Fort Lauderdale officials argued Monday morning in Orlando that the city should be able to keep the artistic crosswalks and markings targeted for removal by state transportation officials.
The hearing was the latest “informal” meeting granted by the Florida Department of Transportation as it seeks to have rainbow and artistic markings wiped from streets and crosswalks across the state.
FDOT initially identified four colored intersections in Fort Lauderdale as targeted for removal, and then widened its crackdown to 11. However one of those – at Las Olas Boulevard and Southeast Third Avenue – was paved over earlier this year as part of a road improvement project.
That factual discrepancy, an attorney representing the city contended, was reason enough to have a formal hearing and interview witnesses.
Denise Johnson, an attorney representing FDOT, contended listing an already-repainted roadway wasn’t an important distinction, and doesn’t change the agency’s directive.
“If it’s not traffic control, it doesn’t belong on Florida roadways,” she said.
The hearing officer, an employee of FDOT, agreed with the state and rejected Fort Lauderdale’s request. Ultimately, no decision was made Monday and both the agency and Fort Lauderdale have until end of day Thursday to submit their preferred final order.
But attorney Howard Dubosar, who represented Fort Lauderdale on Monday as well as Delray Beach and Key West in similar informal proceedings, said he suspected a formal hearing will ultimately be required by an appellate court.
“If we’re not granted a formal hearing today …. We’re going to be back here for a formal hearing based on those appellate decisions,” he said.
In such a hearing, Fort Lauderdale would show data revealing the artistic murals improved safety.
In Orlando, city officials have similar data showing more people used the painted crosswalks and did so safely. At the Pulse rainbow crosswalk painted in 2017, just four crashes were investigated in its 8-year existence on a major road that has about 30,000 vehicles per day in that area.
Crosswalks and decorative street designs became a flashpoint in Florida on Aug. 21, when Orlando residents learned the Florida Department of Transportation, overnight, had painted over the rainbow crosswalk outside Pulse.
Since then, the department has ordered other cities to remove rainbows and other painted designs from their roads and even covered over the checkered flag crosswalks outside the Daytona International Speedway.
On Sept. 2, Delray Beach made a similar argument to Fort Lauderdale at its own informal hearing in Orlando, but was denied. Just hours after receiving the rejection, FDOT covered its rainbow intersection overnight.
Orlando itself chose a different tack, deciding to hire a contractor to cover its artistic crosswalks – mainly in downtown, but also, elsewhere – and seek an exception for the rainbow that was painted on Orange Avenue at Esther Street outside the Pulse memorial.
So far, the state hasn’t responded to a letter sent last month by Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, a city official said.
