A New York City taskforce was set on Thursday to release its final proposal on how to regulate topless performers and costumed characters in Times Square.
City council members said the recommendations would not ban the performers, but would place limits on commercial activity and increase police presence in Times Square’s pedestrian plazas.
The mayorally appointed taskforce was created after people complained about the partial nudity of some performers, deeming it offensive. This followed a spate of incidents involving people dressed as Elmo, Spider-Man and Cookie Monster.
Councilman Corey Johnson, who represents part of Times Square, said the regulations would be “constitutionally robust and content neutral”.
In the coming months, Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration will be looking into legislation to give the city more power to regulate such performers and others who participate in commercial activity in all of the city’s pedestrian plazas, not just those in Times Square.
Any regulation of such performers would have to fall in line with free speech rights, which are federally protected under the first amendment. To do this, the taskforce recommended limiting the time, place and manner in which commercial activity can occur in the plazas.
Under the proposal, such activity would be regulated by the department of transportation, which currently only oversees the city’s streets.
The taskforce sidelined New York police commissioner William Bratton’s earlier recommendation, which was to close down the pedestrian plazas. It did, however, suggest doubling the police presence in Times Square to about 100 officers.
Johnson credited media coverage of the topless women for raising the issue on the mayor’s agenda.
“We are grateful that the Daily News putting this on the front page four days in a row was the catalyst that got everyone together to start talking about it,” Johnson told the New York Observer.
