A popular selfie destination in Brooklyn, already swamped by throngs of tourists daily, is poised to face even more chaos with the upcoming World Cup this summer, concerned locals have reported.
The iconic view of the Manhattan Bridge from DUMBO’s Washington Street has become a magnet for visitors, drawing busloads of tourists since it gained fame as an ideal photo backdrop a few years ago.
This influx of visitors has been accompanied by a surge in aggressive street vendors, unsightly trash, and rodent issues. Residents fear the situation will deteriorate further with an anticipated influx of 1.2 million FIFA fans descending upon the city.
“It will take a catastrophe before anything changes,” lamented local resident Tara Quinn.
With global soccer matches set to take place locally, and free watch parties planned in Brooklyn Bridge Park this June, residents are once again voicing their concerns. The situation is expected to be exacerbated by the celebrations marking America’s 250th birthday the following month.
“The quality of life has massively deteriorated,” said Sheryl Buchholtz, a resident of the area.
“It’s a great community, it’s certainly open to the world,” she said. “But it’s sheer chaos.”
The community — where the median asking monthly rent for a one-bedroom tops $5,200 —has repeatedly called for more security patrols, trash clean-ups and illegal vending crackdowns.
But disgruntled locals said their complaints have fallen on deaf ears — which will only spell out more trouble for the picturesque neighborhood come this summer.
“It’s not that you shouldn’t come here, it’s that there’s no support for the volume of folks that come here,” resident Jimmy Ng told The Post.
Local city Councilman Lincoln Restler said the Mamdani administration has yet to create any “coordinated planning” to manage the influx of crowds in the “deeply congested neighborhood.
“As a result, it’s been hard on neighborhood residents,’’ he said.
Ng said, “The most comparable thing to us here is Times Square — millions of people from all over the world want to come.’’
But without proper help and enforcement from the city, “it’s only going to get worse.”
Trash complaints in Brooklyn’s Community Board 2, which includes DUMBO, have spiked 136% since 2019.
Calls about illegal vending meanwhile jumped a whopping 537%, according to a Post analysis of city data.
Flagrant illegal peddlers will “accost” tourists for souvenir photos and hot dogs, residents said ahead of a neighborhood meeting Monday.
The illicit food vendors also pump generator fumes into narrow streets for hours, leave trash around and pour food waste down street drains, attracting rats and other pests — and become aggressive when confronted by locals, residents said.
“Wrappers, cartons, food: none of that gets picked up,” Ng said. “It’s flies everywhere.”
When there is enforcement — such as monthly NYPD crackdowns on illegal street vendors — they do little good, locals said.
Many of the scofflaws return just a few hours or days later and are easily able to pay fines by charging sky-high prices to tourists, residents said.
A street vending task force that residents petitioned City Hall to create in 2024 never came to fruition, Restler’s office confirmed.
“We have several landmarks here, and we’re an easy target,’’ Quinn said. “There’s no police or security, and emergency vehicles can’t get through.”
Restler said additional police officers are typically brought in from other precincts during the summer months to manage the growing crowd — but there is “often a desire from the community for more police presence.”
Both the nonprofit helping to oversee Brooklyn Bridge Park, and Adidas, will be investing in more security during World Cup events, he said.
“We expect the NYPD, the mayor’s office and Sanitation to scale up their services accordingly,” said Alexandria Sica, president of the DUMBO Business Improvement District, to The Post.
“The BID’s clean team will also be ready to keep the streets looking their best, as we welcome New York’s soccer fans to the neighborhood,” Sica said.
But some locals questioned the BID’s ability to clean up after the expected additional swarms.
“You can’t have four or five people picking up trash for tens of thousands of people,” Ng said.
Restler has drafted legislation mandating the city create a DUMBO tourism plan and prohibit vending on bustling sections of Washington Street where tourists congregate.
“The Adams administration refused to do this,” Restler said. “I’m hopeful that we’ll be successful in bringing together the relevant city agencies to jointly enforce against illegal activity in the neighborhood.”
But the legislation will take months to pass — while in six weeks, the FIFA World Cup kicks off in New Jersey, residents said.
“Things need to improve and improve quickly,” Restler acknowledged to a crowd of constituents last week.
“I know people are frustrated. We have to do better.”
The NYPD and City Hall declined Post requests for comment.
