JPG Magazine: Stories: Feature Story: This Land is Our Land?

This Land is Our Land?

By Christine Ruffo

29 June 2008

What are the rights of citizens on public property maintained by private corporations? In recent years, public-private partnerships, funded by both tax dollars and private investment, have become popular means of revitalizing neighborhoods, often with maintenance responsibilities for the completed project being handed over to developers and management companies. But what rules can these companies then enact? Can they limit individual rights as if it is private property?

Photographers are often among the first to notice restrictions on individual rights. Take Silver Spring, Maryland, for example. Montgomery County had entered into a partnership with a developer that brought dozens of new restaurants and retail shops to the neighborhood. In 2007, though, local photographer Chip Py was stunned when security informed him, and management later confirmed, that photography was banned (along with handing out flyers and political campaigning) on Ellsworth Drive, a public street that runs through the middle of the development. Photographers held a "shoot-in" on July 4, and the county quickly amended its contract to clarify that individuals hold the same rights and privileges on Ellsworth Drive as on any other public street in the area.

What about your town? Are plans for public-private partnerships in the works? If so, what authority will private corporations have over the finished project? It's up to us to protect our rights. Follow the planning process and let your elected representatives know that you expect individuals rights to be protected in government contracts.

Have security guards ever stopped you from taking pictures, either indoors or outdoors, on privately-managed, public property? If told photography is banned on public property, contact management directly to confirm whether or not that is indeed their policy. If yes, try to work with the government to ensure that companies cannot ban activity normally allowed on public property. If you learn there actually is no ban, as was recently discovered by photographers who had been stopped by guards at Union Station in Washington, D.C., please notify both management and public officials and request additional employee training to clarify policy.

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