The City Council found money in the sofa cushions — or more precisely, under the Brooklyn Bridge.
The panel is floating a cash-making budget-balancing scheme to rent out the world-famous span’s vaults, which are underneath it, tucked inside its stone anchorages.
There is a total of 13,000 square feet of the space, which once hosted art shows but has been locked up since 2001.
The vaults are currently being used as a glorified parking garage for city-owned vehicles.
But the council — in a $127 billion city budget proposal it pitched Wednesday as an alternative to Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s “tax the rich’’ spending plan — said the Big Apple should slap a “Rent Me” sign on the front of the vaults to raise much-needed cash.
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At average Manhattan rents, the city could rake in about $17 million a year if it fully leased the space, according to council estimates.
The bridge’s rented rooms could start coughing up millions of dollars as early as fiscal 2027, the council wrote in its budget response to Mamdani’s plan.
As part of their proposal, the council also suggested:
- The city Department of Parks and Recreation should tap yacht owners for more money by jacking up boat parking rates at the city’s 15 marinas. Rates haven’t been raised since 2012. The council’s idea is to nudge city-run docks closer to private marina prices and squeeze about $1 million a year out of floating one-percenters.
- City parks could be used to draw more fancy foodies. The city would push for about 20 new “destination concessions” in underused green spaces, with mini-food halls, bars and seating that could bring in about $10 million a year starting in 2027. The city has 400 concessions currently operating in parks, including a food hall at McCarren Parkhouse in Brooklyn, restaurants such as Tavern on the Green, the Clearview Café and the Loeb Boathouse, plus numerous pushcarts selling hot dogs and pretzels, according to the parks department.
But Mamdani’s Transportation Department, for one, threw cold water on the council’s bridge pitch..
The department “opposes this first and foremost for security reasons,” a rep told The Post.
“Secondarily, the area serves as a necessary storage area for vehicles critical to maintaining our bridge infrastructure.”
In Mamdani’s preliminary budget released earlier this year, the mayor was intent on drawing down cash reserves and raising taxes to fix the city’s budget gap.
He’s floated tax increases on New York City homeowners or residents making $1 million or more a year and successful businesses.
The council is desperately pitching side-hustles to avoid implementing Mamdani’s budget ideas.
“The Council lays out an alternative path the City can follow, providing the necessary resources to fund all the spending priorities without having to resort to increasing taxes, reducing funding for critical services, or drawing down on reserves,” the council wrote in unveiling its own plan.
