New York's mayor isn't happy about all the topless women in Times Square

Even if you've never set foot in Manhattan, there's a good chance you know about the "naked cowboy" who plays the guitar in his underwear in Times Square, and the people dressed up like Elmo and superheroes and Disney characters aggressively demanding money after posing for pictures with little kids. The "desnudas" are a combination of those buskers and hustlers: women who are topless except for body paint, hitting up tourists for photos then cash.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio says he would like them all to go away, but on Tuesday he focused on the desnudas.

The tactics the topless women use to solicit men for cash are "wrong," de Blasio said at a news conference. "We are going to look for every appropriate way to regulate all activity that involves either begging, or asking people for a contribution based on, you know, the opportunity to take a picture, for example."

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There are a few problems with his proposed "aggressive" regulation of the desnudas. First, freedom of artistic expression is protected under the U.S. Constitution. Second, The New York Times says, toplessness is legal in New York. Aggressive panhandling isn't, however, and that's how de Blasio and the City Council plan to handle the scourge of characters snookering tourists in Times Square.

"Let's face it," de Blasio said Tuesday. "The women in Times Square, or the furry creatures in Times Square, are engaged in a business. We believe that that opens the door for us to enforce the way we would any other business. And we will do so, while still respecting constitutional rights." And if that doesn't pan out, he can always wait until New York's brutally cold winter rids Times Square of the topless women for him.