How Public is Public Space?

Most parks, beaches, roads and stores are considered public spaces because they are open and accessible to everyone. But private places have rules that owners have set the public’s access.

Lately many restrictions have been set on public places that limit people’s freedom. This is seen many stores and even streets especially in New York City.

In 2002 smoking was prohibited in restaurants and bars. This went even further in 2011 when a law prohibited smoking in municipal parks and public areas in New York City.Now whether public space is really public is questioned again because of an incident in the Apple Store on 14st.

On July 27 I went to interview a customers at the Apple Store to learn more about Apple’s customer service. I interviewed two women waiting to get their phones fixed and, like great journalists do, I interviewed the employees to get different points of view and a fair story.

Two employees gladly answered my questions but a third employee on the second floor told me that I was not allowed to do that and approached his co-worker and whispered something in his ear. My friend, who joined me suggested we see what the man was saying. When we reached him the man’s co-worker told us that to ask questions we “need to make an appointment and have permission.”

My friend and I approached another employee on the first floor who offered to help us and during the interview I noticed that the man who did not permit us to interview his co-workers or employees was staring us down.

Now you may ask what does that have to do with the new laws against smoking?

In all three cases public spaces that are supposed to be open and accessible now limit people’s rights, whether it is freedom of speech or smoking. Owners of these public places restrict activity they think is wrong and set rules similar to what private places do.

With so many restrictions and rules common public places are slowly becoming private.