{"id":114882,"date":"2025-08-27T23:27:28","date_gmt":"2025-08-27T23:27:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/114882\/"},"modified":"2025-08-27T23:27:28","modified_gmt":"2025-08-27T23:27:28","slug":"orlando-begins-painting-over-decorative-crosswalks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/114882\/","title":{"rendered":"Orlando begins painting over decorative crosswalks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Orlando dispatched crews Wednesday morning to begin painting over 14 of its decorative crosswalks<\/a> depicting citrus slices, swans and and Lake Eola\u2019s fountain \u2014\u00a0 but plans to ask the state to grant an exception to paint back the rainbow crosswalk near Pulse nightclub.<\/p>\n

The state-mandated paint job is expected to take several days in various pockets of the city, including downtown, on Corinne Drive, in Thornton Park near Lake Eola and in SoDo.<\/p>\n

It was a frustrating turn of events for artist Justin Skipper, who goes by SKIP professionally. He designed and painted 15 crosswalks and murals on the downtown pavement, including images of swans, Lake Eola\u2019s fountain, and citrus slices. All will soon be gone.<\/p>\n

\"ContractorsContractors cover art on the crosswalk at the intersection of South Rosalind Avenue and East Jackson Street in Downtown Orlando, on Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2025. (Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n

\u201cMy main frustration comes from the authoritarian tactics of the DeSantis administration, using this as a bully with a stick in order to be able to punish people who do not fall into political alignment with his party,\u201d Skipper said.<\/p>\n

His company, A Pivotal Character Artworks, had received grant funding from Bloomberg Philanthropies to decorate the crosswalks.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think those murals are wonderful,\u201d Skipper said. \u201cNot based on some sort of political or artistic message, but for a beautification project and being to provide a colorful aesthetic and palette and to make people\u2019s day to day interaction with their city a little bit more attractive and romantic.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The painted crosswalk at Central Blvd. and N. Eola Dr in Orlando on Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025. The design at the intersection will be removed to comply with a new FDOT policy that requires wiping asphalt art from streets across the state. (Rich Pope\/Orlando Sentinel) <\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The painted crosswalk at Orange Ave and Concord St. in Orlando on Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025. The design at the intersection will be removed to comply with a new FDOT policy that requires wiping asphalt art from streets across the state. (Rich Pope\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The painted crosswalk at Summerlin Ave at Washington St. in Orlando on Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025. The design at the intersection will be removed to comply with a new FDOT policy that requires wiping asphalt art from streets across the state. (Rich Pope\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The painted crosswalk at Amelia St. and Putnam Ave leads to the Electronic Arts headquarters in Downtown Orlando’s Creative Village on Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025. The design at the intersection will be removed to comply with a new FDOT policy that requires wiping asphalt art from streets across the state. (Rich Pope\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The painted crosswalk at Magnolia Ave and E. Concord St. in Orlando on Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025. The design at the intersection will be removed to comply with a new FDOT policy that requires wiping asphalt art from streets across the state. (Rich Pope\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The mural painted on the street at the intersection of S. Orange Ave at E. Pine St. in Orlando on Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025. The design at the intersection will be removed to comply with a new FDOT policy that requires wiping asphalt art from streets across the state. (Rich Pope\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The painted crosswalk at Orange Ave and Concord St. in Orlando on Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025. The design at the intersection will be removed to comply with a new FDOT policy that requires wiping asphalt art from streets across the state. (Rich Pope\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The painted crosswalk at S. Rosalind Ave and E. Jackson St. in Orlando on Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025. The design at the intersection will be removed to comply with a new FDOT policy that requires wiping asphalt art from streets across the state. (Rich Pope\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The mural painted on the street at the intersection of S. Orange Ave and Church St. in Orlando on Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025. The design at the intersection will be removed to comply with a new FDOT policy that requires wiping asphalt art from streets across the state. (Rich Pope\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The painted crosswalk at Livingston St. and N. Hughey Ave in Orlando on Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025. The design at the intersection will be removed to comply with a new FDOT policy that requires wiping asphalt art from streets across the state.(Rich Pope\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The painted crosswalk at Church St. and S. Rosalind Ave in Orlando on Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025. The design at the intersection will be removed to comply with a new FDOT policy that requires wiping asphalt art from streets across the state. (Rich Pope\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The painted crosswalk at Church St. and S. Rosalind Ave in Orlando on Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025. The design at the intersection will be removed to comply with a new FDOT policy that requires wiping asphalt art from streets across the state. (Rich Pope\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The painted crosswalk at Central Blvd. and N. Eola Dr in Orlando on Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025. The design at the intersection will be removed to comply with a new FDOT policy that requires wiping asphalt art from streets across the state. (Rich Pope\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The painted crosswalk at Central Blvd. and N. Eola Dr in Orlando on Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025. The design at the intersection will be removed to comply with a new FDOT policy that requires wiping asphalt art from streets across the state. (Rich Pope\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The painted crosswalk at Amelia and N. Hughey Ave in Orlando on Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025. The design at the intersection will be removed to comply with a new FDOT policy that requires wiping asphalt art from streets across the state.(Rich Pope\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The painted crosswalk at Amelia St. and Chatham Ave in Downtown Orlando’s Creative Village on Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025. The design at the intersection will be removed to comply with a new FDOT policy that requires wiping asphalt art from streets across the state. (Rich Pope\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The painted crosswalk at W. Kaley Ave at S. Division Ave in Orlando on Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025. The design at the intersection will be removed to comply with a new FDOT policy that requires wiping asphalt art from streets across the state. (Rich Pope\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

