ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The Florida Department of Transportation has denied the City of St. Pete’s request to keep several pieces of artwork on its roadways.
The city wrote a letter to the FDOT on Wednesday, asking to keep five street murals from being removed. Late Friday afternoon, the FDOT denied the city’s request.
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The backstory:
Governor Ron DeSantis signed Senate Bill 1662 into law in June. FDOT Secretary Jared Perdue described the bill as an effort to keep transportation facilities free and clear of political ideologies.
FDOT is ordering cities and counties to identify and potentially remove artwork on roadways that may violate state traffic control guidelines. State officials have said “non-standard surface markings” can cause distractions or misunderstandings on the road and jeopardize driver and pedestrian safety.
What they’re saying:
In the City of St. Pete’s letter to the FDOT this week, it said crash data showed that certain street murals on its roadways aren’t a safety risk.
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“We know that it’s not an issue for us,” St. Pete Mayor Ken Welch said. “We’ve run the numbers. It’s actually increased safety. Accidents at those locations have actually decreased. So, we disagree with the premise that it’s a public safety issue.”
City officials did a three-year before-and-after crash analysis on the intersection on Central Avenue where the first mural was installed.
“A three-year before-and-after crash analysis showed a 70% decrease in overall crashes at the subject intersection, while the intersections immediately east and west of the location without treatment saw 100% and 25% increases in crashes, respectively, over the same period,” Evan Mory, the city’s transportation and parking management director, said.
In the letter, the city asked the FDOT to allow it to keep street murals at five locations – Central Avenue and 5th Street, Central Avenue and 25th Street, 6th Avenue South and 2nd Street South, 9th Avenue South and 22nd Lane South, and 11th Avenue South and 46th Street South.
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These include a Pride rainbow mural, a USF-themed mural and a Black History Matters mural outside the Woodson African American History Museum. The city also asked the FDOT to keep artistic murals at Central Avenue and 5th Street South and 11th Avenue and 46th Street South.
The city asked the FDOT to keep four of the murals as is.
“The intersection mural on 11th Avenue South inadvertently encroached on the area of roadway normally reserved for crosswalks while not meeting proper crosswalk design,” Mory said. “We propose to modify the crosswalk areas according to proper crosswalk design.”
Local perspective:
The General Manager of Cocktail, a bar on Central Avenue, said they feel that the ordered removal of this street art is targeted.
“We have to represent ourselves,” Alex Gomez, the general manager of Cocktail, said.
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On Thursday, the Mayor of Orlando announced that overnight, the Pulse Memorial rainbow crosswalk was removed. Gomez said they were upset to see it happen, and said they will find other ways to show their support for the LGBTQ community if the murals in St. Pete were also removed.
“We’re going do everything in our power to just show everyone out in the community that we’re here, we’re not going anywhere,” Gomez said. “And if that means painting the entire building like a rainbow, then we’re going to do that, you know?”
Dig deeper:
Late Friday afternoon, the City of St. Pete said FDOT denied its request to exempt the listed murals from being removed. St. Pete Mayor Ken Welch issued the following statement:
“The City of St. Petersburg values public art as an important expression of our community’s creativity, inclusivity, and identity. Recently, the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) notified the City that certain roadway art does not comply with state traffic control standards. While we have pursued exemptions from FDOT, our request has been denied.
After consultation with the City Attorney’s office, and considering the implications of keeping the street art murals in question, we have determined that identified street art murals must be removed under FDOT’s order. City personnel will not remove this artwork, rather FDOT has indicated that it will exercise its authority to do so in accordance with state law.
The City remains committed to working with our community to find lawful ways to celebrate and express our values in the public realm. While these specific art murals will be removed, the spirit of what makes St. Pete a special place can’t be suppressed by legislative fiat, and we will find meaningful ways to express our shared values.”
What’s next:
St. Pete City Council was expected to discuss how to handle street art at a meeting in September. It’s not clear whether that discussion will still happen.
The Source: The information in this story was gathered by FOX 13’s Kylie Jones.