Politics
Rainbows, street art still standing in some Florida cities, despite Governor’s deadline
A deadline this week for Florida’s local leaders to remove all street art has come and gone, but in some cities the rainbows and colored roads haven’t disappeared. It’s unclear what state leaders will do in cities where elected officials have blown past their time limit.
Some cities, including Orlando, Tampa, St. Petersburg and Gainesville, reluctantly agreed to have their streets paved when faced with a decision between art and state funding. Others, however, are using whatever leverage they can to keep their street art.
Elected officials in Miami Beach, Key West, Delray Beach and Fort Lauderdale have all missed their deadline Thursday this week to remove street art. All have started the process of an appeal. Some say they are in limbo waiting to see how the Florida Department of Transportation responds.
“I’m sure that the state will find every way they can to associate their actions and to make it look like they’re trying to enforce traffic control,” said Fort Lauderdale’s Mayor, Dean Trantalis, a Democrat, at a special meeting last week to discuss the state’s order. “But as has been said time and time again, it’s simply a camouflage for their true intent — which is to erase or eliminate as many LGBTQ references in the state as possible.”
The transportation department sent elected leaders in every Florida city with painted roads a letter over the summer, offering two options: remove street art, or lose millions in state funding for road projects. State leaders say the order is necessary for safety reasons.
State officials offered the chance to appeal the order but appeared to stand firm on their decision, writing that “the department has already reviewed the pavement markings,” and they “determined that the pavement markings will not be allowed.”
“So, they’re giving us the opportunity to ask for a review of the situation,” Trantalis said, ”but they’re telling us in advance that they’re not going to change their mind.”
Miami Beach and Fort Lauderdale leaders announced their intentions to appeal. In Delray Beach and Key West, city leaders were given until Wednesday this week to remove their street art; both cities have until Friday to make arguments in favor of keeping the art, with no real timeline given for when the state would make its final decision.
Across the state, stretches of roads that were once rainbow colored, had murals supporting both Black Lives Matter and Blue Lives Matter movements, and even school art projects, have been paved jet black to comply with the new transportation department rule.
Along some of these roads, the fight to retain street art is carried out by protesters. A snapshot of that happened here in Orlando.
For weeks, foldable chairs, cardboard signs and packs of street chalk have been scattered around the lawn outside the former Pulse Nightclub. For nearly a decade, the city-purchased building has served to honor the memory of 49 lives lost in one of America’s deadliest mass shootings. In August, it became one of the many battlegrounds in what some say is Florida’s newest culture war.
In what Orlando’s Democratic Mayor, Buddy Dyer, called a “cruel political act,” one rainbow crosswalk serving as a memorial outside Pulse was paved over in the dead of night on Aug. 20. Protesters, who have been standing along the crosswalk ever since, call it a blatant attempt by Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration to remove the LGBTQ community from the public eye.
Orlando’s leaders weren’t given much room to push back against the Florida Department of Transportation order. Officials said Orange Avenue, where the crosswalk is located, is a state road, meaning the state has jurisdiction. Still, protesters hope the state changes its mind.
The paving of the Pulse memorial crosswalk has generated pushback, with protesters saying state leaders are only adding salt to the wounds from the 2016 mass shooting.
“The community’s resilience is what created that public crosswalk,” said Patience Murray, 29, who was at the nightclub during the shooting. “It just seems like there is a larger agenda going on, of a display of power.”
Murray was 20, visiting Orlando with friends the night of the shooting. Her friend’s cousin, Akyra Monet Murray, who was not related, was with her that night. She was the youngest person shot and killed at Pulse.
Nine years after the shooting, Murray said she hopes the Orlando community continues to band together and fight the state’s order. She said it feels like state leaders are trying to erase history.
“It feels like a soft launch of some larger initiative,” Murray said. She explained that the state’s insistence on removing the memorial felt like an attempt to “homogenize us all into a lack of individuality and expression and culture.”
Since Pulse’s rainbow crosswalk was paved overnight, Orlando residents have spent time outside the memorial filling in the road with street chalk. Efforts to protest the state order were met with arrests.
Four people have been arrested outside of the Pulse crosswalk, and all are represented by the same Orlando attorney, Blake Simons. He said that he doesn’t think the state has any case to bring against his clients.
“This is a First Amendment free speech violation,” Simons said. “The crosswalk is an extension of the sidewalk, which has been traditionally held as a public forum.”
State transportation officials sponsored an art contest that let students at an elementary school in Lake Nona, near Orlando, design art for bike lanes outside the school. Just months after the contest ended and the road painted, they ordered it to be removed.
