Vendors no longer allowed to do business on the city’s bridges

Police handed out vacate flyers along the bridge, as the No Vendors in City Bridge Walkways rule is finally taking effect.

Katelynn Ulrich and Adolfo Carrion

Jan 2, 2024, 10:49 PM

Updated 324 days ago

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NYPD officers were out in full force Tuesday to inform vendors along the Brooklyn Bridge to have their stuff packed up by midnight.  
This comes as the No Vendors in City Bridge Walkways rule, proposed by the Department of Transportation in 2023, is finally taking effect.  
Mayor Eric Adams and his team showed a video of the shoulder-to-shoulder foot traffic on the Brooklyn Bridge on Tuesday to show New Yorkers why they think this rule is essential.
 
"Look at the danger of this - someone literally jumping up on a barrier and then jumping off the pedestrian walkway onto a bike path,” said Mayor Eric Adams. “Imagine if someone yells fire or someone hears a car backfire and thinks it's a shot? You have a stampede on that bridge." 
Police handed out vacate flyers in the final hours before the rule took effect; the mayor’s team says the rule was posted in early October.  
All property remaining on city bridge walkways after midnight Tuesday will be removed and left in custody of the DOT.