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A Heavy Hand in New York
By David R. Zukerman, NYC and Winsted
 | | Photographer Steve Dietz looks on as a police officer exposes his roll of film. |
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This is to thank Ray Pavlak for his kind words [Thanks to Our New York Connection, October 26] on my submissions on the situation in lower Manhattan after the September 11 successful attack on the World Trade Center. I must also, however, express regret that photographers in the vicinity of this aggression are still at risk, from our authorities.
At about 11:25 a.m. on Sunday, November 4, I saw a New York City police officer stomping on a roll of film. The policeman then picked up the roll, pulled the film out to expose it, and returned it to the photographer—who had press credentials from Pennsylvania and had no idea that photos were prohibited at West Broadway and Park Place, where this incident occurred. Steve Dietz. lost the exposures he had taken the night before at the Photoplus Expo at the Javits Center, as well as those he took on November 4.
And as of November 4, the situation is hazardous for citizens who want to place tributes to the lost of September 11 in Union Square Park. I have seen tributes at other locations, in Manhattan and elsewhere. But fines—even arrests—face those who would pay tribute in this city park.
I am quite experienced in the effects of government by the heavy hand of Mayor Giuliani. It cannot be said that the mainstream media has been rallying around the spirit of the First Amendment to call this heavy hand to the attention of the citizenry. There is today more First Amendment spirit in The Voice than in all the New York City media, broadcast and print, combined.
 | | A fastidiously clean Union Square Park, as seen on October 15. |
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 | | City authorities don’t seem to have a problem with businesses placing ads on the screens that have been erected to cordon off the remains of the World Trade Center. This photo was taken on Park Place on November 4. |
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