DELRAY BEACH, Fla.(WSVN) — The Florida Department of Transportation has finished removing the Pride intersection in Delray Beach, as city officials said they will fight the removal, as state officials continue stripping the streets of rainbow crosswalks.
The Florida Department of Transportation was out Wednesday afternoon using sandblasters on the rainbow artwork located at Northeast First Street and Second Avenue in Delray Beach.
Nick Joyce, who works near the intersection, said the Pride intersection provided a positive message for residents.
“This is the arts district, so it was really nice to have that on there and really, just, kind of be very inclusive for everyone,” said Joyce. “It’s never been that big of a deal until now.”
FDOT officials said the artwork’s removal is due to the enforcement of a rule enforced by the state that requires the removal of any street art.
Crews initially painted over the Pride crosswalk early Tuesday morning.
Some city leaders call it a botched job covering up the rainbow that had been there, which left messy streaks of color across the crosswalk and forced the city’s commissioners to hold an emergency meeting to address the removal.
Commissioners ultimately voted to join Miami Beach and Fort Lauderdale in a lawsuit to fight the removal, arguing FDOT did not go through the legally required rule-making process.
“Your guess is as good as mine as to why they bothered painting it black. Seemed to be to send a message. It’s worth noting that they in no way coordinated with the city before doing this, they did not pull any sort of work permit, and they have shut down city streets to do this,” said Delray Beach Vice Mayor Rob Long.
Delray Beach Mayor Tom Carney said he believes the state’s enforcement doesn’t appear to be singling out the Pride artworks across the state.
“The state’s been pretty consistent. I mean, Daytona Beach had those two checkered flags on one of their intersections, which they made them remove,” said Delray Beach Mayor Tom Carney. “Up in Port St. Lucie, they had a tragic – little girl who was killed, and they had all these little hearts that was on the intersection which they removed. At least from the standpoint of my outside looking it appears to be an equal application of the rule.”
Carney argued efforts to prevent the street art’s removal will be difficult now that it’s been removed.
“There’s no real petition to have a hearing when there’s, to try to keep the street art, the street art is now gone,” said Carney.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has defended the removals, saying cities must comply with state law and insisting the directive will be enforced across the state.
“Guys, it’s gonna get done, we’re gonna follow the law and so, you can do it the easy way, you can do it the hard way,” said DeSantis.
The controversy has drawn attention across Florida after similar removals, including the rainbow crosswalk outside the Pulse nightclub memorial in Orlando, which honors the 49 people killed in the 2016 massacre at the LGBTQ-friendly nightclub.
Key West’s Pride crosswalk was removed early Tuesday morning.
FDOT said there’s four street markings in Fort Lauderdale that need to be removed, with only one of those being LGBTQ-related.
The vice mayor said they will continue to fight this with an administrative judge to determine if the City of Delray Beach will be allowed to repaint the crosswalk if they win their case.
“Our job is to protect Delray Beach, protect our right to govern ourselves and to protect our residents,” said Long.
Carney said that although the state appears to be enforcing their rule against street art equally, the city relies on state funding and can’t afford to risk losing that support.
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