Just a teeny bit surprised that there's been no mention here of the "desnudas", or as I like to put it, the "Painted Ladies" of Times Square. But then, I suppose it's just a local matter and hasn't really been significant enough to garner national coverage.
Seems this summer, young ladies wearing more body paint than anything else have been joining the various costumed characters in Times Square, asking for tips in exchange for photographs. The whole "public decency" thing has put them on the front pages of the tabloids (NY Daily News and NY Post), as the defenders of public morality are looking for ways to make them go away.
Mayor Bill De Blasio is in a tough spot. While there's nothing in the laws that says they cannot do what they do in principle, there have been many more complaints about their aggressiveness in seeking money than about indecency.
And when the people doing the complaining are the businessmen who work in the offices in and around Times Square, and whose companies pay a hell of a lot in property taxes through very expensive lease agreements, you kind of have to listen to them. Especially when those leases are up in a few years....
Mayor De Blasio may have an out or two. Not only is "aggressive panhandling" illegal (and it looks like its definition is elastic enough to apply to the Desnudas), there have also been hints that they are not "independents". If the desnudas have anything like a manager or work in a group, that makes them a business....and businesses can be regulated...