St. Pete’s Progressive Pride mural the last of 5 street artworks removed by state

The brightly colored mural punctuating the intersection of Central Avenue and 25th Street in the Grand Central District of St. Petersburg has been painted over, making it the last of five local pieces of street art the state targeted for removal.

The mural was iconic to its location, with its brightly colored stripes in the color of the progressive pride flag situated just steps away from a popular LGBTQ+ nightclub and other safe spaces for the community.

Its removal came in the dark of night — as others have — and just hours after scores of protesters gathered to cover the pavement surrounding the mural in sidewalk chalk, on property the state could not touch.

The state, led by an executive order from Gov. Ron DeSantis, targeted five street murals in the city, including the pride flag design in the Grand Central district and a Black History Matters street mural on the south side near the Woodson African American History Museum.

The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) removed the murals at the city’s expense.

The Black History Matters mural was removed over the weekend. Two local pastors — Revs. Andy Oliver and Benedict Atherton-Zeman of Allendale United Methodist Church and the Unitarian Universalist Church of St. Petersburg, respectively — were arrested after sitting on the location of the mural on 9th Avenue South and refusing police orders to stop blocking the roadway as they were protesting the mural’s removal. The pastors have since been released.

The other murals removed include the Fluid Structures mural located at the University of South Florida St. Pete campus, which was created by students; the Common Ground mural, which includes brightly colored geometric shapes that actually decreased traffic accidents at the intersection by 70%, according to Mayor Ken Welch; and the Crux mural in Child’s Park, which was painted with local children and was designed specifically to reduce speed and increase safety for drivers, pedestrians and cyclists.

Welch, speaking last week during a press conference at City Hall addressing the state’s intent to remove the murals, said the city did not have legal recourse to stop them.

“When FDOT informed us that our non-standard surface markings, our street murals, had to be removed, we pushed back, utilizing every viable tool available to us. We submitted the requested inventories, we requested exemptions, we consulted with our attorneys and spoke with our stakeholders,” Welch said.

“We also provided data that shows that the markings actually increased safety based on historical data before and after the installation of the subject art. We made it clear that these murals are more than paint on pavement. They are expressions of our community identity and values.”

Unfortunately, he added, “FDOT made their position clear,” threatening “millions of dollars in state transportation funding and potentially tens of millions more in broader state funding in other areas” if the city did not comply with removal.

Welch called it a fight the city can’t win, arguing it “would be irresponsible leadership and detrimental to our city in the long run” to defy the state’s order.

Instead, Welch said the city will fight back in other ways.

“We will build back stronger, and we will create new, even more powerful expressions of who we are, expressions that cannot be erased,” he said at the time.