Update 8/24/2015, 9:47 a.m.

Well Mayor de Blasio's response to the haggling women and costumed characters abounding in Times Square's pedestrian plaza is quite simple, albeit heavy-handed.

"It's quite evident this is turning into a business," de Blasio said about Times Square's hustlers. "We've certainly heard enough reports of how aggressively this business is being pursued...

Clearly, a lot of people are very uncomfortable with it, I understand why, and I agree. On a common sense level, this is not appropriate in the middle of a public square."

These comments resonate especially strong in the wake of a topless march that took place yesterday afternoon, in which 50 women and about 24 men removed their shirts in Columbus Circle and marched to Bryant Park as the eighth annual installment of the "Go Topless Day" March in New York City.

Going topless is 100% legal in NYC, but it's topless women soliciting money in Times Square who are stirring up a political ruckus.

Mayor de Blasio said bringing cars, trucks, ambulances and taxis back to Times Square's pedestrian plaza would likely drive out most of the solicitors. Which certainly erupted in backlash from city politicians, an organization of Times Square businesses, and transportation advocates.

"Sure, let's tear up Broadway. We can't govern, manage, or police our public spaces, so we should just tear them up," said Tina Tompkins, president of the Times Square Alliance. "That's not a solution. It's a surrender."

But amidst the opposers, there was a voice of praise for de Blasio's idea of abolishing the pedestrian plaza. Police Commissioner William Bratton said the city should "dig the whole damn thing up."

But this is not the be-all, end-all solution. 

Mayor de Blasio has formed a task force to look at other ideas to clean up Times Square. It will be headed by Bratton and Carl Weisbrod, director of the New York City Department of City Planning.

So if you love Times Square's Pedestrian plaza, don't fret yet. A City Hall spokeswoman told The Wall Street Journal said de Blasio wouldn't close the pedestrian plaza without city council input.

Perhaps Mitchell Moss, director of the Rudin Center for Transportation Policy and Management at New York University, said it best. "A handful of topless women should not be the basis for removing the pedestrian plazas that have transformed Times Square."

8/17/2015, 3:42 p.m.

Whether it's simply a call for decency or a crackdown on too much panhandling in an already hellishly crowded area, New York City officials want to put an end to nearly-naked performers in Times Square.

We have mixed feelings about this. 

See, public nudity in NYC is legal as long as it's part of a performance, exhibition, or show-- but freedom has its drawbacks.

This freedom has rendered Mayor Bloomberg's shining vision of a vehicle-free, 30,000-square-foot pedestrian plaza has devolved into little more than a carnival of tourists and families with packs of hustlers preying on them for money... in the form of donations, of course.

There's already a cavalcade of costumed characters like Elmo, Cookie Monster, and Spider Man luring children in for photos and then soliciting money from their parents. 

These creatures adapt to pop culture trends. There are Minions, Batmans, Iron Mans (and more than one different variation of War Machine), Captain Americas. They're everywhere. Throw in a few pairs of breasts painted fresh with the colors of Old Glory? It's almost too much to bear. 

[via Daily News]

There are roughly 40 nearly-naked women wearing just thongs and paint that have been subsumed into the money-grabbing madness

"It's not a business, it's a hustle," a man working with the painted-and-almost-naked women told the New York Daily News.

But police can't stop the performance from marring what was intended as a family-friendly, non-exploitative space. New York's courts ruled that women are allowed to be topless in public. 

The law permits "non-aggressive" panhandling. Police can and do make arrests when characters or topless women become aggressive and frightening, but before it gets to that point, they can do little else.

Except that Father Duffy Square at the northern end of Times Square is officially designated parkland, and soliciting money in parks is strictly prohibited. So generally hawkers verge on the edge of Father Duffy Square and don't dare to venture any further.

But if the city officially designated Times Square as a park, as suggested by the NY Daily News,  the relentless money propositioning would end. 

So too would Elmo, Spider Man, and topless women's domination of Times Square. Unless they wanted to hang out there without asking for money, which we highly doubt would occur.

[via Daily News]

So while we're not sure that the female form should be deemed more offensive to children than Spiderman's fistfight, naturally offensive minions, or body shaming ads, we are at least a little uncomfortable by the exploitative connotation of this type of hawking. 

Like, we're not wild about the fact that a man paints all these women and takes cuts of their profit. Conjures thoughts of prostitution, no?

Check out Topless & Tattooed, Watch This Adult Film Star Take Over the Streets of Manhattan.