[PRCo] Re: OT: Prohibition of photography from trains and policeaction taken

[Richard Allman]

Mark-not sure what the latest is in Pittsburgh. I was there in August 2007 
and photographed widely on the LRT system and encountered zero problem! 
Maybe saner heads have now prevailed there. We must carry this fight 
forward! RICH
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mark McGuire" <macmarka at netzero.net>
To: <pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>
Sent: Tuesday, November 20, 2007 8:52 PM
Subject: [PRCo] Re: OT: Prohibition of photography from trains and 
policeaction taken


> Applause, applause, Rich!
>
> I first encountered this when photographing the LRVs at South Hills 
> Village with Fred III, Bruce, and Russ Jackson. Was stopped by a transit 
> cop and told the new law of the land that, "you can't take pictures of the 
> trolleys". Of course it didn't help when I stepped over the contruction 
> tape barrier to use the port-o-let and while there taking a photo. But I 
> have a feeling we'd have been stopped anyway. It is absolutely rediculous. 
> Yep, the terrorists have succeeded in transforming our great country into 
> a bunch of political scared rabbits.
>
> And you are not alone, Rich. It pisses me off too.
>
> -- "Richard Allman" <allmanr at verizon.net> wrote:
> this nazi-like prohibition of a lawful activity really pushes all my
> buttons. the harassment of transit's best friends and advocates, for
> specious reasons of "security"-what the morons are saying is that the
> terrorists have won the so-called "War on Terror." Public transit
> facilities, heavilly tax-supported are just that-public. No military 
> risks,
> no security risk, no exposure of nuclear facilities, no exposure of 
> military
> facilities, no divulging of trade secrets, no rationale whatever except 
> the
> brain dead response "because we say so!" We are as a faternity as un-scary 
> a
> group as could ever be encountered. If they want to prohibit entry onto
> non-public space-yards, onto tracks, etc-I think they're within their
> rights. The energies of the transit nazis would be better expended on
> enforcing rules about eating and drinking, disposing of trash, loud radio,
> panhandling playing rather than just proclaiming their fascist existence.
> Hopefully someone will ask ACLU of St. Louis to enter this dispute about
> nonsense. I know that Walter Zullig, whom I don't know personally but 
> whose
> commitment to this cause  I much admire might well have some valuable 
> input
> into this matter. It's really time to fight back before maybe comes the 
> next
> step of this downward spiral of basic rights-confiscation of the 
> collections
> that so many of us have asssembled, or forcing existing photos off the 
> web.
> The stupidity of the transit agencies is monumental-they should have 
> bigger
> things to worry  about. I know one tries to get wins "picking the low
> hanging fruit", but in this matter of harassment, they're scraping 
> garbage!
> Maybe a forced face-to-face with mangement of the agencies where the
> stupidity is so rampant, and en masse "photo-in" like the civil rights
> demonstrations of the 60's, or some other way to make them look like the
> nudnicks they are! Now I feel better!
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Fred Schneider" <fwschneider at comcast.net>
> To: <pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, November 20, 2007 5:57 PM
> Subject: [PRCo] Re: OT: Prohibition of photography from trains and police
> action taken
>
>
>> And have them tax me?
>>
>> On Nov 20, 2007, at 5:43 PM, Herb Brannon wrote:
>>
>>> Exercise that First Amendment right........let it be known what is
>>> really happening.
>>>
>>>
>>> Fred Schneider <fwschneider at comcast.net> wrote:
>>>     2) When I asked for a copy of the law that required me to show
>>> identification in order to buy a ticket, the station agent in
>>> Lancaster called the policeman over who pulled me out of line and
>>> told me that, "there is no law and if you don't like our regulations,
>>> you don't need to buy a ticket. You don't have to use the
>>> train."
>>>
>>>   other currencies coming into this country is probably
>>> offset by U. S. dollars spent at home by people who are fed up with
>>> TSA hassles at airports and have chosen to spend vacations here.
>>> If the motel and restaurant owners were making a huge stink over
>>> these idiots because of lost business, one might suspect it would
>>> stop. On the other hand the President is so determined that he is
>>> correct that it might just not stop.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Herb Brannon
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
>