sailingaway
04-09-2013, 06:24 PM
seems to me they could crack down on people shoving kids or punching or groping people, without going after 'costume characters'. I wonder what the ratio of gropers and punchers are who are not in costume to those who are in costume in NY?
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2013/04/09/city-councilman-proposes-crackdown-on-costumed-characters/
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — New York City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. (D-22nd) introduced legislation Tuesday that would either ban or introduce tight regulations on costumed characters in New York City.
The proposal comes in the wake of several incidents involving the costumed characters in Times Square. Most recently, a man dressed as Cookie Monster from “Sesame Street” was arrested this past Sunday after allegedly shoving a 2 1/2-year-old boy.
Vallone told CBSNewYork.com that he had introduced two separate bills to combat the problems with costumed characters.
One bill would require registration, as well as a permission slip proving that the character involved has been licensed, for anyone appearing as a costumed character. The other bill would go farther to ban costumed characters outright.
“Clearly, the situation can’t continue to exist the way it does, and the laws we already have don’t deal with the situation,” Vallone said.
The most recent alleged shoving incident with the man in the Cookie Monster costume – Osvaldo Quiroz-Lopez, 33, of Queens – is just the tip of the iceberg, he said.
“We’ve had an anti-Semitic Elmo. We’ve had a groping Elmo. And now we have a shoving monster,” Vallone said. “And I might be old, but I don’t remember ‘Sesame Street’ being R-rated.”
In other well-publicized incidents in Times Square, Damon Torres, 32, was charged in December with groping a woman while dressed as Mario of video game fame; while Philip Williams, 35, was accused of punching a woman in the face while in a Spider-Man costume after the woman said she didn’t have any money to pay for a photo with her children.
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2013/04/09/city-councilman-proposes-crackdown-on-costumed-characters/
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — New York City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. (D-22nd) introduced legislation Tuesday that would either ban or introduce tight regulations on costumed characters in New York City.
The proposal comes in the wake of several incidents involving the costumed characters in Times Square. Most recently, a man dressed as Cookie Monster from “Sesame Street” was arrested this past Sunday after allegedly shoving a 2 1/2-year-old boy.
Vallone told CBSNewYork.com that he had introduced two separate bills to combat the problems with costumed characters.
One bill would require registration, as well as a permission slip proving that the character involved has been licensed, for anyone appearing as a costumed character. The other bill would go farther to ban costumed characters outright.
“Clearly, the situation can’t continue to exist the way it does, and the laws we already have don’t deal with the situation,” Vallone said.
The most recent alleged shoving incident with the man in the Cookie Monster costume – Osvaldo Quiroz-Lopez, 33, of Queens – is just the tip of the iceberg, he said.
“We’ve had an anti-Semitic Elmo. We’ve had a groping Elmo. And now we have a shoving monster,” Vallone said. “And I might be old, but I don’t remember ‘Sesame Street’ being R-rated.”
In other well-publicized incidents in Times Square, Damon Torres, 32, was charged in December with groping a woman while dressed as Mario of video game fame; while Philip Williams, 35, was accused of punching a woman in the face while in a Spider-Man costume after the woman said she didn’t have any money to pay for a photo with her children.