More terrifying than sharks: Times Square Elmos aim for Coney Island

There’s a new Biblical plague in town. It comes in all shapes and sizes, but it’s making a torrential descent onto the Coney Island boardwalk. According to Brooklyn Paper, a number of Times Square mascots seem to have relocated to the People’s Playground, after abdicating their midtown Manhattan posts due to recent police crackdowns on costumed solicitation.

Brooklyn Paper attributes the furry-breasted exodus not only to the police crackdowns, but also to growing prominent signage around Times Square, alerting tourists to the fact that panhandling is illegal. Costumed workers sought out a “less-savvy” clientele to prey upon, and lo! The creatures chose Coney Island. Horrified reactions are quoted in the New York Post and the Paper, as local residents on the boardwalk decried the mascots’ sudden arrival: “I don’t come to the Boardwalk to hang out with inaccurate versions of characters,” one said. And here we always thought the problem was pervs.

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