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Adams Vows to Keep Brooklyn Bridge Clear as Banned Street Vendors Slowly Slip Back

Vendors who were clogging the footpath over the Brooklyn Bridge were banned a year ago. But Our Town Downtown found the unlicensed street vendors were slowly coming back. At his final press availability of 2024, Adams said he was going to personally check out the situation.

| 01 Jan 2025 | 10:15
    A handful of unlicensed vendors are spreading their blankets with souvenir caps and trinkets and setting up snack carts with food and drink on the Manhattan side of the Brooklyn Bridge even though a ban against vendors on all city bridges was put in place nearly a year ago.
    A handful of unlicensed vendors are spreading their blankets with souvenir caps and trinkets and setting up snack carts with food and drink on the Manhattan side of the Brooklyn Bridge even though a ban against vendors on all city bridges was put in place nearly a year ago. ( Photo: Keith J. Kelly)
    People stopping to pose for photos seemed more of an impediment to the human parade on the bridge than the handful of unlicensed vendors on the Brooklyn Bridge on a warm New Year’s Eve afternoon.
    People stopping to pose for photos seemed more of an impediment to the human parade on the bridge than the handful of unlicensed vendors on the Brooklyn Bridge on a warm New Year’s Eve afternoon. ( Photo: Keith J. Kelly)
    Capitalism more than police crackdowns on unlicensed vendors may have more to do with relatively few vendors returning. In the time that <i>Our Town Downtown</i> spent on the span on Dec. 31, few stopped to buy anything.
    Capitalism more than police crackdowns on unlicensed vendors may have more to do with relatively few vendors returning. In the time that Our Town Downtown spent on the span on Dec. 31, few stopped to buy anything. ( Photo: Keith J. Kelly)
    Eric Adams at his New Year’s Eve press conference at City Hall vowed to personally check out the vendor situation on the Brooklyn Bridge to make sure “chaos” had not returned. Street vendors, banned a year ago, have started to slip back to sell souvenirs and snacks.
    Eric Adams at his New Year’s Eve press conference at City Hall vowed to personally check out the vendor situation on the Brooklyn Bridge to make sure “chaos” had not returned. Street vendors, banned a year ago, have started to slip back to sell souvenirs and snacks. ( Photo: Keith J. Kelly)
    Sitting on the side of the pedestrian archway to get a sunny day selfie on the Brooklyn Bridge
    Sitting on the side of the pedestrian archway to get a sunny day selfie on the Brooklyn Bridge ( Photo: Keith J. Kelly)

When informed that unlicensed vendors were returning to the pedestrian pathway over the Brooklyn Bridge after earlier being evicted, Mayor Eric Adams said he’s was going to personally check out the situation to make sure “chaos” had not returned.

Vendors were supposed to be banned from the Brooklyn Bridge a year ago, since Jan. 3, 2024, in a bid to ease the human traffic jam on the famed East River crossing.

At the time of the ban, dozens of souvenir sellers were competing for space with tourists and city commuters who used the 1.1 mile span The crowding was particularly congested on the Manhattan side of the span where most of the vendors battled for the prime space.

As police stood on either side of the span to enforce the “no vendors allowed” regulationsm, Adams had said at the time that the bridge was “clean,” “clear” and “the symbol of what I believe the city should look like.”

The police crackdown had officers keeping vendors off on both sides of the bridge.

“We have to maintain what we put in place,” Adams said at his year end press conference at City Hall on Dec. 31.

“You can’t just put an initiative in place and then walk away and think that is not going to follow,” Adams said at his year end press conference.

“So you have to break the habits of people. And so we’re going to... I’m going to look and see. Matter of fact, I’m gonna take a walk over there today and see if we are back to the state of chaos.”

“And I’m going to reach out to both the A4 and I think that’s the fifth precinct down here or the first. I’ll find out...We have to maintain what we put in place.”