The Governor has frequently cited safety as a reason for paving over street art, which critics dispute.
“I think that’s easy, low-hanging fruit,” said Trantalis, Fort Lauderdale’s Mayor. “It just brings me back to that question of urgency — why now, and why is it happening so fast without any conversation. And that’s ultimately where I continue to be confused and extremely perplexed.”
Florida is one of the deadliest states for pedestrians, according to nonprofit Smart Growth America. A report from 2022 shows that Florida cities rank in the Top 20 for pedestrian deaths, with Orlando coming in at No. 18.
A 2022 study for Bloomberg Philanthropies by a traffic engineering firm compared traffic data from intersections, including some in Florida, before and after streets were painted. Except for two examples in Georgia, every intersection had a lower or unchanged crash rate. One site in Pinecrest — which averaged nearly six crashes per year — dropped to an average of one crash per year after the street art was installed.
Key West and Delray Beach were some of the first cities to push back against the state’s order — Miami Beach and Fort Lauderdale followed shortly after. Street art still stands in these cities.
In Delray Beach, city leaders have fought to keep a large intersection painted to honor victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting. On Tuesday, they presented their case at a hearing in Orlando to keep the art. They did not get a clear timeline on when they would hear from transportation officials their appeal. The city manager said they would “stand by for their decision.”
In Miami Beach, after submitting an appeal to the transportation department, commissioners voted in favor of finding ways of honoring the city’s LGBTQ community if the rainbow crosswalk was removed. They also voted to line the road with rainbow flags.
In Fort Lauderdale, city leaders voted to find a lawyer to represent them in their appeal to the state. They also held an hourslong special meeting dedicated to finding an appropriate response to the state’s order.
State transportation officials wrote in a memo that cities that don’t appeal, or lose their appeal, will have to pay the department’s cost to paint over crosswalk art.
“If we allow it to happen without any fight, without any protest at all, these things will continue to happen at a massive scale,” Murray said. “It’s really unfortunate that this is happening right now, but I think it’s an opportunity for us to speak up and advocate for our ability to exist and express ourselves within our communities.”
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This story was produced by Fresh Take Florida, a news service of the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications. The reporter can be reached at [email protected]. You can donate to support our students here.
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Legislation that would narrowly recategorize 911 dispatchers as first responders so they can receive workers’ compensation for work-related psychological injuries is one step closer to passing in the Legislature’s upper chamber.
Members of the Government Oversight and Accountability Committee voted unanimously to advance the bill (SB 774), which would eliminate a barrier that today denies aid to people who are often the first to respond to a crime.
The measure’s sponsor, Hollywood Sen. Jason Pizzo, noted that during his time as a prosecutor, playing a 911 call would often be the most effective thing to do to sway a jury.
“911, what’s your emergency? He’s going to kill me! He’s going to kill me! Now, imagine hearing that 12 times a day, 15 times a day,” he said.
“Two years ago, you all voted to require these 911 operators to be proficient in CPR so they could administer (it) over the phone. And they’re not considered first responders? They are first responders, and they’ve been grossly overlooked and screwed, and this brings some remedy.”
SB 774 would add 911 dispatchers to the group of “first responders” covered by Florida’s special workers’-compensation rules for employment-related mental or nervous injuries. It would apply the same framework to them as other first responders for mental health claims.
Essentially, if you’re a 911 dispatcher and develop post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety or similar mental health injuries from traumatic calls, SB 774 would make it so you can get workers’ comp-covered treatment and that your claim is handled under the same special rules lawmakers already set for other first responders — without certain time-limit restrictions that typically apply to mental injury benefits.
Several dispatchers signaled or spoke in favor of the bill, as did representatives from the Florida Police Chiefs Association, Florida Sheriffs Association and Consolidated Dispatch Agency.
Jennifer Dana, a dispatcher with the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office, noted that in a Senate analysis of SB 774, there’s a list of disturbing things first responders see and do on the job, from seeing dead children and witnessing murders to helping severely injured people, including those who commit suicide.
What it doesn’t include, she said, is that 911 dispatchers also witness those things.
“We’re seeing and hearing it,” she said. “We have the technology for people to livestream it now, so it’s a double-whammy for us, and we want to make sure we have the protections.”
Kim Powell, a licensed and clinical mental health counselor who oversees an employee behavioral health program at a 911 communications center in Leon County, detailed several examples of what dispatchers experience: a woman struggling to breathe while dying from a gunshot wound inflicted by her child’s father; an officer’s final words moments before his murder; the sound of a mother discovering her deceased infant; the 800 or so calls received in the wake of the Florida State University shooting last April.
