Confronted with backlash over the state ordering cities to take away LGBTQ+ rainbow crosswalks and different ornamental road artwork, Gov. Ron DeSantis has repeatedly cited a brand new Florida regulation that he mentioned requires these removals.
However legislators from each side of the aisle mentioned the regulation the governor is pointing to incorporates no specific language banning roadway artwork.
DeSantis has defended the state’s removals and orders to get rid of nonetheless extra asphalt artwork by pointing to the Florida Legislature, emphasizing that the state Senate unanimously handed a transportation regulation earlier this yr.
The suggestion is that lawmakers are those who took the motion ensuing within the elimination of the rainbow crosswalks and different road artwork.
It has been DeSantis’ Florida Division of Transportation ordering the removing of such artwork shows.
Senate Democratic Chief Lori Berman, of Palm Seashore County, mentioned “it appears to me that he wasn’t anticipating the backlash FDOT has acquired, so now he’s utilizing a bad-faith argument to shift the blame for his or her actions.”
DeSantis’ remarks
The governor talked about the Legislature a number of instances this previous week whereas addressing the street-art problem.
“So the Legislature handed a change in regulation not too long ago which mentioned there’s no road artwork allowed and the Division of Transportation put out steerage,” DeSantis mentioned Wednesday. “We’re going to observe the regulation,” he added. “We’re simply going to abide by the regulation.”
On Tuesday, he mentioned, “The Florida Legislature handed a regulation,” “There was enacted,” “The Legislature handed it,” and “All they’re doing is simply imposing the regulation that had been handed.”
“There’s legal guidelines which can be on the books that I implement that I could not absolutely agree with, however I took an oath to do it and in order that’s the way in which the cookie crumbles, and so however there was a change in regulation,” DeSantis mentioned. The governor signed the laws in query into regulation, one thing he acknowledged.
The implication conveyed by the governor’s model of occasions doesn’t absolutely align with what occurred, in accordance with interviews with state lawmakers in each events, a evaluate of laws and workers analyses, and official movies of proceedings in legislative committees and within the full Florida Senate and Home of Representatives.
The laws in query was an omnibus measure that contained many provisions, a lot of them tweaks to current state statutes governing a variety of Florida Division of Transportation actions.
A lot of the 87-page Senate Invoice 1662 was mundane, although some features weren’t. It required recipients of transportation funding to adjust to state vitality coverage. A provision eliminating some elements of transportation regulation making use of to minority- and women-owned companies, was the one topic of controversy and debate on the ground of the Home of Representatives, and the explanation seven Home members voted “no.”
Sponsors of the laws, then-state Sen. Jay Collins and state Rep. Shane Abbott, each Republicans, didn’t say something about crosswalks, intersections or road artwork throughout public committee conferences or full Senate and Home debate. Collins was appointed by the governor on Aug. 12 to fill the vacant workplace of lieutenant governor.
The ultimate transportation package deal adopted by lawmakers contained no specific language banning road artwork.
Florida state lawmakers mentioned the part of the regulation DeSantis and his Transportation Secretary Jared Perdue are citing for the brand new crackdown on road artwork has lengthy existed. One part coping with removing of “any purported site visitors management machine” had a minor tweak, with 4 phrases deleted and 7 phrases added.
‘None of this got here up’
Berman was considered one of a number of lawmakers who mentioned the removing of crosswalks and different street portray was “completely not” mentioned by legislators. “I actually would have remembered it, and I’ve no reminiscence of this being mentioned in any respect.”
State Rep. Chip LaMarca, a Broward Republican and chair of the Home Financial Infrastructure Subcommittee, with jurisdiction over transportation, mentioned crosswalks or painted streets “by no means” got here up amongst lawmakers on this yr’s legislative session. “It was by no means introduced up or talked about by anyone,” he added.
LaMarca mentioned he spoke with Perdue “a number of instances” in regards to the transportation secretary’s priorities this yr and there was “by no means something like this” concerned in these discussions.
Berman and state Sen. Shevrin Jones, a Miami-Dade County Democrat, mentioned if the difficulty had come up in any method in anyway, the routine invoice wouldn’t have simply handed the Senate.
“None of this got here up,” Jones mentioned. “It will not have been a unanimous vote if we knew the governor was going to make use of that language for his political expediency.”
State Rep. Kelly Skidmore of Palm Seashore County, the Home Democratic coverage chair, mentioned the statute cited by the governor “was current regulation.” Regulating the crosswalks and road portray was one thing FDOT might have performed all alongside, she mentioned.
“The explanation that they’re utilizing that authority is due to political stress that stems from (Washington), D.C., and the governor,” Skidmore mentioned. “The governor can say, ‘Oh the Legislature modified the regulation.’ Definitely not in 2025, we didn’t change the regulation. So if this was an issue for you (beforehand) in your administration, why are you solely doing it now?”
Sending a message
The difficulty started receiving public consideration on July 1, when President Donald Trump’s transportation secretary, Sean Duffy, decreed that satisfaction intersections don’t belong on public roads.
