Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) District 2 Secretary Greg Evans announced a Sept. 4 deadline for the city of Gainesville to remove three rainbow crosswalks from downtown streets.
In a letter sent Thursday evening, Evans said the department appreciates the city’s previous vote to comply with FDOT’s order. Gainesville’s decision to remove the sidewalks came after the state department sent notices to cities across Florida announcing that rainbow sidewalks and other street art fell outside FDOT’s traffic control device standards.
FDOT has already removed crosswalks in other cities, and Evans reiterated in his letter that state funding would be cut if the city failed to comply by the deadline. The state actions come after the federal government also announced it would withhold funding because of political messages or artwork on streets.
Gainesville residents rallied in protest last week.
However, Evans’ letter also included two new considerations for Gainesville officials: notice that FDOT would personally remove the crosswalks if the city didn’t, and notice that a hearing is available to challenge FDOT’s actions.
First, Evans said that FDOT would personally remove the crosswalks from the city’s streets if the city failed to meet the September deadline. Evans asked the city to immediately let FDOT know when the crosswalks had been removed so the department could mark Gainesville as compliant.
“If we do not hear from you, the pavement markings referenced above will be removed by the Department of Transportation without further notice,” Evans said.
Evans said the cost to remove the crosswalks would be billed to the city.
Gainesville officials said they would comply, but, without a deadline at the time, planned to take their time and ensure the bricks are removed without damage for future memorials or projects.
Mayor Harvey Ward asked city staff at a Thursday meeting about the possibility of FDOT acting on its own. Ward pointed to the state’s nighttime action in Orlando to remove a rainbow crosswalk in honor of the Pulse shooting victims.
Bryan Singleton, Gainesville’s special adviser on infrastructure, told the City Commission that the Orlando crosswalk was located on a state road, giving FDOT authority to alter the section. He said the state typically refrains from personally changing roadways under county or city control.
Ward said he’d hate for the city to pause the work, thinking FDOT had given it time, and then show up one morning and find the crosswalks gone.
Second, Evans announced in the letter a hearing option to appeal the crosswalk removal decision.
But Evans seems to squash any hope of keeping the crosswalks.
“Please be advised that the hearing will not involve a request for an exception or waiver to permit the nonconforming pavement markings to remain in place,” he said in the letter. “The Department has already reviewed the pavement markings at the location(s) mentioned above and determined that the pavement markings will not be allowed.”
A request for a hearing must come within 14 days and include an explanation of how the city’s rights or interests will be affected by FDOT’s action, all of the facts in the notice the city disagrees with, facts that justify a change to FDOT’s action and the rules or statutes you believe justify a change.
After receiving the letter, Ward told Mainstreet that the hearing process would be a wild goose chase. He said the hearing option is only being offered to make FDOT seem like it was more considerate in the process.
“We plan to remove the crosswalks per the instructions of FDOT, and I don’t think this changes anything,” Ward said. “I think it’s very clear that there’s no leeway on this.”
Ward said he’d rather Gainesville work to remove the crosswalks by the deadline, so the city has control of the process. He said the City Commission likely won’t meet again before the removal begins.
Achaia Brown, FDOT transportation planning manager, told the Gainesville Metropolitan Transportation Planning Organization on Tuesday that the department’s new direction includes more than just rainbow sidewalks.
She said the FDOT must remove custom markings that it created, approved and placed in state roadways.
“We’re all being impacted by this new action,” Brown told the board.
Around Gainesville, bike boulevard markings (large green rectangles with a white bike) must also be removed from vehicle lanes.
Gainesville Commissioner Casey Willits told Brown that it’s helpful to know FDOT projects have also been included. He said many think that those projects are collateral in a push against LGBT markings, like the rainbow crosswalks.
Commissioner James Ingle added that it’s all part of a culture war being waged. At Gainesville’s Thursday meeting, he said the city must respond, even if it means renaming the Regional Transit System to Rainbow Transit System or Gainesville Regional Utilities to Gainesville Rainbow Utilities.
Ward told city and county commissioners that FDOT’s actions have nothing to do with safety and the local response must be multifaceted. He said if the city plans only one response to the crosswalks, the state will shut down that response as well.
“It needs to be multiple next steps,” Ward said. “We need to be like water. We need to find more and more and more and different ways to embrace our entire community.”