{"id":85681,"date":"2025-12-16T19:50:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T19:50:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/85681\/"},"modified":"2025-12-16T19:50:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T19:50:07","slug":"florida-city-replaces-rainbow-crosswalk-with-pride-bike-rack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/85681\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida city replaces rainbow crosswalk with Pride bike rack"},"content":{"rendered":"

After the Trump administration and Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis forced Florida <\/a>cities to remove rainbow crosswalks<\/a>, one city has responded by installing a rainbow bike rack. <\/p>\n

The city of St. Petersburg recently announced that it has installed 11 Pride-inspired bike racks along Central Ave and 25th Street, funded through the City\u2019s long-standing public bike rack program. The move allows a public display of LGBTQ+ Pride while complying with the state and federal government’s orders to keep crosswalks undecorated.<\/p>\n

“Pride on the streets!” Mayor Ken Welch wrote in a joint Instagram post <\/a>with the city’s official account on Thursday, calling the new installment “a vibrant way to honor the Pride street murals that were removed earlier this year due to state requirements.”<\/p>\n

U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy ordered states to eliminate rainbow crosswalks <\/a>and other “distractions” in July in a supposed effort to prevent traffic fatalities. He did not provide evidence linking decorated crosswalks to traffic fatalities, but acknowledged that estimated traffic fatalities declined by 3.8 percent from 2023 to 2024 under the Biden administration.<\/p>\n

Florida complied with the order in August by quietly painting over<\/a> a memorial for the Pulse shooting victims in Orlando. DeSantis defended the decision<\/a>, saying the artwork is “not compliant with state and federal standards.” The state Department of Transportation then ordered cities to remove all rainbow crosswalks, as well as more than 400 other roadway decorations.<\/p>\n

There is no evidence that rainbow crosswalks cause more accidents. To the contrary, increased visibility from decorated crosswalks led to a 37 percent drop in collisions resulting in injuries, a 50 percent reduction in incidents involving pedestrians, and a 17 percent fall in the total crash rate, according to a 2022 study <\/a>from Bloomberg.<\/p>\n

Welch\u2019s Chief of Staff, Jordan Doyle Walsh, told St. Petersburg city council members in an email obtained by Florida Politics<\/a> that the bike rack installation is only one of the actions Welch’s administration has planned in response to the removal of public art. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe intend that this small gesture of inclusion and celebration will be a symbol of our resolve to not be silenced,\u201d Walsh wrote. \u201cWe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n