Brooklyn67
March 15th, 2005, 04:14 PM
MTA Fails to Pass Subway Photo Ban (http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local/transportation/nyc-foto0315,0,7681851.story?coll=nyc-manheadlines-trans)
Joshua Robin - New York Newsday - March 14 2005
Ten months after the MTA first warned photographers to prepare to keep their lenses covered when descending into the subway, the agency board has not passed its controversial ban on unauthorized photography. Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials said the hold-up is the result of an outpouring of criticism about the move, which would offer exemptions to working photojournalists but give police wide latitude in limiting even the most innocent souvenir-taker from clicking away.
"It's in limbo," said Paul Fleuranges, a spokesman for NYC Transit. "In light of the public's comments, it's being reviewed."
Fleuranges anticipated the MTA's full board, which must approve the ban, would not vote before its April meeting. Concerned about terrorism, the MTA first proposed the ban in May 2004 as part of a larger change of transit rules that would also prohibit walking between cars while a train is in motion. MTA officials have defended the photo ban as a way to ward off would-be terrorists from canvasing targets. But the Police Department and Mayor Michael Bloomberg have disputed the need for so broad a ban, and they asked instead for it to be made illegal to photograph sensitive transit equipment. Also lined up against the ban are riders groups and professional photographers, who would have to obtain a permit before taking a picture.
"Subway cars function as people's living room, so you see things that are very private that appear right in front of your eyes," said Camilo José Vergara, whose photographs were published last year in the book "Subway Memories" (Monacelli Press). "If you are a photographer, that's what you do." Vergara and others said that even if the ban were to be approved, it is unlikely that it could be uniformly enforced. "They don't have enough cops," he said.
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Joshua Robin - New York Newsday - March 14 2005
Ten months after the MTA first warned photographers to prepare to keep their lenses covered when descending into the subway, the agency board has not passed its controversial ban on unauthorized photography. Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials said the hold-up is the result of an outpouring of criticism about the move, which would offer exemptions to working photojournalists but give police wide latitude in limiting even the most innocent souvenir-taker from clicking away.
"It's in limbo," said Paul Fleuranges, a spokesman for NYC Transit. "In light of the public's comments, it's being reviewed."
Fleuranges anticipated the MTA's full board, which must approve the ban, would not vote before its April meeting. Concerned about terrorism, the MTA first proposed the ban in May 2004 as part of a larger change of transit rules that would also prohibit walking between cars while a train is in motion. MTA officials have defended the photo ban as a way to ward off would-be terrorists from canvasing targets. But the Police Department and Mayor Michael Bloomberg have disputed the need for so broad a ban, and they asked instead for it to be made illegal to photograph sensitive transit equipment. Also lined up against the ban are riders groups and professional photographers, who would have to obtain a permit before taking a picture.
"Subway cars function as people's living room, so you see things that are very private that appear right in front of your eyes," said Camilo José Vergara, whose photographs were published last year in the book "Subway Memories" (Monacelli Press). "If you are a photographer, that's what you do." Vergara and others said that even if the ban were to be approved, it is unlikely that it could be uniformly enforced. "They don't have enough cops," he said.
--> Take the Newsday Photo Ban Poll (http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local/transportation/nyc-photo-poll0315,0,3048362.poll?coll=nyc-manheadlines-trans)
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