Photogrpahy should not be banned in PUBLIC AREAS of the System like on trains or on platforms, where people wait for trains. In an emergency or any reason, a person should be able to go to another subway car if possible.
I strongly object to the proposed ban on photography in the New York City subway system. This will NOT enhance passenger security or safety. It will do nothing to keep a determined person from using such devices as cell phones, Palm Pilots, and the like from taking pictures. Instead, it will insidiously extend a culture of fear into our transit system. It will prevent passengers and visitors from taking with them a little of the romance of New York City. I have been taking spur-of-the-moment pictures in the subway system for the ten years that I have lived here, and they have been important in showing my friends elsewhere in the US and the world what makes NYC such a great city. Diverting police resources to enforcing a no-photography rule will only keep them from work that truly keeps us safe, and will make the atmosphere more hostile for everyone down below. Please do not play into the culture of fear that the Bush administration wants to impose on us.
I have been a "subway buff" since the days of the IND extension from Church Avenue to the Culver Line. I have model subway cars, and have been constructing, and reconstructing, an el structure in my basement. I have taken trips on the nostalgia trains. I have all the books. Now you're telling me I can't take pictures. I am truly offended.
What a waste of time this "ban" would be. All you need is a subway map to see what the system is like. Tourists have the right to take pictures as much as the "media." There's not any extra "security" by doing this and it's unenforceable, irrelevant. This is not Russia or China where rights are withdrawn for fear or for whatever idiotic reason. This is America and this is unconstitutional.
I oppose this ban, I do not see any security reason for banning photos in the subway or bus. I think it's really coming from MTA's fear of public access to proof that MTA is doing a poor job maintaining the system. Such bans should not be allowed.
Taking pictures on the subway should not be banned. I have gathered so many happy photographic memories on the subway and it would be a crying shame to rob of of that part of the city. How will this be regulated? Do we arrest all of the tourists who stap a photo while in transit? Would that not effect tourist dollars which the city so badly want and, by the way, needs?
On the face of it, the MTA proposed ban, along with the agencies increased reliance on video surveillance, is a recipe for even Bigger Brother. If there is to be any democratic element left in the process, all citizens should be able to monitor the monitors as well. . .and that includes the free use of individual cameras. Granted, "transit fan photography" is not intended for such directly political use, but it has the potential to serve such a purpose. . .which is why I think the MTA really wants it eliminated.
An outright ban on photography in the subway is both counter-productive and unenforceable. A more sensible proposal would be to ban flash photography when it would cause a potential danger to safe operation, such as a head on flash picture of an oncoming train as ti might temporairly impair the operator's vision.
MTA,
I light of the constant terrorists threats we must now live with, it is imperative that a ban on video, film and photos not be passed! It is a vital weapon for your transit riders to record suspicious people, events or activity with cameras, phone cameras, etc.
Sometimes I wonder whether the bureaucrats who run the NYC transit system sit up nights thinking of more and more ways to harass those who use the system. Now we have one more: the banning of photography! Where does it end? What's next - everybody has to wear a blindfold whenever they ride a train or bus? Keep one thing in mind, bureaucrats: the transit system is PUBLIC property, paid for thru OUR taxes, OUR fares and OUR loans to you by way of bonds. The least we should be able to do is take a picture of our own proprty! One other thing, bureaucrats, you have plastered posters all over the system with the slogan "If You See Something, Say Something". this is all well and good, but wouldn't it be even better if you could take a picture of it!?
First cigarettes in a place where cigarettes were made to smoked. Now pictures in the form of motion and stills are being banned for fears of terrorism? Where there is a will, there is a way. Where there is lax enforcement, there will be lapses in judgement. And in the end, you're never going to prevent anyone from snapping a photo or two when waiting for the 3 train.
In fact, you've just encouraged thousands of riders to purposely take photographs by this rediculous, poorly thought out, senseless plan to ban it.
You should consider banning bums from smelling up the train. Or better yet - throw the panhandlers off the train. Or even better: Get the students who act rowdy in both the morning and afternoon who hang out predominantly in the last 3 cars of every subway line leading to a station to respect thier fellow riders, instead of yelling, throwing garbage on the floor, holding doors open at every stop when trying to jump cars, and breaking into the conductors booth and making announcements over the P.A. system.
