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Picture New York...without pictures of New York? React now!

Recently proposed regulations seriously threaten the rights of photographers and filmmakers to operate in NYC, and they could go into effect as soon as this August.

Other laws already restrict our rights to parade, dance, meet, bike, shout, and assemble.

Picture New York is a campaign to raise awareness around proposed regulations, get press coverage, and generate grassroots pressure.

A public website has been created: www.picturenewyork.org.

Do something about it!

1) Petition - get lots of signatures, especially of VIPs, organizations, etc. as soon as possible
2) E-action - folks can add their notes and click to automatically send to the Commissioner and Asst. Commissioner of the Mayor's Office of Film, as well as all of the City Council members who sit on the committee that oversees the Office of Film. They have the power to call a City Council public hearing, which would give us more political traction.
3) Take Action page - has more info about getting involved

Come take pictures and express you vision at Union Square.

Picture New York Rally
Friday, July 27, 6:30pm
Union Square, north end
Press Conference and Creative Rally

Help us get the word out!

1) Make a hand-out (1/2 page?) to pass out at the Union Square rally and make available for download. Should have a few sentences on the problem, our website url, and the phone/email for the Office of Film. There's a great graphic you can use here: http://pictureny.pbwiki.com/f/camera-stencil-black.jpg Can anyone take this on? And run off copies for distribution on Friday? Maybe we have a few versions?

2) Circulate the Friday Union Square Rally - to friends, listservs, blogs, myspace or facebook friends

3) Circulate the Call for YouTube Video Comments (email pasted below) - to friends, listservs, newsletters, blogs, myspace or facebook friends. We're encouraging people to create/upload video comments.

4) Call City Council People, Organizations, VIPs, anyone else - get them to sign the petition and submit comments.
5) When it's ready - help get the press release out there far and wide - to online news outlets, blogs, and real-world press you may know

PLEASE CIRCULATE THIS EMAIL:

Subject line: Make a Video Public Comment to Save Street Photography

~~~~~

PICTURE NEW YORK

PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY - please excuse duplicate postings!

Dear Artist:

You can make a movie on a cell phone, but what if you want to use a tripod, or stay in the same spot for more than 30 minutes? New regulations from the Mayor's Office on Film set absurd restrictions that would require you to have a permit, and a million dollar insurance policy. No doubt it would be selectively enforced, AND who needs that kind of law on the books in the first place?

Not you, not us, not anyone that wants to take some pictures at any random time they have a few hours. We bet not even the Mayor's Film Office actually wants to process thousands of requests from shutterbug tourists, wedding photographers, and school groups.

Yes, the rules are written THAT broadly.

That's nuts. The Daily News and The NY Sun have both written editorials
ridiculing the new regulations. You can read the eleven page brick of
regulations here.

We need to fight back. With enough public outcry we can stop these
regulations from becoming law. There’s a recent precedent: a ban on
photography in the subways was successfully fought off in 2004-2005.

The all-too-brief period for public comment ends Aug 3. Please make your
voice heard now:

1) MAKE A VIDEO PUBLIC COMMENT.
Post your work shot in NYC or new work commenting on this issue to YouTube or Flickr.

+ Tag the video (or stills) “"PictureNewYork”" and "“CameraWars”".
+ Send the links to jcho@film.nyc.gov and to us at info@picturenewyork.org

Spoken word artist Juliana Luecking has already posted her response to the proposed rules.

2) Click here to email comments to the Mayor's Film Office and the City
Council committee that oversees them.

But if you use snail mail and write a personal letter, it means even more. Send letters to:

Katherine Oliver, Commissioner
Mayor's Office of Film, Theatre & Broadcasting
1697 Broadway Suite 602, New York, New York 10019
(212) 489-6710

Send us a copy of what you write, to info@picturenewyork.org

3) Click here to sign our petition.

4) Join the film/photo contingent in the festive (un-permitted) Union Square First Amendment Rally, this Friday July 27, at 6:30pm. More info here: www.pictureny.org

Picture New York is an ad hoc group of working artists, photographers and filmmakers joined together to fight these dumb rules.

www.picturenewyork.org

Starts	07/27/2007
Ends	08/06/2007
Issues	Human Rights, Immigration, International, Media, Politics/Government, U.S./Foreign Relations, Censorship, Digital Divide, Digital Media, Fair Representation, Media Literacy, Legal Reform
Homepage	www.picturenewyork.org
Contact	harderhelene@gmail.com