“These are not isolated events; they are part of the job,” she said. “The trauma compounds over time with repeat exposure.”
St. Petersburg Republican Sen. Nick DiCeglie thanked Pizzo for carrying the bill and expressed gratitude to the “3,500 dispatchers” across Florida for their work.
“For me personally, (this) could be one of the most important bills that we have this Session because of the importance there is for your well-being and your quality of life,” he said.
Melbourne Republican Sen. Debbie Mayfield, who chairs the committee, echoed DiCeglie’s remarks.
Pizzo reminded the panel that four years ago, during COVID, a $280 million set-aside for payments to first responders and front-line workers did not extend to 911 dispatchers.
“They never stopped working,” he said, adding that Mayfield at the time acknowledged the oversight and pledged that the Legislature would get it right in the future. “So, it’s serendipitous that you were kind and gracious enough to put us on the agenda.”
SB 774 will next go to the Senate Appropriations Committee on Agriculture, Environment and General Government, after which it has one more stop before reaching a floor vote.
An identical bill (HB 451) by Republican Rep. Jeff Holcomb of Spring Hill awaits its first hearing in the House.
The Tampa Bay Rays’ search for a new home took a tangible step forward as the Hillsborough College Board of Trustees approved a nonbinding agreement that could ultimately shift the franchise away from St. Petersburg under its new ownership.
The Board voted to approve a memorandum of understanding (MOU) authorizing staff to negotiate with the Tampa Bay Rays over a potential stadium and mixed-use redevelopment at the college’s Dale Mabry Campus.
The agreement does not commit the college to the project and can be terminated by the Board at any time. Instead, it outlines key terms the parties would like to see in any future binding agreements, which would require separate Board approval at a later public meeting.
College officials characterized the MOU as the beginning of negotiations. Under the document, staff would begin drafting potential project agreements for Trustees to consider in the future, with an anticipated negotiation timeline of up to 180 days.
Rays CEO Ken Babby addressed Trustees during the meeting, calling the proposal an early milestone. He emphasized that the effort involves the college, the team, the state and local governments. Babby said the Rays are exploring a roughly 130-acre redevelopment anchored by a new stadium and an integrated college campus, alongside residential, commercial and entertainment uses.
“As we envision this development, together in cooperation and partnership with the community and the college, we’ve been calling the campus portion of this work ‘Innovation Edge’ featuring Hillsborough College,” Babby said.
“It’ll be neighbored by, of course, what we envision to be ‘Champions Corridor,’ which we hope will be the mentioned home of the Tampa Bay Rays. Of course, this will be a mixed-use with residential, with commercial, and, as we’ve said, billions of dollars of economic impact to the region. … This is an incredible moment for our community.”
Public input was split. Supporters recognized the economic impact the project could have, while critics worried about the effect on housing affordability, in particular for college students.
Following the vote, Trustees acknowledged uncertainty among students, faculty and staff, particularly those based at the Dale Mabry campus, but stressed that the approval did not determine final outcomes.
“This is a major decision, and I truly hope that it leads Hillsborough College towards growth and advancement,” Student Trustee Nicolas Castellanos said.
Trustee Michael Garcia echoed the sentiment.
“It’s a tremendous day for the future of Hillsborough College and for the future of Major League Baseball in the area and also for the future of the city of Tampa,” Garcia said.
Gov. Ron DeSantis publicly expressed support for the concept ahead of Tuesday’s meeting, saying it could benefit both the college and the region, while cautioning that details still need to be resolved.
“It could be very good for HCC, and I’ve met with the President about it. I think he’s excited about the possibility,” DeSantis said in Pinellas Park.
“Obviously, they’ve got to iron out details. But basically, we’re supportive of them pursuing that partnership because I think it could be good for them. I think it could be good for the state. But I definitely think it could be really good for this region.”
Also ahead of Tuesday’s meeting, Tampa Mayor Jane Castor told Florida Politics the city and Hillsborough County have been in ongoing discussions with the Tampa Bay Rays as the team explores long-term stadium options — including the potential Hillsborough College site. She emphasized that any future stadium proposal would require coordination among multiple governments and would be evaluated alongside existing contractual obligations related to other major sports facilities.
No timeline for construction, campus relocation or final land disposition was discussed Tuesday. College officials emphasized that any binding agreements would return to the Board of Trustees for approval at a future public meeting.
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A.G. Gancarski and Janelle Irwin Taylor of Florida Politics contributed to this report.
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