St. Petersburg’s Pride crosswalk mural was painted on the corner of Central Avenue N and 25th Street S on May 30, 2024. Credit: Photo by Photo by Maria Flanagan/City of St. Petersburg

St. Petersburg residents will rally at City Hall tomorrow before City Council discusses the Florida Department of Transportation’s recent mandate to get rid of street murals, including rainbow crosswalks and Black Lives Matter painted streets.

Rally organizer Brian Longstreth, a realtor and creator of gaystpete.com, told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay that the action is not a protest and that he believes most of City Council is ready to fight the mandate.

“We’re hoping to be in cooperation with City Council and encourage them to say, ‘No let’s study it, let’s fight it, let’s not roll over,’” Longstreth said.

He is running a petition calling on St. Pete officials to push back on FDOT’s demands, and is encouraging residents to give public comment during Thursday’s open forum.

“A lot of things need to be more researched before scraping up history and diversity,” Longstreth added.

The Council will vote tomorrow on member Brandi Gabbard’s request that the issue be taken up by the Housing, Land Use, and Transportation Committee to discuss “collaboration between the Administration and City Council regarding plans to comply with the memo’s requirements regarding the prohibition of pavement and surface art.

She also called for a presentation to include “options for displaying other forms of placemaking and public art that:

Support the expression of history or community commemoration.

Have a clear connection to business districts or other identifiable areas.”

Gabbard did not respond to CL’s request for comment.

St. Pete Public Information Officer Samantha Bequer previously told CL that the city intended to comply with FDOT’s request, but was looking to see if some public art might qualify for an exception.

St. Petersburg City Council member Gina Driscoll represents downtown, where the city’s rainbow crosswalks and “Black History Matters” murals are.

When asked if she is attempting to push back against the removal, Driscoll sent Creative Loafing the following statement:

“Creative tools such as street murals are used by many cities to improve traffic safety while beautifying neighborhoods. I’m hopeful that the Administration will demonstrate this value and request an exception so that our street murals can remain in place.”

Tampa, Sarasota and several other Florida cities have agreed to comply with FDOT’s mandate, which came with a threat of revoking state transportation funds.

Key West has been Florida’s only vocal outlier. On Aug. 6, its City Commission unanimously voted in a proclamation honoring the city’s rainbow crosswalks and a resolution directing its City Attorney to fight for their protection and reach out to other affected municipalities for possible collaboration

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