State policy may threaten rainbow street art across South Florida
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LGBTQ Pride street murals, like this one just off Fort Lauderdale beach, have been vandalized. Photo: Joe Cavaretta/South Florida Sun Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
New state and federal guidance restricting art on public roads could force cities across South Florida to paint over rainbow-colored street markings celebrating LGBTQ pride.
Why it matters: The Florida Department of Transportation's new crackdown on "social, political or ideological" street art has already led the city of Boynton Beach to paint over a rainbow-colored intersection.
- It remains unclear how other South Florida cities with Pride-themed street art — from Key West to Fort Lauderdale — might be affected.
- Some of the murals have been targets of vandalism.
Catch up quick: The guidance, laid out in a June 30 memo from FDOT assistant secretary Will Watts, requires that street markings comply with state and federal traffic rules.
- Noncompliant governments stand to lose state transportation funding.
- "Non-standard surface markings, signage and signals … can lead to distractions or misunderstandings, jeopardizing both driver and pedestrian safety," the memo says.
Earlier this week, the city of St. Petersburg — which has street murals celebrating LGBTQ pride and Black history — received an email from FDOT requesting a list of all painted crosswalks, roads and other traffic infrastructure.
- A spokesperson told Axios Tampa Bay the city intended to "comply with federal and state requirements."
Zoom in: Miami Beach, which has displayed the LGBTQ colors along Ocean Drive since 2014, hadn't received communications from FDOT, a spokesperson tells Axios.
- The city used to paint the crosswalks at the intersection of Ocean Drive and 12th Street with rainbow colors but installed permanent Pride-themed pavers in 2018.
Friction point: Miami Beach Commissioner Alex Fernandez, the city's only openly gay commissioner, says he will push back against the new policy if it's "applied in a way that targets inclusive symbols, such as rainbow crosswalks, that have already received regulatory approval."
- "It is a dangerous regression when public safety is manipulated as a guise to erase a community's public visibility," Fernandez said.
- "History has shown that this manifestation of supremacy — which today targets LGBTQ people — will inevitably threaten people of diverse races, faiths, and backgrounds."
Zoom out: FDOT spokesperson Michael Williams told Axios Tampa Bay that the agency "is currently performing an evaluation on facilities across the state.
- The cities of Key West and Fort Lauderdale had not been contacted about their street art, city spokespeople confirmed to Axios.
Fort Lauderdale spokesperson Ashley Doussard said in a statement that the "city is aware of the FDOT internal memo and is reviewing to determine whether any pavement markings in the city are subject to the directive."
- Mayor Dean Trantalis, the city's first openly gay mayor, told the South Florida Sun Sentinel that he hopes his city's Pride flag mural near Fort Lauderdale Beach can survive since it's painted on a side street and not at an intersection.
Axios Tampa Bay reporter Kathryn Varn contributed to this report