QUESTION
Majority Leader Farias Questions DOT on Bridge Vending Prohibition Rationale
0:22:41
·
79 sec
Majority Leader Amanda Farias questions the Department of Transportation on the rationale behind the city's decision to prohibit vending on all city bridges, explicitly focusing on safety concerns.
This discussion sheds light on real-world challenges, particularly on the Brooklyn Bridge, where incidents of overcrowding and unsafe conditions have prompted action. The segment highlights days when the NYPD had to limit bridge access due to severe congestion, potentially putting pedestrians at risk in emergency situations.
Speaker 7
0:22:41
Recently, the city finalizing a role to prohibit vending on all city bridges.
0:22:44
Can you explain the ration now for this rule outside of what was already in in your testimony?
Speaker 3
0:22:52
Yes.
0:22:53
So as we have seen on the Brooklyn Bridge as an example when we do have vending and we have people congregating and we're inhibiting movement on a place that is already a constrained atmosphere.
0:23:07
We're introducing a safety concern.
0:23:10
We've had many days on the Brooklyn Bridge.
0:23:12
Where well, there were several days where NYPD in the past had to actually limit people entering the bridge.
0:23:18
But we've had many, many days of over crowding where, as we mentioned, we have seen people jumping over a fence to get into the bike lane and order to exit the bridge.
0:23:28
I was out there a day in December where tourists and others were approaching the bridge and literally turning around in saying I'm not gonna deal with that where people could not walk.
0:23:38
So the conditions that we were seeing were not safe if there had been even in the absence of an emergency, but if there had been an emergency, and all of a sudden people were quickly exiting the bridge for some reason.
0:23:51
As was testified by NYPD, we would anticipate some stampeding or trampling conditions to be out there?
Speaker 7
0:24:00
Sure.