After mural crackdown, St. Pete installs 11 Pride-inspired bike racks

There is a little more Pride on the streets of St. Pete, following the installation of 11 Pride-inspired bike racks in honor of Pride street murals that were removed earlier this year.

The City of St. Petersburg installed rainbow bike racks in the Grand Central District along Central Avenue and 25th Street. The intersection was the site of one of five prominent street murals removed in St. Pete during a statewide crackdown on street art, including artwork representing LGBTQ+ Pride and Black history. 

An executive order from Gov. Ron DeSantis led the removal effort. The Florida Department of Transportation completed it overnight at St. Pete’s expense, prompting Mayor Ken Welch to call for creative ways to honor the artwork’s importance to the community.

Welch and the City Council have debated what that would look like in subsequent discussions, but the bike racks represent one step toward honoring the neighborhood’s lost mural. The mural was iconic, decorating the intersection with brightly colored stripes in the colors of the progressive Pride flag, drawn just steps from a popular LGBTQ+ nightclub and other safe spaces for the community. Funding for the project was through the City’s long-standing public bike rack program.

Welch’s Chief of Staff, Jordan Doyle Walsh, told City Council members in an email that the bike rack installation is only one component of the ongoing response to the erasure of the street art.

The other murals removed include the Black History Matters mural on 9th Avenue South, despite protests from two local pastors, Revs. Andy Oliver and Benedict Atherton-Zeman were arrested for sitting on the mural and later released. The Fluid Structures mural located at the University of South Florida St. Pete campus, the Common Ground mural, and the Crux mural in Child’s Park were also removed.

“We were excited that there was consensus around one of the Administration’s proposed actions discussed during the previous (Committee of the Whole) meeting and other forums regarding City and community response,” Walsh said in the email.

“We intend that this small gesture of inclusion and celebration will be a symbol of our resolve to not be silenced,” he said. “We thank City Council for supporting and collaborating on this effort and we look forward to working with you and the community as we move forward together.”

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Janelle Irwin Taylor of Florida Politics contributed to this report.