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QUESTION

Majority Leader Farias Asks About Overcrowding Management on Brooklyn Bridge

0:24:00

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137 sec

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In response to Majority Leader Amanda Farias's inquiry, the Department of Transportation (DOT) and NYPD discuss their collaborative efforts to manage overcrowding on the Brooklyn Bridge following the vendor removal.

The discussion covers the day-to-day monitoring, improved pedestrian flow, and an in-depth analysis of a December 29th incident that saw severe overcrowding, leading to police involvement and emergency crowd control measures. Emphasis is placed on the ongoing strategy to ensure the bridge remains safe and uncrowded without the presence of vendors.

Speaker 7

0:24:00

So what plans is DOT and NYPD putting together to ensure there's a regulatory enforcement or there's some sort of plans in place in terms of managing the overcrowding Are you are they have seen communicating?

0:25:29

So outside of the callers, in terms of our response, what did the officers I responded see and how was it managed?

0:25:56

Okay.

0:25:56

So we do not know if there were actual vendors that were noncompliant or that were blocking the pathway.

0:26:03

Okay.

0:26:04

Thank you.

0:26:05

Just a couple of quick questions for oh, wait.

0:26:09

One second.

0:26:13

Okay.

0:26:14

We have a agency that's not here.

Speaker 3

0:24:15

Since January 3rd, when the vendors were removed from the bridge, we've been monitoring the bridge daily.

0:24:21

There has been good compliance in terms of people not returning to set up vending.

0:24:26

We intend to continue to watch the bridge very carefully to make sure that that is the case.

0:24:31

And we've seen much better conditions with better flow of pedestrians.

Speaker 5

0:24:37

I just wanted to elaborate on the overcrowding situation.

0:24:40

Mhmm.

0:24:41

Know there's a few newspaper articles about it.

0:24:42

On December 29th, police were called to the bridge for overcrowding on both sides.

0:24:48

The 84 precinct responded from the Brooklyn side, the 5th precinct spotted from Manhattan side.

0:24:53

The coal started coming in around 1 o'clock in the afternoon, painting a pretty bad picture of overcrowding, people arguing, I can't get out.

0:25:01

There was multiple callers through 91.

0:25:03

There's multiple texters through 91.

0:25:06

Police officers stayed on the situation stayed on the seen on both sides until about 6:45 PM when they were comfortable enough to release the restriction on pedestrian traffic on both sides.

0:25:18

But just to highlight 2 of the 91 callers.

0:25:21

1 of them that comes in at 3:15 states that vendors are blocking the entrance.

0:25:24

And then 2 hours later, there's a separate caller.

0:25:27

That states that vendors are blocking the road.

0:25:37

Can't speak to what the specific officers on scene saw, but what they did was they had one purse two people on each side, at least on the Manhattan side.

0:25:45

Broke aside, and they were regulating the entry of the bridge to prevent or more overcrowding, and they were trying to monitor the free flowing traffic of people that were already on the bridge.

Speaker 8

0:26:02

We do not.

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