Officials: Managing NYC tourist, pedestrian traffic a key challenge in 2019
NYPD Commissioner James O'Neill, left, and Mayor Bill de Blasio, at a briefing Thursday in East New York. Credit: Jeff Bachner
The NYPD may have a handle on serious crime but the ongoing crush of tourists and pedestrians is proving to be a looming challenge for 2019, officials said Thursday.
At a year-end crime briefing, both NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill and Mayor Bill de Blasio admitted they were trying to find ways to manage the huge number of visitors and pedestrians clogging streets and sidewalks of the Big Apple, particularly around the Christmas holiday.
“We have to come up with a strategy for the holiday season in 2019,” said O’Neill, who pointed to the swelling crowds at Rockefeller Center as well as on Fifth and Sixth avenues as evidence of the problem.
In 2018, the city swelled with more than 62 million tourists, a number that has stayed constant over recent years. Even with such an influx last year, the city notched a record low for serious crime in the modern era of policing.
Authorities said so many tourists used the Brooklyn Bridge pedestrian walkway Saturday, officials temporarily closed one of the city’s iconic destinations to foot traffic. Police officials said they had to quickly dispatch extra units to the bridge to get people moving amid crowded conditions on the walkway.
“It is a real issue,” said de Blasio, who indicated the bridge overcrowding was unexpected. “The city is growing, more tourists then ever before, more jobs than ever before, brings in commuters. We have to take this issue seriously and do more.”
It was unclear how many pedestrians swelled the crowd Saturday on the bridge. Weekend foot traffic on the Brooklyn Bridge has skyrocketed by 275 percent from 2008 to 2015, according to the city Department of Transportation. In July, the bridge handled a daily average of more than 23,000 pedestrians and more than 3,500 cyclists, the DOT said.
Adding to last weekend’s bridge overcrowding was the tendency of tourists to pause to take selfies and panoramic photos, which backed up pedestrians behind them, said one NYPD official. Also causing problems were the many vendors selling their wares at the ends of the walkway.
“We do have to look at vendors to make sure there is nothing interfering with pedestrians,” O’Neill said. NYPD commanders need to determine the right number of traffic enforcement agents at heavy pedestrian areas to keep things moving and prevent interference with vehicle traffic, the police commissioner said.
In 2017, a DOT study proposed a lateral expansion of the Brooklyn Bridge walkway over part of the roadway. The study also recommended inspecting bridge cables before any expansion, something an agency spokesman said will be done this year.
De Blasio said he was against a tourist tax like the one reportedly proposed by the Italian city of Venice where officials want to levy a tax ranging from 2.5 Euros to 10 Euros — about $2.85 to $11.40 — depending on which season visitors arrive.
“We are not Venice,” de Blasio said. "We are an open city and we are a city that is succeeding.”
Anthony M. DeStefano has been a reporter for Newsday since 1986 and covers law enforcement, criminal justice and legal affairs from its New York City offices.
Out East with Doug Geed: Wine harvests, a fish market, baked treats and poinsettias NewsdayTV's Doug Geed visits two wineries and a fish market, and then it's time for holiday cheer, with a visit to a bakery and poinsettia greenhouses.
Out East with Doug Geed: Wine harvests, a fish market, baked treats and poinsettias NewsdayTV's Doug Geed visits two wineries and a fish market, and then it's time for holiday cheer, with a visit to a bakery and poinsettia greenhouses.
