Silver Spring is the latest hotbed of controversy in the line between public and private. The issue started when Chip Py, an area photographer, tried to snap some neat pictures in downtown Silver Spring. He was approached by a security guard – not a police officer – and told that he could not do that.
He asserted his right to take pictures in public and was told that he was not in public, that the sidewalk and land was private property. A management company backed up the security guard. It turns out that the city of Silver Spring is leasing the property, save an easement so that traffic can pass through.
Oh, yeah – you can’t call it downtown Silver Spring anymore. That is no longer a location name or general term for a part of town. It’s a trademark. Technically I’m not supposed to use it. Neither are you.
Is this an issue of photographers’ rights? Yes and no. Photography is the issue at hand and why this has blown up into such a big deal. On the other hand, photography is merely an example of the problem, of how the line between public and private is blurred.
From what I have heard, even townsfolk and people in the local government did not know of the transfer of a public into private space.
Leasing land to a private entity is nothing new. This type of thing happens all the time. In this case, though, the government (read: citizens) paid a substantial bit of money for the co-developing of downtown Silver Spring. Oops, I mean the center part of Silver Spring that used to be known as downtown. It really rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it? Doesn’t that entitle the people to some rights when on the property they paid for? At least on the sidewalks?
So come down to Silver Spring and join the good folks of Free Our Streets. What better day than July Fourth to celebrate our freedoms guaranteed to us in the First Amendment?
Downtown Silver Spring Photo Walk
a declaration of photographic freedom
Wednesday, July 4, 2007, 12:00pm Noon
At the Green Turf, the corner of Ellsworth and Fenton Streets
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