So much for southern hospitality

By Libby

I know the economy has everybody down and towns are struggling with lean budgets but this is the craziest policy I've read about outside of the war on some drugs in a very long time.

MOORESVILLE, Ala. — The city of Mooresville is charging commercial photographers $500 for a permit to take pictures of its historic buildings, a practice some are questioning as discriminatory and unlawful.

Huntsville photographer Don Broome sent a letter to the editor of The Huntsville Times after he was served with a violation notice two weeks ago and told to leave town because he didn’t buy the permit before taking pictures.

Since Mooresville also charges $30 for a business privilege license, it costs commercial photographers $530 a year to take pictures in the north Alabama town, which is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and has about 60 residents.

The mayor said the regulation was misapplied in his case but the criteria is still crazy.

She said only commercial photographers who regularly book multiple clients and actually step onto the property to take pictures are required to buy the permit.

Commercial photographers like Broome would be exempt because they don’t have a subject in the photo and aren’t in Mooresville on a regular basis.

How many people could fit that criteria anyway. It's a cute little town but it doesn't look all that different from any small town in New England to me and if they're kicking out people for taking pictures without paying an exorbitant fee, how charming can it be?

The most interesting thing about it is "males had a median income of $51,667 versus $65,417 for females" and "the per capita income for the town was $51,694, unusually high for the state." Otherwise there appears to be nothing to do there except walk around and take pictures.

As I dig around Google, here's more. The politics of the fee are more interesting than the town itself.

The town created it because of the influx of photographers who wanted to use small town as their own studio. While Mooresville resident Margaret Anne Crumlish says visitors were welcomed, "It was just getting a little out of hand and with the number of people and moving some of the furniture and things like that and we wanted to have some guidelines." Crumlish helped developed these guidelines. The $500 permit must be obtained for utilization of the privately owned property.

Jeanie asked Crumlish, "What about Mr. Broome? Does this apply to him?"

She says, "No, it does not. It does not apply to him. He's not on the town property. Anyone can stand on the street and take a picture. I think there were just some misunderstandings about what the permit was about." And Crumlish says residents hope to clear some of those misunderstandings up when everyone's back from Spring Break.

So far nine photographers who want to use the premises on-site have paid the fee. Crumlish says the town has very few ways of making money to help preserve these buildings.

"We have nine photographers who have paid the fee. We are very appreciative to them that they are helping to retain the historical charm, the historical values of our buildings and we look forward to continuing that."

Hence, the permit fee was a way to put money back into these historical structures to preserve Mooresville's unique heritage. She says it's been a good relationship and has given some photographers exclusive rights to these buildings.

Broome would still need to pay the $30 fee for business use.

I don't know much about this kind of law but I don't see how applying the ordinance by having the residents walking around arbitrarily asking people if they're commercial photographers and giving exclusive photographic rights to town owned buildings is legal. Not to mention that it's tacky. Surely there's better ways to raise money.