The Silver Spring Penguin

The second hit in The Penguin’s year-end dance remix started with one beep of a digital camera. What resulted was a march down Ellsworth Drive, and a closer look at how the county handles its business.

In June, a private-security guard asked local shutterbug Chip Py to quit snapping pics along Ellsworth Drive in downtown Silver Spring. Py complied with the request. End of story, right?

Not.

It soon came out that the Downtown Silver Spring shopping area was anything but a public space. While the county invested millions to revitalize the once dilapidated strip, a private company ran the show. And the way they saw it, activity along Ellsworth Drive could be monitored and restrained (if necessary) at the discretion of management.

But some local residents disagreed. How could the focal point of Silver Spring’s economic rebirth be run like an indoor shopping mall, they questioned. The blogosphere buzzed with First Amendment gurus, and on the Fourth of July, about 100 photogs marched in protest down Ellsworth Drive.

Silver Spring’s citizens advisory board took up the fight, arguing that the issue could extend beyond the public’s ability to take photos. Board member Mark Woodard said during one election year, security guards on Ellsworth Drive asked him to stop distributing campaign fliers. The incident, he said, was “an unconscionable violation of my civil rights.”

In late July, MoCo exec Ike Leggett jumped into the fray and declared open season on Ellsworth Drive. “What they’re doing is contrary to the First Amendment,” Leggett said at a town-hall meeting in Woodside. “It [photography restrictions] will no longer stand, and we intend to not abide by them.”

However, the shopping area’s management company maintained that no photography ban had ever been instituted. I.J. Hudson, former TV news reporter and a spokesperson for the management company, said patrons were asked only to practice “respectful photography” that considers others’ privacy and doesn’t block walkways.

Hudson also said the company would revise its policies. Whether those revisions have happened has not been made public.

While the dust settled on Ellsworth Drive, planning board commissioners indicated they would sweat the details on Silver Place, a public-private development near Woodside Park. Royce Hanson, top commish on the county’s planning board, said he wanted First Amendment policies clearly outlined in leases for the future mixed-use development.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user KCIvey.