If the city’s proposed new film and photography permit rules are enacted, any group of two or more people that linger with a camera could be arrested for photographing without a permit. These new additions to the rules, which have nothing to do with security concerns, are unacceptable as written, probably unnecessary, and need to be sent back to the drawing board.
The un-American rules from the Mayor’s Office of Film Theatre & Broadcasting come out of a settlement of a lawsuit by the New York Civil Liberties Union, which is one of the few groups aware of the change and is of course opposing them. The city held a public hearing on the rules last week and in a sure sign that the public notice was woefully inadequate, no one showed up, The New York Times reported.
The rules would require a permit and in most circumstances, at least $1 million in insurance if two people, e.g., a photographer and a human subject, stayed in one place for 30 minutes. A family or group of five with one camera and no permit would have 10 minutes before they would have to worry about Big Brother.
One reason New York is one of the world’s greatest cities is the large number of artists who flock here. Any rule that prohibits art and aspiring fashion photographers — not to mention hobbyists and tourists — from capturing their vision of our unique streets, poses a threat to our freedom and to the city itself.
This paper has an obvious self-interest in opposing the rule change. The mayor’s film office claims on its Web site that “the new rule does not impact press photographers, who are routinely credentialed by the NYPD,” but many of the thousands of independent news photographers in the city including our own freelancers will tell you the granting of these credentials is anything but routine. Some of our photographers who search Lower Manhattan for street scene shots that often appear on this page cannot get police passes. These new rules would make them lawbreakers. It’s easy to understand why we’re against this, but it’s hard to imagine how anyone who values freedom, art or the Constitution could be for it.
Gay marriage bill
When he ran for governor, Eliot Spitzer pledged to enact marriage equality legislation. On Tues., June 19, 85 members of the Assembly stood up in acknowledgment of the dignity and equality of same-sex marriage and passed Spitzer’s bill overwhelmingly.
It was a difficult issue for Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver of Lower Manhattan, an Orthodox Jew, who allowed the bill to reach the floor, and then voted for it, without giving a reason. Other Assembly supporters countered the religious opposition by saying their God taught them to love and support their brothers and sisters.
Daniel O’Donnell, the bill’s co-sponsor, told his colleagues “I could not have survived my late teens and my 20s if I did not have John Banta in my life.” It was momentous to witness a gay man on the floor of a state legislative chamber speaking in such passionate terms about the love he feels for and from his longstanding partner.
The bill now moves to the State Senate, and Majority Leader Joe Bruno must be pressured so he allows it to come to the floor.
