In downtown Orlando — and across the state — brightly colored pavement art is disappearing, painted over or blasted away in obedience to a pointless, dishonest dictate from Tallahassee. If you’re outraged, now is the time to speak up — because it’s clear that Gov. Ron DeSantis and his minion-infested state government won’t stop until they’re forced to do so.
It’s important to understand that the current controversy over pavement-painting is about more than the loss of beauty, particularly in areas with high emotional impact. That includes the crosswalk adjacent to the site of the Pulse nightclub that the state vandalized Aug. 21, covering the rainbow-hued squares of paint with black.
Pulse crosswalk: State vandalism won’t dim Orlando’s colors | Editorial
This is just one example of ugly authoritarianism that ignores the law, threatens brutal retaliation against anyone who resists, and uses blatant lies to support its vicious overreach. As of Friday afternoon, Florida Highway Patrol officers were threatening to arrest people who registered their outrage with impermanent chalk in the Pulse pedestrian walkway that spans Esther Street near Orange Avenue — ignoring a precedent ruling that punished government officials who used arrest as a means to suppress chalked protest slogans in front of City Hall. (That city was Orlando, in 2011. The city racked up six-figure legal bills before tacitly admitting it had been wrong to arrest Timothy Osmar, then a 25-year-old homeless man who was part of the Occupy Wall Street movement.)
Many Central Floridians are already fighting back against the Pulse crosswalk destruction with more than cartons of sidewalk chalk. We’ve seen signs, pavement painting and rainbow flags sprouting in the yards of homes and parking lots of private businesses. And this topic is still sparking passionate discussions with co-workers, friends and family about implications that reach beyond the application of paint to pavement.
Meanwhile, locals should fight back by taking the governor to court each and every time he steps outside the legal boundaries of his own power.
Start with the lies
From the start of the crosswalk controversy, state officials have failed to keep their stories straight. U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy launched the current debate with a message to states, warning them to remove any painted art from crosswalks and roads that didn’t strictly comply with USDOT standards. That was an overstatement of the law, which allows local jurisdictions discretion. And Duffy’s pretense that he was concerned about safety quickly evaporated after his statements on social media made it clear that he was targeting “political” speech, specifically mentioning rainbow crosswalks. The rainbow, of course, is closely affiliated with the push for civil rights for LGBTQ+ people.
In the weeks after Duffy’s pronouncement, state and federal officials have yet to produce a shred of evidence that pavement art makes roads or intersections less safe. In fact, there’s a significant body of research demonstrating that painted crosswalks and other road painting makes intersections safer, says Tony Garcia, the Miami-based principal engineer of the national organization Street Plans. A growing body of evidence suggests that crashes are reduced at intersections that have been painted with decorative art, he said, as are suspected “near-misses” where collisions are narrowly averted.
Many intersection installations have been created to direct traffic in safer ways, using paint on pavement as a substitute for concrete barriers and directional signs. There’s also evidence, Garcia says, that pavement art tends to slow down drivers.
That’s backed by a study by Bloomberg Philanthropies, which issued a 2022 report finding that pavement painting influenced drivers, bicyclists and pedestrians, reducing crashes between pedestrians and cars by 50%, with a 37% reduction in the number of crashes with injuries.
As a result, many transportation officials encouraged the installation of street art — including rainbow crosswalks. Orlando’s efforts went far beyond the Pulse intersection, decorating city streets with pavement murals depicting milk cartons, oranges and swans. Notably, the state Department of Transportation re-painted the Pulse crosswalk less than a year ago, complete with the rainbow colors.
Demands backed by threats
Now DeSantis and the Florida Department of Transportation want Floridians to ignore that evidence and forget that asphalt art was approved and even praised just a few months ago. In an attempt to disguise their political, anti-diversity agenda, they’ve ordered all forms of asphalt art to be destroyed.
Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer and other city leadership made the difficult, but probably correct, call to comply with state orders in the short term. DeSantis has proven, time and again, that he will visit swift retaliation on any local government official who defies his wishes.
The initial letter that the Florida DOT sent out threatened cities with the loss of state funding if they didn’t comply. But there’s a recent local example demonstrating that the governor is willing to go much further. In 2023, he used made-up statistics — supplied by the Osceola County Sheriff’s Department — to accuse Orange/Osceola State Attorney Monique Worrell of being incompetent and dropping cases against violent offenders. As a result, he removed her from office – and didn’t relent after the Orlando Sentinel took a look at the claims, finding many cases where her office was clearly not at fault.
Local city and county officials are right to be concerned that DeSantis will quickly strip them of office. This isn’t just about self-preservation. Local leaders have to recognize that anyone DeSantis appoints to replace them will be primed to carry out his agenda — even if it’s anathema to local voters.
But DeSantis can’t move as easily against officials who exercise their constitutional right to take him to court. And they should do so — starting with Orlando. There are valid reasons to assume the governor has seriously overstepped the legislative and judicial boundaries on his power. Challenging him in court is the best remedy.
In the meantime, however, local residents should continue to fight back in more visible ways that don’t expose them to the potential of arrest.
That resistance started strong. Within hours of the state’s desecration of the Pulse rainbow crosswalk — as hundreds of people gathered, attired in defiant rainbow colors, to listen to local leaders talk about their anger and grief. But they kept looking to the sky — where a vibrant natural rainbow spanned stormclouds and arced toward heaven.
It was a message, and one that should resonate: Be unafraid. Fight back against hatred and injustice. Have faith that love will eventually prevail. And show the governor that, even under threat, Orlando’s colors don’t run.
The Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Opinion Editor Krys Fluker, Executive Editor Roger Simmons and Viewpoints Editor Jay Reddick. Contact us at insight@orlandosentinel.com