1 of 17<\/p>\n

The painted crosswalk at Central Blvd. and N. Eola Dr in Orlando on Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025. The design at the intersection will be removed to comply with a new FDOT policy that requires wiping asphalt art from streets across the state. (Rich Pope\/Orlando Sentinel) <\/p>\n

Expand<\/a><\/p>\n

The decision by City Hall to paint over the art came about a week after Chief Administrative Officer FJ Flynn received a letter from FDOT informing him the agency was requiring 18 different markings and murals to be covered up, as they were no longer allowed under state rules.<\/p>\n

While the letter noted the city could choose to appeal, it also stated that such an action wouldn\u2019t result in saving the artwork.<\/p>\n

Dyer admitted Wednesday the city faced long odds to win a reversal for the 14 decorative crosswalks, but hoped the rainbow tribute<\/a> to the 49 who were killed at Pulse nightclub in 2016 would win a reprieve.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we see the writing on the wall,\u201d he said. \u201cWe know where those will be headed. And for us the most important one is Pulse.\u201d<\/p>\n

The letter hadn\u2019t been sent to FDOT yet, so he wasn\u2019t sure when a decision would be made.<\/p>\n

\"ContractorsContractors cover art on the crosswalk at the intersection of South Rosalind Avenue and East Jackson Street in downtown Orlando, on Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2025. (Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n

DeSantis said Tuesday that the new rules were sweeping and would apply to everything from rainbows to a Back The Blue, pro-police mural in Tampa.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Florida legislature passed a law that was very clear \u2026 we\u2019re not doing the commandeering of the roads to put up messaging,\u201d he said, later adding \u201cthis has been done across the state and it\u2019s been regardless of the messaging that\u2019s been used.\u201d<\/p>\n

The city instead opted to cover up the artwork itself at a cost of about $85,000. It issued a traffic advisory early Wednesday alerting drivers that crews would be working between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. on 14 crosswalks until they\u2019re covered up.<\/p>\n

City officials determined that the four other areas flagged by FDOT are actually on state roads and not in the city\u2019s jurisdiction.<\/p>\n

The targeted crosswalks, a city traffic advisory said, \u201cwere originally implemented by the City of Orlando as part of our investments to increase safety and the visibility of pedestrians and cyclists. Per the orders from the state, these previously approved treatments must be replaced with traditional pavement markings.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SKIP,Justin Skipper, or SKIP, the artist that created the murals on the roads throughout downtown Orlando, poses for a photo at the intersection of Orange Avenue and and Church Street in downtown Orlando, on Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2025. (Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n

Orlando, the largest city in one of the nation\u2019s deadliest metro areas for pedestrians, embraced art as a safety feature to draw attention to crosswalks \u2013 pointing to studies showing places with asphalt art see fewer pedestrian crashes and higher rates of drivers yielding to people crossing streets.<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite the orders from the state, the city remains committed to working to create a safe environment for pedestrians, cyclists and all roadway users,\u201d the advisory reads.<\/p>\n

The state took matters into its own hands<\/a> with the city\u2019s most famous decorative crosswalk: a rainbow on Orange Avenue at Esther Street near the former Pulse nightclub.<\/p>\n

An FDOT crew painted over the rainbow just before midnight on Thursday \u2013 and workers were back again Saturday night after protestors repainted the rainbow.<\/p>\n

Correction: The city won\u2019t be painting over markings in Lake Nona. FDOT is responsible for those two locations.<\/p>\n

Originally Published: August 27, 2025 at 8:34 AM EDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Orlando dispatched crews Wednesday morning to begin painting over 14 of its decorative crosswalks depicting citrus slices, swans…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":114883,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[228,226,227,229,88,2808,2558,983,3,6011,13677,111,5262],"class_list":{"0":"post-114882","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-design","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-florida","14":"tag-latest-headlines","15":"tag-local-news","16":"tag-news","17":"tag-orange-county","18":"tag-orlando","19":"tag-politics","20":"tag-social"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114882","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114882"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114882\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}