect all Big Apple crossings but was specifically made to target the Brooklyn Bridge.
It was first proposed in October, months after the 1.14-mile-long historic landmark turned into an open-air free-for-all.
The Post in September witnessed dozens of peddlers hawking a variety of oddities, including miniature Statues of Liberty, pot-leaf caps and stuffed llamas, as well as illegal cocktails and selfies with a live snake.
Few of the vendors were equipped with a legal license.
The Sanitation Department has tried to crack down on the wild scene, issuing 137 summonses in just six months, but the patrol has done little to deter the merchants.
The prohibition will force all vendors out, or they will be faced with punishment for violating city rules. Hawkers who remain on the bridges will have their tables and merchandise removed, according to the DOT.
The flyers warning of this possible fate will be shared in English, Spanish, and simplified Chinese to accommodate the many immigrant vendors.
The rising black-market pandemonium has exploded on the 140-year-old crossing since the city moved cyclists to a protected lane on the roadway two years ago.
The Brooklyn Bridge saw an average of 34,000 people use its wooden walkway last fall on weekend days — twice as many as the fall of 2021 — providing vendors with the perfect spot to hawk their wares.
The intense overcrowding left little room for pedestrians to squeeze through the 16-foot width of the bridge, which narrows to just 5 feet in several places, putting into question the safety of all commuters.
“The Brooklyn Bridge has been called America’s Eiffel Tower, and it’s important that all New Yorkers and the millions of people who visit our city each year can enjoy it without impediments to safety and pedestrian mobility,” said NYC DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez.
“These rules will make it safer and easier for pedestrians to enjoy the Brooklyn Bridge and take in the world-renowned view of New York Harbor.”
