By Hadassa Kalatizadeh
Times Square has long been the holiday spot for costumed characters who befriend tourists, pose with them for pictures, and then ask them for tips. Complaints from visitors, pedestrians and shop owners about the sometimes aggressive behavior of the costumed performers led the city to pass a law in 2016 confining the Times Square characters to 8-by-50 foot “activity zones” where they might get in the way of fewer visitors.
The Times Square problem has not exactly been solved, however, it has just moved to the area of Rockefeller Center. As reported by VIN News, this holiday season some of the costumed superheros, Muppets and Disney characters have headed to the equally crowded streets around Rockefeller Center and its legendary Christmas tree.
An all too common scene on a recent weekend included a father taking a picture of his two daughters standing with Minnie and Mickey Mouse characters on Fifth Avenue. He followed up by paying the characters a few dollars, prompting ‘Mickey Mouse’ to complain that it wasn’t enough for both characters to share. Ed Saverino, of New Jersey, pushed his way passed the characters in Rockefeller Center. “I’m from around here,” Saverino said. “So I know the deal. These guys are predatory. If you wanna take pictures with people, then let them come to you. Don’t go running up to people and touching them.”
In an embarrassing episode in September, at Times Square an ‘Elmo’ was arrested for grabbing a 14-year old girl’s buttocks as she posed with him for a picture. Mayor Bill De Blasio had vowed to mandate stricter enforcement to make sure this type of harassment would not recur. He did not, however, specify a plan.
Most of the characters are much less of a hazard, and many visitors describe them as harmless and fun. “I work down here, right by Rockefeller Center, and I think they should be allowed to take pictures wherever they want,” said Jen Radin. “Maybe not during the week because it forms crowds, and it’s already hard enough to walk around here. But on the weekends, I don’t see a problem.” “It’s nice,” she continued. “Plus the ones down here have nothing on the ones in Times Square. They’re ruthless over there. Here, they’re much more polite and respectful.”
“I know the kids love it,” said another parent, Starr Grill, who was a tourist from Maryland. “It’s all a part of that New York charm. It’s what you come here for, really. Because it’s true that no other city compares.”
Rockefeller Center is a privately owned space, unlike Times Square, so owners in Rock Center do have the right to regulate which vendors and performers can come and solicit money in the area of the office buildings, retail space, arcades and outdoor public plazas.
Lately police have been eyeing the area recently after the Post reported that the characters had migrated there. NYPD has been issuing summonses to characters whom they felt got in the way of pedestrians on the already crowded sidewalk. Valerie Khezri, another visitor to the Rockefeller Center tree, said she was glad the police was taking action. “I was in Times Square, and an Avatar totally shook me down,” she said. “They’re standing in front of you with their hands out and don’t stop until you give them what they deem is enough money. Total thieves!”
