City of Austin will remove street art
The City of Austin will move forward with removing street art like the rainbow crosswalk on 4th Street and the ‘Black Artists Matter’ mural on 11th Street. This is in response to a state declaration that roadways can’t have political messaging. Otherwise, cities could lose grant funding. FOX 7 Austin’s Angela Shen reports from downtown.
AUSTIN, Texas – The City of Austin will move forward with removing street art like the rainbow crosswalk on 4th Street and the Black Artists Matter mural on 11th Street.Â
This is in response to a directive from Gov. Greg Abbott saying roadways can’t have political messaging. The state says it’s to keep streets free from distractions.
READ MORE: Texas cities with ‘political agendas’ on roads could now be stripped of funding
The Texas Department of Transportation gave the city 30 days to remove all markings or possibly lose state and federal funding.Â
What they’re saying:
“That’s very disappointing when you stop and think of all the issues we have and all the things that we could be talking about and working together on,” Austin Mayor Kirk Watson said. “Here we are talking about how we divide people up.”
He says they’ll move forward with removal.Â
“We’re going to comply with the law. What happens if we don’t comply with the law is we put a lot of things in jeopardy,” he said.Â
Austin ordered to erase rainbow crosswalks and murals
Governor Abbott’s directive has led TXDOT to order the City of Austin to remove artistic and political street markings, such as the rainbow crosswalks and “Black Artists Matter” mural, a move the city will comply with despite
He says hundreds of millions of dollars in grants are at risk. That’s funding for Transportation and Public Works, Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, and Project Connect.Â
He says 16 locations with art could be applicable under the directive.Â
Watson says he’s thinking of other ways to highlight diversity, like banners along Bettie Naylor Street and fixtures on city property. If infrastructure is fully owned by the city, it wouldn’t violate any federal or state requirement.Â
“There’s more than one way to celebrate our diversity, and there’s a way to do all of those things where we’re protecting Austin’s values, but we’re also protecting the grants and the money that are so important to our day-to-day way of life,” Watson said.Â
The other side:
LGBTQ activist Brigitte Bandit started a petition calling on the city to protect the crosswalks.
“Visibility is so important right now, especially with all the attacks that we’re seeing on the LGBTQ community on a state and federal level. Visibility and celebration are so important. If they can’t fight for a crosswalk, it makes me really nervous about what comes next with what Abbott will want from our state government and our local governments,” she said.
She says the City of Austin should’ve fought back, like places like San Antonio.
“Even if they are looking at other alternatives, they’re still complying, immediately complying to these demands. We at least need to try to look at other options on how to resist before we start looking at alternatives to their removal,” she said.
The Source: Information in this report comes from reporting/interviews by FOX 7 Austin’s city reporter Angela Shen.