Dunl shares this unfortunate tale of rules run amok.
Waiting for the southbound Red Line "L" last night at Grand just after 7 PM, with a few other people on the platform. One is a loud-talking guy who's part of a small group.
A few minutes into his loud-talking, he takes out a little point-and-shoot camera and snaps a few pictures of his friends.
"Who's taking pictures!?" the Star Security woman from the south end of the platform, hopping off the milk crate she's been sitting on and ambling northward. Another flash. "You can't take pictures! No pictures! There's no pictures allowed!" Star Security shouts.
"I-I didn't know," mumbles previously loud-talking guy, putting his camera away.
"I'm TELLING you NOW! No pictures!" Star Security retorts rudely. She strides past the "offender," making her presence clear, "checks out" the more northerly end of the platform and heads back toward her milk crate.
Two years ago, Ben Joravsky had a piece in the <i>Reader</i> about John Mattison, who, taking pictures on a CTA platform, had been told it was illegal to take pictures on CTA property. The article quoted CTA spokeswoman Noelle Gaffney as confirming that taking pictures is not against the law, except for rules governing things like impeding the flow of traffic, commercial photography and filmmaking.
So was this Star Security guard just taking it upon herself to oppose photography, or are security guards being instructed to stop people from taking pictures? Is it the CTA giving this instruction, or the security company -- in contradiction of public statements from the CTA?
It's not just that the security guard was making a big deal over something about which she was wrong (I believe, still), but she was also incredibly rude, loud, and generally unpleasant about it.
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