According to New York City Mayor, vendors are set to be banned from selling goods on the iconic Brooklyn Bridge, forcing tourists to opt for snapshots instead of souvenirs.
As vendors are poised to be prohibited from selling goods on the famous Brooklyn Bridge, tourists visiting the city in the hopes of bringing home a memento from the landmark will now have to make do with a snapshot.
The new regulation, which takes effect on Wednesday, intends to reduce crowding on the busy pedestrian walkway of the bridge, where commuters from the city and visitors jostle for space with dozens of trinket vendors.
According to New York City Mayor Eric Adams, the situation became unsafe as large crowds flocked to the bridge throughout the holiday season. He displayed videos of people hopping from the elevated walkway onto a bike lane several feet below to avoid a human traffic bottleneck.
All of the city’s bridges will be subject to the new regulations, but none have quite as many sellers as the 140-year-old Brooklyn Bridge, which is frequently dotted with tables selling novelty license plates, phone cases, and Yankees caps, among other items.
Vendors on the bridge admit that their number has increased recently due to slack regulation during the coronavirus pandemic and the availability of inexpensive goods. Space for stalls was also made available by the decision made two years prior to move cyclists to a separate lane of the road.