Staff Reports
Axios reports that two Bay Area pastors were arrested on Friday night as the state of Florida’s war on public art and protest continues.
Rev. Andy Oliver and Rev. Benedict Atherton-Zeman, of Allendale United Methodist Church and the Unitarian Universalist Church of St. Petersburg respectively, allegedly sat down on 9th Avenue South and refused police orders to stop blocking the roadway protesting the removal of a “Black History Matters” mural.
The preachers were booked in Pinellas County jail Friday night and released at 5 a.m. after paying $500 bail.
St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch conceded this week that the city had no recourse when it came to blocking the state Department of Transportation from removing that and other street murals, and urged people upset to “obey the law” and not “take the bait.”
“As Mayor of our city, I will not risk these essential investments in a fight that I don’t believe we can win,” Welch said. “That would be irresponsible leadership and detrimental to our city in the long run.”
The intersections in question are at Central Avenue and 5th Street North; 6th Avenue and 2nd Street South; 9th Avenue and 22nd Lane South; Central Avenue and 25th Street North; and 11th Avenue and 46th Street South.
The inclusive Pride flag design is located at the Central Avenue intersection in Grand Central, while the Black History Matters mural is at 9th Avenue South in the Deuces.
The mural at 6th Avenue South, known as the Fluid Structures mural, is located at the University of South Florida St. Pete campus and was created by students “to reflect a new generation’s vision for St. Pete,” Welch said. It is not representative of the LGBTQ+ community or the Black Lives Matter movement, rather a series of brightly colored shapes and designs.
Another mural, located on Central Avenue in downtown St. Pete, is known as the Common Ground mural. It includes brightly colored geometric shapes that actually decreased traffic accidents at the intersection by 70%, according to Welch.
The Crux mural in Child’s Park, which was painted with local children, was designed specifically to reduce speed and increase safety for drivers, pedestrians and cyclists.
3 comments
rbruce
August 30, 2025 at 12:11 pm
Self promotion to attract new members to their church. Simply a marketing action. There is nothing in the Bible that says, “Thou shall paint political message on thine public streets.” Bible does say, “They say to him: Caesar’s. Then he saith to them: Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and to God, the things that are God’s.”
[Matthew 22:21]
Ron Ogden
August 30, 2025 at 1:48 pm
When they paint their respective churches in radical rainbow colors, then I will say they may actually believe what they claim to believe.
Larry Gillis, Director-at-Large, Libertarian Party of Florida
August 30, 2025 at 2:56 pm
NO MESSAGING ON PUBLIC STREETS
All of the taxpayers created and paid for the spaces in question. NO values — however benign or however stupid — should be put there. Governments should not be in a position to peddle values there; neither should a private group.
Vote Libertarian.