![\"people](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/illegal-vending.jpg\" "\\"Defying")
\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Vendors on the Brooklyn Bridge. <\/p>\n
Photo by Barbara Russo-Lennon<\/p>\n
Just over a year after Mayor Eric Adams<\/a> and transit officials banned illegal street vending on the Brooklyn Bridge, the vendors are back. Scores of illegal vending carts selling everything from hats to souvenirs to food lined the walkway on a recent Monday afternoon.<\/p>\n amNewYork visited the landmark bridge several times this month, most recently on Aug. 25. Before even stepping on to the walkway of the iconic East River crossing, five vendors<\/a> were eagerly selling baseball caps, fruit and water to passersby.<\/p>\n But the vending action heated up once a reporter stepped onto the span to do the classic mile-long walk from Manhattan to Brooklyn. Over 30 illegal vendors blocked parts of the narrow walkway, which at its widest point is only 16 feet. Most vendors were concentrated on the Manhattan side and the center of the bridge. But still, hawkers optimized space on the Brooklyn side, too.<\/p>\n \u2018It\u2019s part of the NYC experience,\u2019 tourists say As hundreds of people walked the historic bridge, happily snapping photos of the scenic skyline, the vendors peddled their wares.\u00a0<\/p>\n Lisa, a tourist from London, browsed the goods. She did not mind the makeshift vending taking up space on the Manhattan side of the bridge.\n<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s fun and part of the NYC experience,\u201d she said.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n Miguel was walking across the bridge with his family when he stopped to buy a fruit snack on a sunny day.\n<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s very refreshing to buy cold fruit when you go over the bridge, especially on a very hot day,\u201d he said with a smile.\u00a0 Despite the support for the vendors, vending on the bridge is illegal. <\/p>\n Last year, Mayor Adams conducted a major push to announce new rules clarifying that vending on pedestrian walkways on the Brooklyn Bridge, and all DOT bridges, is prohibited. Officials cited pedestrian safety, as well as bridge security, as reasons for the ban.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cNew York commuters as well as the millions of people who visit our city each year should be able to enjoy the Brooklyn Bridge without impediments to safety and pedestrian mobility,\u201d DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez said last year. \u201cThese rules would make it safer and easier for pedestrians to travel across what\u2019s considered America\u2019s Eiffel Tower and take in the world-renowned view of New York Harbor.\u201d<\/p>\n amNewYork reached out to the DOT to see if the ban is still in effect. The agency confirmed that the ban is still active, but deferred follow-up questions to the NYPD.\u00a0<\/p>\n amNewYork is awaiting a response from police for this story. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n Vending with iconic views With the Brooklyn Bridge being a popular tourist attraction in NYC, it is not surprising that vendors would gravitate toward the span to optimize their earnings. In fact, international rental car company, SIXT, ranked the Brooklyn Bridge the #2 most iconic bridge views in the United States this month. (The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco ranked #1).<\/p>\n Meanwhile, over 22,000 street vendor complaints have been received so far in 2025, though it is unclear how many are from city bridges.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n The street vendors\u2019 presence on the Brooklyn Bridge follows Adams\u2019 veto<\/a> of a NYC Council bill<\/a> last month that would have decriminalized illegal street vending. Council members and advocates who supported the bill said it would have helped provide protection from deportation, as 96% of the city\u2019s 23,000 street vendors are immigrants<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Brooklyn City Council Member Alexa Aviles, chair of the committee on immigration, told amNewYork that the current vending system is \u201cbroken,\u201d and people encounter many challenges when entering the industry.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are immense barriers to entry for the often working-class and immigrant New Yorkers that populate our city as street vendors,\u201d she said. \u201cThey bring immense cultural value to our streets but often have difficulty entering the process because of excess red tape. That\u2019s why the city council has worked on a package of bills to create an accessible system. The mayor has now vetoed that package, which will further encourage people to try and skirt the archaic bureaucratic vending processes.\u201d<\/p>\n She added that the mayor\u2019s roadblock will result in \u201cwasteful\u201d enforcement spending and less public education on what vending is and is not legal.\n<\/p>\n \u201cI suggest the mayor should work to create effective systems for our city that provide economic opportunities for working families,\u201d the council member said said. \u201cBut it seems he is too busy villainizing immigrant New Yorkers in order to distract from his own shortcomings.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the NYC Council said recently that members are considering what steps to take in response to the veto.\n<\/p>\n amNewYork contacted the mayor\u2019s office for comment and is awaiting a response. \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Vendors on the Brooklyn Bridge. Photo by Barbara Russo-Lennon Just over a year after Mayor Eric Adams and…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":177535,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,100672,5289,71432,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,35574,11899,11900,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,100673],"class_list":{"0":"post-177534","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-council-member-shekar-krishnan","10":"tag-eric-adams","11":"tag-illegal-street-vending","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-city","14":"tag-newyork","15":"tag-newyorkcity","16":"tag-ny","17":"tag-nyc","18":"tag-nyc-department-of-transportation","19":"tag-police-and-fire","20":"tag-transit","21":"tag-united-states","22":"tag-united-states-of-america","23":"tag-unitedstates","24":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","25":"tag-us","26":"tag-usa","27":"tag-vending-on-the-brooklyn-bridge"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115096159820863906","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=177534"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177534\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/177535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n![\"people](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/illegal-vend-lennon-082525.jpg\" "\\"Defying")
Vendors at the Brooklyn Bridge.Photo by Barbara Russo-Lennon<\/p>\n
\n![\"man](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/vendor-lennon-082525.jpg\" "\\"Defying")
A vendor getting ready for work.Photo by Barbara Russo-Lennon\n<\/p>\n
\n![\"people](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/vendors-lennon-082525.jpg\" "\\"Defying")
Vendors and pedestrians on the Brooklyn Bridge.Photo by Barbara Russo-Lennon<\/p>\n