We Live Here: A Call for Resident-Focused Advocacy in DUMBO

DUMBO is a neighborhood of residents not just a destination. Those of us who live here experience the daily realities of congestion, noise, unsafe conditions, and a lack of meaningful enforcement in ways that are hard to convey on paper but impossible to ignore when you’re living inside them.

Advocacy requires acknowledgment

Many residents, particularly those living along Front and Washington Streets, feel increasingly overlooked. While we understand the importance of tourism and economic activity, the current balance is not working for the people who call this neighborhood home. The sense of frustration and anger that many residents feel does not come from a place of opposition. It comes from feeling unheard, dismissed, and asked to tolerate conditions that would not be accepted elsewhere in the district.

We are not the BID

One of the core issues we continue to face is the conflation of resident needs with the priorities of the DUMBO BID. While there is overlap, these are not the same constituencies. Residents are not asking for more foot traffic, pop-ups, and programming. We are asking for safety, access, enforcement, and quality of life.

When streets are pedestrianized without corresponding enforcement, planning, or traffic control, the result is chaos not community: illegal vending spreads unchecked, sidewalks become impassable, crime increases. Residents are left to absorb the consequences of decisions made without adequate safeguards.

This is compounded by broader infrastructure issues, including inconsistent communication and planning around major utility work, such as Con Edison projects in Vinegar Hill and DUMBO, which further strain an already stressed neighborhood.

Somethings don’t add up

It is difficult for us to understand the allocation of enforcement resources in the neighborhood. For example, following recent robberies, the police have parked a car in front of Alo, yet just around the corner illegal food trucks remain parked without tickets or tow-aways. Despite dozens of 311 complaints and repeated outreach to city agencies, we have received little to no meaningful response—which only encourages more illegal vending in the neighborhood. This disparity creates the perception that commercial interests are receiving greater protection and attention than the health and safety of DUMBO residents.

We remain hopeful

Our issues are clear—but so is the love and commitment we all have for our neighborhood. If we can make it through the last few years of road construction and Belgian blocks, and as Sal Leopoldo noted, not many people would have been so resilient, we will also work through the current anxiety in our neighborhood.

On that note, we are pleased to share that we are meeting with Lincoln Restler in early 2026 to discuss our concerns. We will ask for his office’s support and advocacy for residents in the same way residents in less tourist-driven neighborhoods are protected. Specifically:

• Acknowledgment that resident concerns are distinct from BID goals and deserve independent support.

• Stronger enforcement around illegal vending, traffic violations and crime prevention and the designation of Washington Street as a no-vendor zone.

• Proactive planning to accompany increased foot traffic (events, markets) and infrastructure construction, rather than reactive responses after problems escalate.

• Transportation advocacy, including pursuing even modest improvements to the York Street F train, comparable to efforts made for Clark and High Street stations.

  
  

None of these asks are radical. They are practical, incremental improvements that would materially improve daily life for thousands of residents.

DAC exists to advocate for all DUMBO residents including those whose frustration reflects lived experience rather than rhetoric. We remain committed to constructive engagement and are looking forward to a productive conversation with the Councilman—and to working together toward solutions that allow DUMBO to function not only as a vibrant neighborhood, but a livable one.