De Blasio defends Times Square task force despite questions on pedestrian plazas

At least one local leader doesn’t want to throw out the baby with the bathwater when it comes to the Times Square buskers.

Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer came out against the idea being considered by the de Blasio administration to revert the Times Square pedestrian plaza into a roadway.

“Putting back the honking, angry, fumyBroadway parking lot at the so-called center of the world would be no accomplishment,” Brewer said in a statement.

Brewer also suggested “those who are trumpeting a ‘task force’ should at least get briefed on the scores of meetings and proposals that have already been considered.”

However, Mayor Bill de Blasio defended the multiagency group he announced last week, telling reporters it will come at “no appreciable amount of money.”

“There’s been some portrayal of this as a fait accompli. I didn’t say that, nor did anybody else,” he saidat an unrelated press conference Monday.

“This task force is about Times Square in general,” the mayor also told reporters, referencing issues with costumed characters, topless ladies and congestion dynamics.

All of this comes after heightened pressure on the administration to deal with the body-painted street performing women trading photos with them for tips.

Last week, NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton said in a radio interview about Times Square plaza that he would rather “dig the whole damn thing up and put it back the way it was.”

The Bloomberg administration debuted the plaza up to pedestrian traffic in 2009.

While the number of pedestrian and traffic accidents dropped to record lows since its opening, the increasing number of buskers — whether in costume or bare-chested — have forced the city to evaluate how it deals with the performers.