It’s not art, but just a big hustle

SOME PEOPLE claim that the painted naked ladies in Times Square are just engaging in artistic expression. They are wrong. This is both a business and an aggressive shakedown.

It’s the same claim people have made for over five years now about the creepy costume characters who routinely grope women; aggressive CD hawkers who surround and intimidate naive teenagers, and fake Buddhist monks who have been documented as sophisticated con artists.

It goes without saying that we have no issue with artistic expression. What we — and our patrons, who bring billions of dollars and thousands of jobs to the fastest-growing part of New York City’s economy since the 2008 recession — have an issue with is the aggressive and unrelenting hustle, with thousands of victims a week.

It’s also about letting people choose what they see and engage with. Times Square is now a place where families bring their children, and when families and children have no choice about being approached by an aggressive, naked lady demanding money for a photo, that’s just not right.

All of these people say they are “just trying to earn a living” — so were the three-card monte players 20 years ago. So regulate the honest player just like any other enterprise, and put the hustlers and con artists out of business. Or do what they do in San Francisco and Santa Monica, Ocean City and Las Vegas — designate certain areas for these activities so the public can choose whether they want to be approached, instead of the other way around.

Just don’t say that nothing can be done. We heard it before when Times Square and New York City were spiraling out of control, and we didn’t believe it then, either.

Bailey is executive director of the Theatre Development Fund, the not-for-profit that operates TKTS. St. Martin is president of the Broadway League.