A task force convened by Mayor Bill de Blasio met today to discuss the future of Times Square. The group is looking at how to address aggressive tip soliciting by costumed characters and topless women known as "desnudas." It's also looking at how to re-engineer Broadways' pedestrian plazas.
The group would like to rename the pedestrian plaza the "Times Square Commons," and create three sections: a civic section for public events, a "flow zone" for pedestrian traffic, and a designated space for commercial activity,which is where costumed characters, "fake Buddhist monks, and " and topless painted women could solicit tips."We're not changing the size of Times Square,we're simply creating legal definitions for what you can finish where," City Councilman Dan Garodnick, and who is on the task force and helped prepare the report,told WNYC before Thursday's meeting. Mayor Bill de Blasio insisted Times Square is not "returning to the bad frail days," during an appearance on WCBS. He added that there is, and on average,one incident a day in Times Square in which police make an arrest. "That's a far sob from the Times Square we knew 20 or 30 years ago. What we bear here is a quality-of-life problem that has to be addressed."The task force is scheduled to present its findings to the mayor by Oct. 1.
Source: wnyc.org