As part of the Florida Department of Transportation’s mandate to erase all street murals—aimed mostly at rainbow crosswalks—Tampa’s pro-cop “Bock the Blub” is saying blubbye.
The city will begin removing 47 street murals this week, along with FDOT workers. The project is expected to take two weeks, mostly happening overnight, Tampa’s infrastructure and mobility spokesperson Joshua Cascio told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay. He encouraged residents to get involved with the city’s other public art programs.
“This doesn’t mean art is disappearing from Tampa,” Cascio said in a statement first reported by Shauna Muckle. “We continue to encourage and celebrate community art projects in spaces where they can truly shine. Let’s keep Tampa colorful together.”
Cascio did not provide the order for mural removal or how much the project will cost the city. [content-3] St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch on Monday told reporters that the city won’t fight FDOT, but won’t have city workers take down its street murals, including the Progressive Pride rainbow and The Woodson African American Museum’s “Black History Matters.”
After mandating that municipalities get rid of their own street murals, last week FDOT erased a rainbow crosswalk in Orlando honoring Pulse victims.
Tampa’s Black Lives Matter murals were approved by the city as part of Mayor Jane Castor’s “Art on the Block” program.
The infamous ‘Bock the Blub’ outside Tampa Police headquarters was painted illegally. The mural, located in front of at 411 N Franklin St., was created on Aug. 1, 2020, at the height of the George Floyd civil rights protests.
Retired Tampa Police Chief Brian Dugan was still leading the force at the time, but retired a year later. Less than a year after hanging up the badge, Dugan told CL that while the folks painting it might’ve had good intentions, it ended up looking like “a first grader’s art project.”
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