As you no doubt know, on Sunday a man dressed as Cookie Monster was arrested in Times Square after allegedly shoving a child and cursing at his mother when she didn't tip him fast enough. The local media ate it up like a box of Tagalongs, just like we did when a guy dressed as Elmo yelled anti-Semitic slurs, and when Spider-Man allegedly punched a woman, and when Super-Mario allegedly groped another tourist. And when Dora the Explorer gets busted for indecent exposure, we'll have total coverage of that, too! These incidents all happened in Times Square, which has become mobbed with costumed characters in the past year. In the wake of all this media attention, the drumbeat for banning the performers from the area is growing louder, and now the president of the Sergeant Benevolent Association tells us he has a plan.
NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly noted this week that “dressing up in one of those costumes and posing for photos is not a violation of the law,” but NYPD Sgt. Ed Mullins, president of the Sergeant Benevolent Association (SBA), thinks that gives the city all the more reason to want to compel these people to get licensed. "Let them get licenses and let the city council pass a law that allows us to enforce the law and summons people," Mullins told us today. "Let them submit their fingerprints. They're dealing with kids, they're taking pictures with tourists. It's a reflection on New York."
In Mullins's view, these characters are responsible for creating situations that reflect poorly on the city: "You have people from around the world that come here and take pictures of Times Square and what happens? They see a story like this." The Times Square Alliance counted 52 costumed characters in Times Square on a recent evening, and Alliance president Tim Tompkins says one of his staffers was groped by one of them. He also believes these high-profile incidents are probably just the tip of the iceberg, pointing out that "those are just ones where there's been an arrest!"
Instead of thinking of them like buskers, Mullins thinks we should treat them like food vendors: "If you license them, we have accountability for their tax revenue. You know, let them pay with their tax stamp." His view lines up with that of Tompkins and City Councilmember Peter Vallone, who both told us they were in favor of stricter regulation on these individuals. Even so, Vallone admitted how difficult it would be figuring out how to regulate them: "There are anti-mask laws, but you need at least two people working together. There are 'blocking the sidewalk' laws but they're difficult to enforce in this situation. They claim they're street performers and don't need licensing."
Mullins definitely doesn't view them as street performers: "You can't just declare yourself a street performer. Broadway has theaters, we have paid admission into movie theaters, we have people that will download music off the internet so you're just a street performer and you do what? You do this just for the sake of having a crowd gather? Or are you collecting money as a street performer? If you're collecting money, you're generating revenue."
Vallone thinks costumed characters are exceptional because of the money: "They say it's not a cash business, and kids are fooled by this but maybe adults should stop being fooled. Not only is cash expected but cash is demanded."
While Mayor Bloomberg sounded sympathetic when he was asked about the situation, he seemed resigned to the status quo: “We have tried at various times to regulate people who dress up and then get you to take a picture with your kid and then demand money or harass you in other ways,” he said, adding, “it’s not against the law. So I’m sorry. Maybe it should be.”
Mullins, too, was realistic about Times Square—no matter how Disneyfied it becomes, it'll always attract a seedy element one way or another. "The con game has been around forever and people will continue to keep the con game going and there's gonna be those who prey on those who don't know... That's just always gonna be a part of life." And they're multiplying at an incredible rate.