But I'm sure the most important thing is whether or not I have the ability to snap a photo of a friend on a nasty smelling F train in Manhattan.
I do not see the point of banning photography in the subway. It in no way makes the subway safer. If you ban photography in the subway you may as well ban it on city streets when any bus goes by.
It is in fact safer in the subways with cameras. People with cameras are more likeley to be paying attention as to what is happening around them.
Do n ot ban photography in the subway. By taking away more and more of our rights we only give to the terrorists. Do not forget...The Taliban banned photography too.
I think that there are greater and more immmediate threats to public transportation than photographers. Chief among those is competition from other forms of transport and their advocates, who don't prohibit photography of their favorites.
Hey Catherine Chiappardi you sound like a spoiled brat!Stop complaining and go out and get a job.I'm 82 years old and fought in two wars,our country is at a time when it needs support from its people not a bunch of cry-baby liberals that just want to critisize our government,your young,dont be influenced by these morons that say their freedom is being taken away from them,always remember that freedom is sometime a little uncomfortable,so you can still become a photographer,the opportunities will be what "you"make of them,not what other people complain about.
I'm agreeing with what the petition stands for but im seeing a lot of fanatical messages about your freedom,just remember without some of these restrictions you wouldnt have any freedom!JustBomb Crators and dead people,remember the people that started this war are not giving up,so were always going to have to be one step ahead of them for our own good,im a avid r.r. fan,modeler and everything else,but i also understand some of the inconveniences are for my safety.
How are we supposed to help the economy if we can't have photographers? That's just more unemployed people to add to the ever growing list. Some peoples lives depend on the money they make from their photos which just might include a bridge, the subway or a railroad. I'm only 17 but I'd like to pursue photography as my career, but if I'm going to be limited in what I can take pics of, what's the point? What's the point of art if you can't express yourself? It will not be easy to stop, but Bloomberg sure as hell will try to stop us. After all he does show an uncanny resemblence to the Grinch. What's next, stealing our cameras like the Grinch stealing Christmas? We will show our passion just like the Who's and Cindy Lou in Whoville and maybe the Government will have a heart and realize that more is going on in this world than some few camera geeks just trying to get and artistic shot to hang in their home or sell for a few bucks. If I can stand in the middle of a busy street just to get the piture I want, some cop telling me I can't take a picture of the Railroad isn't going to mean anything to me, and I'm just going to continue clicking as they pull me away in handcuffs............
This ban is a total kneejerk reaction to a problem that only exists in the mind of some beurocrat who has delusions of grandeur that he can save the world. It is wrong and will cause more damage than it will save lives.
Art is essential. Imagine life without it. No music, no novels, no movies, no dance, no theater. Imagine it. How would we bear the unbearable if not for art? What would be life's meaning if we stripped human experience of art? The right to create art, is not merely an idivdual freedom, it is a vital act of service to a (too often unappreciative) culture attempting to express and understand itself and the larger world.
Ben Franklin said it best, “He who gives up essential liberty for a little temporary security deserves neither...”
The passage of this ludicrous ban targets not terrorists but average citizens who are trying to cherish this wonderful, vibrant, unique city that they live in. Stop overburdening the police force and allow them to focus on what really counts: security!
security?
i got mobbed on the MANHATTAN BRIDGE last summer in a bright mid-week afternoon,keep wondering how possibly this could happen in a high threat of terrorist attack.
I think this is a terrible overreaction and object to this new "law". I do not photograph people, but i do photograph details in extreme closeup; my work can seen at www.cato-photo.net
TY
I enjoy taking photos in the subways and of the trains. My brother's autistic he loves nyc trains and enjoy pictures. This ban is wrong in so many ways, especially it will send the message that the terrorists have won. How many ways are you going to make NYC a victim of terror! Honestly, it's making a punk out of the people of NYC to even concider such a ban.
The proposed ban will not result in increased security, merely more of a burden for the city. As a lifelong resident of New York, a photographer, and a citizen just as concerned as anyone else about security, I completely oppose this moronic proposal.
