NEW YORK—The costumed characters, naked painted ladies and bus tour ticket sellers who have made all of Times Square their stomping grounds could be restricted to specific zones under legislation being considered by the City Council.
The council’s committee on transportation is holding a hearing Wednesday morning on legislation that would allow the city’s Department of Transportation to create rules and regulations for pedestrian plazas like the ones in Times Square. The bill comes after scores of complaints in recent years over aggressive panhandling behavior, primarily from the costumed characters pushing onlookers for tips.
In the most recent incident, a man in a Spider-Man costume was accused of fighting with a tourist over a tip this past weekend, and was arrested on an assault charge. Other incidents in the past couple of years include another Spider-Man figure in the same area punching a police officer trying to prevent aggressive solicitation, and a man dressed as Cookie Monster attacking a 2-year-old child whose parents didn’t offer up a tip.
“Come to New York, duke it out with a superhero! Is that really what we want to be known for?” said Councilmember Daniel Garodnick, one of the bill’s sponsors, at an event in support of it on Monday.






