Page 4 - MIN VOS 22 AUG 2015
P. 4
U.S. NEWS A7
Saturday 22 August 2015
Topless, painted women ignite
latest furor over Times Square
VERENA DOBNIK activity there, have so far A tourist poses for a photo with two women clad in thongs and body paint in New York’s Times
Associated Press taken only one step: post- Square. Topless women posing for photos in Times Square are causing headaches for politicians
NEW YORK (AP) — Top- ing notices and handing and law enforcement who wish to regulate their presence but have no clear idea how.
less women, often in body out flyers informing visitors
paint, posing for photos in that tips are not an obliga- (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)
Times Square are causing tion. Legal experts say the
headaches for New York quandary is whether the acters, residency require- Bunting acknowledged body touching us. We also
politicians and police who activity amounts to a street ments and whether taxes that a small group of top- wouldn’t want somebody
wish to regulate their pres- performance protected by were being paid. less women working there touching our child. Abso-
ence but have no clear the First Amendment or a Nicole and Angel Bunting display the kind of in-your- lutely not.”
idea how. form of commercial activ- are part of a threesome of face behavior that is draw- Nicole said she used to
Frustrated politicians would ity that can be regulated. friends who work the south ing negative attention. work in music manage-
like to regulate the pres- There’s nothing illegal in end of Times Square, ap- “Some of the girls are may- ment but lost her job and
ence of the women and New York City about go- proaching pedestrians with be a little more aggressive, couldn’t find other work
the many costumed char- ing topless (with or with- smiles and keeping a polite but we do not work that in the weak jobs market.
acters such as Elmo and out body paint), parading distance. Pointing at the way,” Bunting, 32, said. “And this is what I found.
Cookie Monster who pop- around in a furry costume other end of the square, “We wouldn’t want some- And now I love it.”q
ulate the plaza. But they or even begging for money
have no clear idea how. in most places.
New York Gov. Andrew “There’s no clear legal path
Cuomo says he believes to address this issue,” says
the women are engaging New York-based civil rights
in an illegal activity that attorney Ron Kuby. “It’s
harkens to the “bad old hard to take two things that
Times Square.” are legal — being bare-
And Mayor Bill de Blasio this breasted and begging for
week formed a task force money — and turn them
to look at how to regulate into something illegal.”
“aggressive solicitation.” Police can do little to curb
The experience of millions the behavior someone
of tourists “has been dimin- complains of assault or ha-
ished by the proliferation of rassment.
topless individuals and cos- Last year, a Spider-Man
tumed characters who too figure in the same area
often harass people and punched a police officer
expose families to inap- trying to prevent aggres-
propriate acts,” the mayor sive solicitation, and a man
said. dressed as Cookie Mon-
City officials have already ster attacked a 2-year-old
brainstormed solutions that child whose parents had
include licensing those who not tipped. Police Commis-
troll for tips or pushing them sioner William Bratton told
out of the square. But the 1010 WINS radio Thursday
city and the Times Square that he’s looking into the
Alliance, which regulates labor practices of the char-
