{"id":319637,"date":"2026-06-25T17:53:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T17:53:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/319637\/"},"modified":"2026-06-25T17:53:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T17:53:10","slug":"fort-lauderdale-ready-to-move-on-after-street-art-battle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/319637\/","title":{"rendered":"Fort Lauderdale ready to move on after street-art battle"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fort Lauderdale\u2019s nearly yearlong battle to save its street art amid a statewide ban is coming to an end.<\/p>\n

The legal retreat will be made official on July 2, when commissioners are expected to approve a plan to drop all legal challenges.<\/p>\n

The battle began in August 2025 after the state Department of Transportation said street designs were distracting to drivers. Street art from Key West to Orlando disappeared. But Fort Lauderdale stood its ground<\/a>. Outside attorneys were hired and lawsuits were filed.<\/p>\n

But now that Fort Lauderdale has decided to end its fight, the state will paint over street designs throughout the city \u2014 including a Pride-themed street mural at the beach.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, attorneys for the city and the legal team representing the state filed a joint stipulation of settlement and dismissal<\/a> with the Florida Division of Administrative Hearings advising the court that they have fully resolved all matters in the case and have executed a settlement agreement.<\/p>\n

Three days earlier, on June 20, Fort Lauderdale held a news conference near the city\u2019s fading rainbow-themed street art at the beach announcing the city plans to end its legal fight<\/a> against the state.<\/p>\n

At the same news conference, city officials unveiled a new \u201cCircle of Love\u201d Pride display on private property at Sebastian Street Plaza near State Road A1A.<\/p>\n

\"RainbowRainbow street art as seen on Sebastian Street in Fort Lauderdale on June 2. (Mike Stocker\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n

The Kolter Group, developer of the nearby Selene condo, partnered with the city to create a permanent visual tribute to the LGBTQ+ community.<\/p>\n

The new display is meant to serve as a visible symbol of inclusion, acceptance and community pride, city officials said.<\/p>\n

Fort Lauderdale didn\u2019t give up the fight, said Commissioner Steve Glassman, whose district includes the new \u201cCircle of Love\u201d display.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t look at it like that,\u201d Glassman said Thursday. \u201cFrom a practical standpoint, we got what we wanted. We were able to create a really cool Pride circle, the \u2018Circle of Love.\u2019 It\u2019s not on city or state roads. It\u2019s on private property. I think all things considered, we did very well. And we move on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Any regrets?<\/p>\n

\u201cAbsolutely no regrets,\u201d Glassman said. \u201cWe stood up for our city. We stood up for the concept of home rule. We stood up for our values. And we took a stand. And that\u2019s absolutely what you have to do sometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n

By taking a stand, Fort Lauderdale showed the world what it\u2019s made of, Glassman said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is important for us as a city to make sure everyone knows what we stand for as a community,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are a welcoming, inclusive city. If any one group is attacked, we are all attacked.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mayor Dean Trantalis argues the city was not taking on the state.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were defending actions the state perpetrated on us,\u201d he said. \u201cWe did not initiate this process. The state went after us. We were defending ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Critics have questioned whether it was worth all the expense.<\/p>\n

The city does not yet have a final tally of the legal bills, Trantalis said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat price justice, what price fairness?\u201d he said. \u201cWe represent a large number of people whose dignity and very existence was being questioned and put at risk. We are trying to respect the diversity of the people who live here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Susannah Bryan can be reached at sbryan@sunsentinel.com. Follow me on X @Susannah_Bryan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fort Lauderdale\u2019s nearly yearlong battle to save its street art amid a statewide ban is coming to an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":314318,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[506,28,249,251,250,114,266,109],"class_list":["post-319637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-lauderdale","tag-broward-county","tag-florida","tag-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","tag-fort-lauderdale-news","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-social"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319637","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=319637"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319637\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/314318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=319637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=319637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=319637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}