Writing on social media, Duffy mentioned that “Taxpayers count on their {dollars} to fund secure streets, not rainbow crosswalks.” Duffy additionally issued a press launch and a “Expensive Governor” letter giving states 60 days to determine places that warranted motion.
The subsequent day, Perdue endorsed Duffy’s assertion on social media. Perdue wasn’t pride-flag particular, however his message was clear. “Florida’s proactive efforts to make sure we preserve our transportation services free & away from political ideologies had been cemented into regulation by @GovRonDeSantis … & reemphasized in FDOT’s connected memo. Nice to now have our federal companions additionally aligned behind this similar commonsense coverage.”
Perdue connected a memorandum from considered one of his assistant secretaries that “all site visitors management gadgets, together with pavement surfacing markings, be compliant” with state guidelines.
Regardless of the directive from Duffy, The Related Press reported there’s no indication of any widespread actions to take away rainbow crossings outdoors of Florida.
Jones, the primary out LGBTQ+ member of the Florida Senate, mentioned taken in totality the conclusion is obvious. “It is a political resolution,” he mentioned. “Nobody requested for this.”
Residents and metropolis leaders in numerous elements of the state have responded in a different way. Boynton Seashore and West Palm Seashore, for instance, mentioned they’d rapidly adjust to state directions to take away their rainbow intersections, designed to point out help for his or her LGBTQ+ residents.
Delray Seashore is combating the efforts.
Additionally resisting are two cities in LaMarca’s district: Fort Lauderdale and Pompano Seashore.
Fort Lauderdale was ordered to take away the LGBTQ+ rainbow part of Sebastian Road, two intersections adorned with state-approved seascape scenes and midcentury fashionable colours and shapes on Breakers Avenue, and one different with a zigzag sample. And late Friday, it was ordered to take away shows at an further seven websites throughout the town. Pompano Seashore has geometrical designs and musical notes at intersections close to Metropolis Corridor.
Demonstrators gathered Monday night at Sebastian Road, which is painted just like the rainbow progress satisfaction flag close to Fort Lauderdale seashore, and on the rainbow-painted bridge that hyperlinks Fort Lauderdale and Wilton Manors.
On Wednesday night in Leon County, senior residents — some arriving with their walkers — turned out to stall a street crew’s efforts to take away a coloured crosswalk created in partnership with a close-by elementary faculty, the Tallahassee Democrat reported. It printed an image of 1 particular person mendacity down within the crosswalk in an act of civil disobedience.
Additionally Wednesday night in Fort Lauderdale, dozens of individuals, many against eradicating the asphalt artwork, signed as much as communicate at a particular assembly at which metropolis commissioners voted to battle the state order to take away its rainbow and non-rainbow road artwork.
LaMarca mentioned he “perceive(s) individuals’s considerations.” However as soon as it was clear the state was making use of the coverage broadly, not simply focusing on some intersections for political causes, he mentioned his considerations had been eased. “My largest concern is I wished to ensure it’s constant. It seems now it’s all kinds of messaging or artwork.”
“I absolutely help individuals’s means to share their artwork within the correct place,” LaMarca mentioned. He added he shares the Division of Transportation’s said concern about security of roadways and avoiding distractions.
He cited a doubtful Florida distinction. Florida commonly ranks among the many high 5 states for pedestrian deaths, which have elevated 75% nationally since 2010, in accordance with Good Development America, an advocacy group that promotes “equitable and sustainable improvement.”
Public security
Analysis has proven that ornamental crosswalks which can be being eliminated improve security as a result of they’re extra seen. A 2022 examine from Bloomberg Philanthropies discovered that “asphalt artwork” initiatives “can create safer, extra fascinating streets and public areas.”
Evaluating crash charges and conduct of pedestrians and motorists earlier than and after initiatives had been put in, “The evaluation discovered considerably improved security efficiency throughout a wide range of measures during times when asphalt artwork was put in.”
“We all know what’s killing individuals, issues like lack of visibility, elevated velocity, elevated car measurement,” mentioned Heidi Simon, director of thriving communities for Good Development America. “Regardless of realizing that these are a few of the largest contributing components … we’ve got not performed sufficient to vary the design of the environment to assist mitigate these danger components.”
Throughout Florida, designs and colours for a few of the asphalt artwork being eradicated beneath orders from the state transportation division had been beforehand accredited, and typically praised, by that exact same company.
Berman mentioned a number of of the crosswalks “have been beforehand accredited by FDOT and are confirmed to extend pedestrian security. The focusing on and removing of every little thing from memorials to youngsters’s art work is a politically motivated waste of taxpayer {dollars} that’s making our streets extra harmful.”
Orlando Sentinel workers author Skyler Swisher contributed to this report.
Political author Anthony Man could be reached at aman@sunsentinel.com and could be discovered @browardpolitics on Bluesky, Threads, Fb and Mastodon.