Times Square's Costumed Character Crackdown Worries Some Vendors

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — New rules that further limit the activities of street vendors and costumed characters in Times Square are set to take effect within days — a move being cheered by a local business group, but which some workers fear will deprive them of their livelihoods.

The rules, made possible by a City Council bill passed in August, are intended to build on the 2016 policy that restricted the vendors to a few "designated activity zones" on Times Square's pedestrian plazas, while adding new "pedestrian flow zones" demarcated by white stripes, intended for brisk walking.

Now, starting in mid-December, the city will add new flow zones on Seventh Avenue between 41st and 47th streets; 42nd Street between Broadway and Eighth Avenue; and two sections of Broadway at 41st-42nd and 47th-50th streets.

Vendors, meanwhile, will be limited to three new zones along Broadway between 47th and 50th streets, plus another between 41st and 42nd.

Dubbed the "Theatre District Zone," it came at the urging of the Times Square Alliance, a business-oriented group that has raised alarms about costumed characters touching visitors without their consent — evidenced by a study that found nearly half of New Yorkers have had an "unpleasant interaction" with one of the colorful performers.

"They want to get rid of us"

But costumed characters are not the only ones being corralled into the new zones. Also included are the CD sellers known for stuffing unwanted discs into the hands of passersby, and the comedy club vendors who hawk tickets to tourists.

One such vendor told Patch that the activity zones will group comedy workers unfairly with the costumed characters and CD sellers. Unlike those groups, the comedy vendors do not hand objects to anyone forcefully, he said. (Though some have been known to lie about their comedy clubs' lineups.)

"They’re trying to put us in a box with people that we're trying to avoid ourselves," said the vendor, who asked to be identified by a nickname, TJ.

The roughly two dozen comedy vendors who work in Times Square earn all of their money on commissions from ticket sales. Since the activity zones were first implemented in 2016, enforcement has been lax, depending largely on which police officer was stationed there on a given day — but that seems likely to change later this month.

TJ predicted that the new rules will wipe out their livelihoods, once he and his colleagues get crowded in with rival workers.

"It’s going to be nearly impossible to sell a ticket when I’m in a box with people selling CDs, costume characters and bus tickets," he said. "It seems like they want to get rid of us."

The new law tightening vendor zones passed the City Council overwhelmingly, described by backers as a tool for hastening Times Square's pandemic recovery.

"With this legislation, we are making one of the city's biggest tourist attractions more attractive – and comfortable," the bill's sponsor, Keith Powers, said at the time.

Related coverage:

• New Law Would Restrict Space For Times Square Vendors, Mascots
• Touching By Costumed Characters Rampant In Times Square: Report
• Plan To 'Flood' Times Square With Cops Scrutinized After Shooting