You are all wrong. That is Jamaica Bay overlooking JFK and the 'A' train bridge going to Broad Channel. Although I must admit I am not exactly sure what is wrong with that picture.
Half-assed. That's it. Remember when any sign the City put up read like the Words of Authority? Now, who cares? Whoever put the sign up probably noticed it and just shrugged. Good enough. Doesn't have to be right. No pride.
Hey Ken, here's my "take" why you almost got arrested.
You see, Ft. Totten is a military base and a training facility for the Fire Department...Last year, when the area became a park, my lady friend and I wanted to walk through the main gate for a pleasant, innocent stroll in the park...I had a sophisticated Nikon camera dangling around my neck and the guard at the gate gave me a big hassle about taking pictures...I told him the place had become a public park but this news hadn't filtered on down to him yet or it did and he just was "P-O'd" seeing civilians not checking in at his outpost...The military and the Fire Department, in my humble estimation, are not too happy about seeing their little geographical spheres opened up to the general public.
The parking lot is outside of the base, though. In fact, the park is outside of the base now, too. You have to go through a separate gate on the right side as you enter the main gate to get into the base, and of course, you need ID. What sucks is that there is a pond on that property that is off-limits to the public.
my experience was similar to yours. The guards at the gate told me I wasn't allowed to take photos anywhere within the grounds of the fort. "I couldn't take photos of the bridge across the bay either," they warned. Pretending to make a mental note of this I walked out onto the jetty with the intention of doing so anyway, but was called up short when a park ranger pulled up in a pickup truck. I think the guards at the gate summoned him, though I don't know this for sure.
ps a shame about the pond. You can catch a good aerial view of it from in back of the Bayside Historical Society building, on top of the hill, which is open to the public.
And of course, you can see the whole shebang in exquisite detail on Google Earth.
If the guard sees you walking with a really professional-looking camera, they get all bent out of shape. So you hide it in a pocketbook or a knapsack and they don't say a word. Or you carry a point and shoot. Same dif - go figure.
Anyone up to no good is not going to broadcast blatantly his carrying sophisticated equipment.
what is interesting is back when the base was truely military (late 70s, early 80s), I carryed a camera on the base with no problems. Of course, of limits areas were off limits, etc
I'd bet the problem is FDNY/EMS more than the 77th ARCOM
I walked into Fort Totten one night to attend a BHS event and couldn't even find a guard at the gatehouse to direct me there.
I had to hunt around. In the meantime I could have gotten off about 50 photos..... planted a couple of explosive devices.... raped a few women....yadda, yadda.
It's a ridiculous sign. Not many birds gather near Fort Totten. Not many people go there to feed birds. Must have been an extra sign laying around the D.O.T. shop, and someone said "Stick it in the ground near Fort Totten." The body of water is not a lake. It is LITTLE BAY located on the East River, near the Throggs-Neck Bridge. Thank you,
a lot of bridges throughout the country are in bad shape and are probably more in danger of collapsing from neglect than from attacks by potential terrorists armed with 6.1 megapixel pocket cameras.
Ditto....."Ken"..... with our rotting infrastructure and the further strain put upon it by rampant over development..... we don't need terrorists to bring us to our knees !
Our bridges, tunnels, power grid, sewer lines etc. will self destruct !
Since it's a holiday, let's have some fun. 
21 comments:
That's not a LAKE
as proclaimed in the " no feeding"sign ....
you NYC Parks Dept. idiots !
It's a BAY.....
viewed from the south of the Throggs Neck Bridge !
a bay connected to the Atlantic Ocean which could be "overloaded with nutrients" from people tossing bread crumbs into it, as the Parks Dept warns!
What's Waterfowl?
You are all wrong. That is Jamaica Bay overlooking JFK and the 'A' train bridge going to Broad Channel.
Although I must admit I am not exactly sure what is wrong with that picture.
No, Verdi is 100% correct. The photo was taken from the Fort Totten parking lot.
"It's only a paper moon,
Sailing over a cardboard sea.
It's loaded with goose manure
Just made for you and me."
And people at work wonder why I laugh out loud sometimes...
when I tried taking a similar photo of the Throgs Neck Bridge, last summer, I nearly got arrested.
Are you Muslim looking Ken....
or are they profiling anyone these days?
well I do have a mustache, similar to Saddam's. Other than that though I look like your average Joe.
Half-assed. That's it. Remember when any sign the City put up read like the Words of Authority? Now, who cares? Whoever put the sign up probably noticed it and just shrugged. Good enough. Doesn't have to be right. No pride.
Hey Ken, here's my "take" why you almost got arrested.
You see, Ft. Totten is a military base and a training facility for the Fire Department...Last year, when the area became a park, my lady friend and I wanted to walk through the main gate for a pleasant, innocent stroll in the park...I had a sophisticated Nikon camera dangling around my neck and the guard at the gate gave me a big hassle about taking pictures...I told him the place had become a public park but this news hadn't filtered on down to him yet or it did and he just was "P-O'd" seeing civilians not checking in at his outpost...The military and the Fire Department, in my humble estimation, are not too happy about seeing their little geographical spheres opened up to the general public.
The parking lot is outside of the base, though. In fact, the park is outside of the base now, too. You have to go through a separate gate on the right side as you enter the main gate to get into the base, and of course, you need ID. What sucks is that there is a pond on that property that is off-limits to the public.
my experience was similar to yours. The guards at the gate told me I wasn't allowed to take photos anywhere within the grounds of the fort. "I couldn't take photos of the bridge across the bay either," they warned. Pretending to make a mental note of this I walked out onto the jetty with the intention of doing so anyway, but was called up short when a park ranger pulled up in a pickup truck. I think the guards at the gate summoned him, though I don't know this for sure.
ps a shame about the pond. You can catch a good aerial view of it from in back of the Bayside Historical Society building, on top of the hill, which is open to the public.
And of course, you can see the whole shebang in exquisite detail on Google Earth.
If the guard sees you walking with a really professional-looking camera, they get all bent out of shape. So you hide it in a pocketbook or a knapsack and they don't say a word. Or you carry a point and shoot. Same dif - go figure.
Anyone up to no good is not going to broadcast blatantly his carrying sophisticated equipment.
what is interesting is back when the base was truely military (late 70s, early 80s), I carryed a camera on the base with no problems. Of course, of limits areas were off limits, etc
I'd bet the problem is FDNY/EMS more than the 77th ARCOM
I walked into Fort Totten one night
to attend a BHS event
and couldn't even find a guard at the gatehouse
to direct me there.
I had to hunt around.
In the meantime
I could have gotten off
about 50 photos.....
planted a couple of explosive devices....
raped a few women....yadda, yadda.
Some security!
P.S.
I was never asked to show any ID.
It's a ridiculous sign. Not many birds gather near Fort Totten. Not many people go there to feed birds. Must have been an extra sign laying around the D.O.T. shop, and someone said "Stick it in the ground near Fort Totten." The body of water is not a lake. It is LITTLE BAY located on the East River, near the Throggs-Neck Bridge. Thank you,
You're probably right on the FDNY/EMS...they had a nice "country club" atmosphere there for all these years...and now the "riff-raff" come in.
a lot of bridges throughout the country are in bad shape and are probably more in danger of collapsing from neglect than from attacks by potential terrorists armed with 6.1 megapixel pocket cameras.
Ditto....."Ken".....
with our rotting infrastructure
and the further strain put upon it
by rampant over development.....
we don't need terrorists
to bring us to our knees !
Our bridges, tunnels,
power grid, sewer lines etc. will self destruct !
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