City moves to keep its freeze on new street fairs through 2027, citing police overtime

The Mamdani administration wants to extend the city's long-running moratorium on new street fairs through 2027, Gothamist reported on Friday. A proposed rule published in the City Record would let the city turn down applications for any street fair that did not take place in 2026. Fairs held this year could still renew.

If you have hoped for a fair on your block or commercial strip, this rule decides whether a new one can happen next year. The moratorium began after 9/11 and has been renewed every year since 2004, according to Gothamist. The city's notice says it permits more than 200 street fairs and more than 5,000 other events each year.

Why the city says it needs the freeze

The administration points to police overtime. Gothamist cited the comptroller's projection of about $890 million in NYPD overtime for fiscal 2026, the third-highest on record. It also reported that overtime for planned events such as parades and street fairs rose from $97.1 million in fiscal 2023 to $115.7 million in fiscal 2025.

Critics told Gothamist the freeze is unnecessary and shuts out new business groups and nonprofits. An analyst at the street-safety group Open Plans said the original rationale does not hold up. The Manhattan Chamber of Commerce suggested mapping where fairs cluster and where none exist. A spokesperson for the mayor said the upcoming hearing gives New Yorkers a chance to weigh in.

What our records add

The Council does not vote on this rule; it is a mayoral agency rule. But overtime for events has come up repeatedly at Council hearings this year.

June 1, NYPD budget hearing. Speaker Julie Menin told the department it was on pace to spend about $955 million on overtime in fiscal 2026, according to recent reporting, and pressed it on why budgeted overtime keeps falling short of spending (video at 40:38). Asked for the top drivers of overtime, an NYPD budget official said the two largest categories were investigations and events (1:33:30). Council Member Oswald J. Feliz, who chairs the Public Safety Committee, asked how many officers the department assigns to parades. The answer: more than 3,000 uniformed members for the parade the day before (1:33:56).

Sept. 30, World Cup look-back. At a joint hearing of the Economic Development and Small Business committees, members asked how much of the city's World Cup spending went to NYPD overtime. The administration said the city was still assessing the total cost and referred overtime questions to the police department (1:23:30). The street fair moratorium also came up in public testimony at that hearing (2:31:04).

We found no Council bill on the street fair moratorium among the matters we track.

What's next

The rule is not final until after an online public hearing on Nov. 24 at 10 a.m., Gothamist reported. Anyone can testify or submit comments; the City Record notice explains how. Council members can also weigh in on the record, and the Council can legislate on street activity permits if it chooses.

Meanwhile, NYPD overtime will return to the Council's agenda with the mayor's November budget update and next spring's preliminary budget hearings. Both appear on our meetings calendar as they are scheduled.