If any person tries to sell you the Brooklyn Bridge, they shouldn’t achieve this from its walkway, the town Transportation Department says.
Street vendors would now not be allowed to arrange store at the motorbike lane or strolling trail of any town bridge, in accordance to a draft of a proposed DOT rule published last week in the City Record.
The rule alternate would bar any “peddler, vendor, hawker, or huckster” from the pedestrian or motorbike lane of any bridge. It’s aimed squarely on the Brooklyn Bridge, the place vendors acquire close to the Manhattan manner to promote meals, artwork and tourist-oriented tchotchkes.
“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,” Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriquez mentioned in a observation to the Daily News.
“These proposed rules would make it safer and easier for pedestrians to enjoy the Brooklyn Bridge and take in the world-renowned view of New York Harbor,” he added.
Transportation officers wrote within the City Record that the alternate would “enhance pedestrian safety, ease overcrowding and promote the safety and security of the bridges.”
Department knowledge presentations a median 34,000 pedestrians walked the bridge’s central picket deck on weekend days ultimate fall — up from a median of 17,000 within the fall of 2021, when the walkway was once closed to bicycle site visitors.
“These high pedestrian counts make vending along the walkway an unsafe condition, particularly in areas where the width of the elevated pedestrian walkway narrows to 5 feet,” the guideline proposal reads.
The moderate width of the pedestrian walkway is 16 ft, with narrower sections during.
When motorcycles have been moved off the bridge’s pedestrian pathway, more room spread out for vendors, mentioned Mohamed Attia, managing director of the Urban Justice Center’s Street Vendor Project. “Now there is even more space for pedestrians and vendors to coexist,” he instructed The News.
That truth provides the town much less reason to take away the vendors, Attia mentioned.
Vendors greater than a dozen tables stretched just about to the middle of the bridge from the Manhattan facet on Tuesday.
“We were surprised that they allowed the stalls to be here, because it’s such a busy area,” mentioned a vacationer from New Zealand who gave her title as Elaine. “And New York City is quite security conscious, so to have this here was quite surprising.”
“It’s nice to be able to have these things if you feel the urge to purchase, absolutely,” she added.
Anthony Vas, who was once promoting art work made on maps of the town sees the setup as excellent for guests. “They can get souvenirs for a fair price, you know? Not overpriced souvenirs,” he mentioned.
Vas, 33, mentioned he’d been merchandising on New York City streets for 14 years, first in Times Square, then on Fifth Ave. Each time, he mentioned, the town in the end driven him out.
“Where are people supposed to work?” he requested. “What’s the purpose?”
Vas mentioned police have not too long ago been appearing up more than one occasions an afternoon to be certain all bridge vendors are approved with Department of Consumer and Worker Protection. Most of the vendors have right kind licenses, mentioned Attia, the vendors’ recommend.
Attia referred to as the DOT proposal to ban vendors from the bridge “disappointing.”
“Vendors make the bridge more welcoming to tourists,” he mentioned. “They want to see activity happening on the bridge.”
“Banning vending shouldn’t be the answer to any question,” he added. “The city should really take advantage of street vendors as an industry.”
The DOT has scheduled a virtual public hearing at the proposed adjustments for Nov. 15 at 10 a.m.