On September 5th, a crew was sent over with paint rollers to remove North A Street’s “Black Lives Matter” mural. In 15 minutes, the mural was gone. The mural, painted in 2020, was one of several street art pieces throughout Florida that were removed at the request of the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT). Some more of the art removed included police memorials in Tampa and even Orlando’s rainbow crosswalk outside of the Pulse nightclub. The FDOT’s new requests have left communities with drastically different opinions, leaving people divided on the topic of free speech and public safety.
It all started with a new law that mandates all Florida cities must follow national standards for features such as road markings, highway signs, and traffic signals. In the summer of this year, Governor Ron DeSantis signed it into law, incorporating the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, or MUTCD for short. The consequence for not following the new guidelines was the withholding of funding from the state. In addition to the streets, the FDOT banned art in other public road spaces, such as sidewalks and intersections. In doing so, the incorporation of the manual makes for stricter and tighter regulations in its standards.
A memo was sent out in July, stating that any street art with “social, political, or ideological messages” must be removed. The state claims that the art is a safety issue, and the streets shouldn’t be used for political messages. Florida’s streets should be used for pedestrians and cars, not political ideologies (according to the new laws). All cities were given 60 days to remove any street art or murals. Some cities, such as Tampa and Sarasota, were quick to comply with the new requests. Others, like our own, did not meet the required time frame, and instead, state workers removed the art. Even Gulf Breeze was told to remove their green sidewalks, despite the fact their objective was to create safe walkways around the city.
Following the removal of all street art, some citizens are concerned that this is a violation of First Amendment rights. Free speech has been an issue, especially since all kinds of art have been required to be removed. Different organizations have protested the new protocol by speaking out or finding other ways to provide art in their respective cities. Others believe that the right thing to do is to comply with the new state regulations and not put up a fight. Specifically, some believe that the state’s taxes should not go to public street art, but to safer streets. To resist the memos means the cutting of funding for the city, and because of recent circumstances of budget cuts, many cities cannot stand to lose more state funding.
As it stands right now, there is no indication that any streets will be restored to what they were. To reassure minds, cities have explained that communities are not losing all forms of art, and there are plenty of other public spaces to freely express yourself. For now, the murals have been painted over like new, making street art a thing of the past in Florida.
