Fort Lauderdale\u2019s pride flag was painted on Sebastian Street as a tribute to the large LGBTQ community that frequents that area of the beach, Trantalis noted.<\/p>\n
In response to critics who say Fort Lauderdale is taking on a fight<\/a> it can\u2019t win, Trantalis argues the city will be able to make a strong case for home rule when it comes to street art.<\/p>\n \u201cRight now we are submitting our position to the courts,\u201d Trantalis said, referring to the city\u2019s legal battle with the state. \u201cIn the meantime, we are open to discussing this with the state to see if we can come up with a compromise. In the meantime, we are still moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n Elected officials in Delray Beach, Miami Beach and Key West initially seemed ready to do battle in court, but have since dropped the fight.<\/p>\n In Miami Beach, the iconic rainbow crosswalk on Ocean Drive was removed on Oct. 5.<\/p>\n In Delray Beach, state crews sandblasted the city\u2019s rainbow-colored pride display at Northeast First Street and Northeast Second Avenue on Sept. 10.<\/p>\n In Key West, a resolution that would have taken the fight to court was voted down by the City Commission on Sept. 3. Six days later, state crews removed the city\u2019s rainbow crosswalk at Duval and Petronia streets.<\/p>\n In a letter dated Aug. 21, the state ordered Fort Lauderdale to remove LGBTQ-themed pride art on Sebastian Street along with three other sites. If the pavement markings were not gone by Sept. 4, they would be removed by the state, the letter warned.<\/p>\n \u201cYou are further notified that if the markings are removed by the Department, all costs associated with the removal will be assessed against the city of Fort Lauderdale,\u201d the letter said. \u201cPlease note that the Department will pursue withholding of state funds as permitted by the law should the City of Fort Lauderdale decide not to comply.\u201d<\/p>\n On Aug. 29, the state added seven<\/a> more street art locations to the list. One intersection was already paved over months ago but somehow made the list<\/a>.<\/p>\n On Sept. 4, Fort Lauderdale filed a petition for a formal administrative hearing before the Florida Department of Transportation. A state hearing officer denied the request during an informal proceeding held in Orlando on Sept. 15. Four days later, the same hearing officer ordered the removal of every single street art design in Fort Lauderdale. That same day, the city filed a notice to appeal the FDOT order with the Fourth District Court of Appeals.<\/p>\n Fort Lauderdale is currently engaged in four separate but related legal processes, spokeswoman Ashley Doussard told the Sun Sentinel.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a quick breakdown of the city\u2019s legal battle on all four fronts:<\/p>\n First, Fort Lauderdale has filed a notice of appeal with the Fourth District Court of Appeal and has provided notice to the state Department of Transportation.<\/p>\n Second, the city has a petition pending before the state Division of Administrative Hearings. A hearing is scheduled for Jan. 13, 2026, at 9:30 a.m. in Tallahassee.<\/p>\n Third, a judge in the state\u2019s 17th Judicial Circuit Court granted an order preserving the status quo until both parties can be heard on the city\u2019s request for declaratory and injunctive relief.<\/p>\n Fourth, the state Department of Transportation has filed a notice of appeal with the Fourth District Court of Appeal of the order preserving status quo.<\/p>\n Miami Beach voluntarily dismissed its petition challenging the state\u2019s order to remove its pride street art on Oct. 8, according to a memo written by Fort Lauderdale Interim City Attorney D\u2019Wayne Spence.<\/p>\n \u201cThe city attorney of Miami Beach believes that this has become a losing battle and that it would be imprudent to spend additional resources,\u201d Spence wrote. \u201cConsequently, Miami Beach will not pursue further legal action at this time. The city of Fort Lauderdale\u2019s petition is now the sole challenge to the rule before DOAH (Division of Administrative Hearings) to my knowledge.\u201d<\/p>\n Across the Sunshine State, several cities voluntarily removed their street art after the state ordered them to do so.<\/p>\n In some cases where cities balked at the order, crews working for the Florida Department of Transportation removed the street art \u2014 sometimes in the wee hours of the night.<\/p>\n In Orlando, a rainbow crosswalk honoring the 49 victims of the Pulse Nightclub shooting was painted over in the middle of the night in August.<\/p>\n In Fort Lauderdale, activists were on high alert waiting for the state to send crews into town in the middle of the night to paint over the city\u2019s rainbow street art.<\/p>\n Bill Brown, a community leader who lives near Sebastian Street, sounded the alarm one Saturday in late September when he thought state crews were painting over the pride art. Brown sent a quick text to the city manager. In the end, it turned out to be men at a nearby construction site pressure cleaning the street.<\/p>\n Brown said he understands the city\u2019s decision to fight the state but worries about the legal costs.<\/p>\n \u201cI know some of the commissioners are fighting it to stand up for the LGBTQ community,\u201d said Brown, who is openly gay. \u201cHowever, if we\u2019re not going to win the legal battle, how much money is it going to cost?<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t see it being resolved in the state\u2019s appellate court. Are they willing to take it to the U.S. Supreme court? And if they did, I don\u2019t think they\u2019d win.\u201d<\/p>\n Fort Lauderdale resident Charlie King, a frequent critic of City Hall, said he thinks Fort Lauderdale has picked a fight it can\u2019t win.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s a waste of taxpayer dollars,\u201d King said. \u201cIt sounds like the state has control over this. If they want to display rainbow art, it doesn\u2019t have to be in a crosswalk. It can be in a park where we won\u2019t have to ask anyone\u2019s permission.\u201d<\/p>\n Glassman argues the city has to take a stand.<\/p>\n \u201cFor me, it\u2019s really about home rule,\u201d he said. \u201cDo we have control over our own streets? Are we able to express ourselves, whether it\u2019s street art or anything else?\u201d<\/p>\n Glassman said he understands why other cities have given up the fight in the face of threats from the state to take away funding.<\/p>\n \u201cIs that even legal?\u201d Glassman asked. \u201cThe courts need to decide if it\u2019s legal for the state to extort until it gets its way. Let\u2019s do this test (in court) and see where we stand and where our rights are and how much control we have over our own city.\u201d<\/p>\n Susannah Bryan can be reached at sbryan@sunsentinel.com. Follow me on X @Susannah_Bryan <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One by one, rainbow crosswalks in cities across the Sunshine State are turning black. But Fort Lauderdale has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5084,"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-5083","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\/5083","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=5083"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5083\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Delray](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/tfl-z-delray-beach-crossing-0913-01.jpg\")
Delray Beach\u2019s LGBTQ street display, shown top left, debuts in June 2021, at Northeast Second Avenue and Northeast First Street. At top right, a car crosses over the display on Aug. 18, 2025. Bottom left, black paint remains smeared after the state tried to remove the display on Sept. 9, 2025. Bottom right, workers return Sept. 10, 2025 to remove the street art. (South Florida Sun Sentinel photos)<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/tfl-l-street-art-fort-lauderdale-01.jpg\")
The intersection of Las Olas Boulevard and Southeast Third Avenue in downtown Fort Lauderdale is seen on March 6, 2025, left. It was paved over months ago, on right, but somehow wound up on a list of street art sites the state wants removed. (Amy Beth Bennett\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/TFL-L-street-art-fight-4-101525.jpg\")
An aerial view of a rainbow street art mural that was painted in 2023 on Sebastian Street in Fort Lauderdale. The city is in the midst of a legal battle with the state to save 10 street art designs, including this one. (Amy Beth Bennett\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n