My Response to Peterson’s Policy Change

By Chip Py on June 29th, 2007

I am a photographer. On September June 12 of this year, two representatives from the Peterson Companies, managers of the trademarked Downtown Silver Spring, asked me not to take pictures on Ellsworth Drive. At that time, the representatives misrepresented the facts regarding ownership of Ellsworth Drive, and made deliberately misleading statements over the questions that I raised regarding my First Amendment rights in a seemingly public place.

Immediately following this incident, I wrote a letter to the County Executive and to each of the members of the county council. I posted this letter on the popular photography site, Flickr.

My letter raised the question as to where the public’s civil rights end and the corporation’s privacy rights begin when there is a publicly funded/privately partnered development, in which public monies and land are developed, and then turned over to private corporations. These rights, I reasoned, not only included photography, but on a much more important note, the freedom to petition, campaign, assemble and protest, rights guaranteed by our Constitution. I asked the County Executive and members of the county council to begin a dialog about this important issue with the Peterson Companies.

In the last few weeks my letter, picked up off the Flickr site, has enjoyed wide circulation on the internet. Additionally, every major newspaper in this area reported on the issue and the questions I raised. My story was carried on national TV and syndicated public radio. Washington Post columnist Marc Fisher took a stance in his column last Thursday, which continued in his on-line chat room that afternoon. Local Listservs in the area are abuzz. Members of several prominent Blogs and newly formed photo rights groups in the area came together to organize a photo outing and protest in downtown Silver Spring this coming Independence Day to highlight the true issue here.

While council member Marc Erlich has spoken about this in the press, and I have heard from staff members and insiders that this has been hot topic in the county offices in Rockville the last two weeks, many council members and the county executive have yet to weigh in on the issue.

I am growing concerned that our elected representatives have not yet taken a decisive stance over the growing concern that in downtown Silver Spring, our civil rights may be in jeopardy.

This morning the Peterson Companies, managers and developers of the trademarked “Downtown Silver Spring,” issued a statement. They will allow photography and video taping on Ellsworth Avenue. They make provision, however, that the arrangement can be rescinded. The new policy makes no statement regarding the important issues that I have raised.

In my opinion, the Peterson Companies is missing the point. Not one of the media outlets covered this story out of a concern for the photo enthusiast. This issue has exploded in the minds and the hearts of the people hearing my story, because they fear that civil liberties are being trammeled in public/private partnerships.

With many more of these public/private partnerships now under consideration not only here in Montgomery County but also in nearby College Park and around the country these are questions that deserve to be addressed by not only by our citizens but by our public officials too.

Please join us at noon on the fourth of July. We will gather at the green turf to let our county officials know that the people of Silver Spring will not have their rights under minded and restricted in our town.

Posted in Why I Participate |