In January a small group of photographers went to shoot photos in downtown Los Angeles and at the US Bank Tower, a building notorious for its aggressive, overzealous security staff. At the time, we were threatened and bullied by six security personnel – and told by Patrick Silver, the supervisor on duty, that we were on a private sidewalk (we weren’t) and he was going to call the police (he was bluffing). It was an unpleasant encounter, not to mention a certain violation of our rights. (See the video here.)
This time though, someone higher up in the food chain had clearly reviewed their policy. During the NPRO Photographers’ Rights Rally today, we stopped at the Bank Tower, and after about 10 minutes of freely shooting, a friendly guard came out to tell us we were allowed to continue but he had to give us the above notecard.
So, it seems, the questions, posts, calls and letters may have indeed been effective in changing the way UPS patrols its buildings. Interesting how that works.
Stay tuned for more videos and updates throughout the week of this year’s NPRO weekend rally.
boywithgrenade.org 
Gotta love photogs: “someone higher in the food change.”
Don’t ever change.
Oops. Duly noted.
Positive, proactive change. Awesome.
That first sentence bugs me a bit though. It might be semantic, but I would have broadened the scope beyond “photographers.”
Something like: “We are aware of and respect citizens’ constitutional rights as photographers and videographers.
What happened to the image of the card? Flickr says it was deleted, and I’m dying to take a look at it…
At the tower two days ago (March 12, 2011) a man in a suit offered me a “photography policy” card, explaining that I was on private property. I looked at his card but refused to take it. He called my description into his walkie-talkie as a “code 5.” Then he followed me across the street, where I turned around and caught this exchange between one of his cohorts and another photographer: http://www.flickr.com/photos/atwatervillage/5524235939/
That’s SOP for Maguire Properties in downtown. These guys think they own the public portion of the sidewalk, which they don’t. And they’ll try to tell that you’re on private property. That stairway on the left side of US Bank Tower, which was a street at one point, is actually public property.
In the past the Maguire Properties guards behaved much worst until we exposed what they were doing to photographers—just search US Bank Tower on this site to see the videos.
Next time you’re there and they approach you, point your camera at the guard and snap away until he leaves you alone or calls for backup rent-a-goons. If more show up, photograph them! You should also document the encounter with video.
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