The Streets of Silver Spring Are Liberated (for Now)!

Residents of a Maryland town fight back against a shocking infringement of their right to shoot photos.

I recently posted about how the Montgomery County Council, at the behest of a retail development company, had banned photography on certain public streets in Silver Spring, Maryland. Seems that the company felt that unauthorized photos might be used to embarrass the company or the stores it leases to. The good news from that town is that more than 100 citizens convened in downtown Silver Spring on the Fourth of July – with cameras! – to protest the ban and defend their First Amendment rights. (My previous post here, and the latest story here.)

According to Bill Adler of NowMedia website:

The demonstration was organized by Chip Py, Kate Mereand, Wayan Vota, Washington, DC area photographers, bloggers and the newly formed group Free Our Streets. People from as far away as New York participated.
To help diffuse the situation, a few days before the July 4th march, the Peterson Company said that it would allow people to take photos in Downtown Silver Spring, but that it could remove this privilege at its discretion.
The Montgomery County Council passed a resolution in which they “abandoned” Ellsworth Drive. Can a county or city government give away people’s First Amendment, and other rights, by ceding public property to a private company? Today’s demonstration was about that question, and about educating people about their Constitutional rights.

Bravo to the bloggers, photographers and citizens rallying to reclaim the streets and their constitutional rights! Who would have thought that an enclosure of the commons could reach this far?