Downtown Gainesville’s three rainbow crosswalks and other GreenShare bike lane markings will be removed following the City Commission’s unanimous vote to comply with a state memorandum during a regular meeting on Thursday.
The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) sent the memorandum to district transportation engineers on June 30, stating that all traffic control devices, including pavement surface markings, must comply with FDOT standards.
According to the memorandum, non-compliant surface pavement includes bicycle symbols, crosswalk markings and “other pavement surface art that is associated with social, political or ideological messages or images and does not serve the purpose of traffic control.”
Although a public agency can lose state funding if it fails to comply, it can request permission to keep the pavement markings if it can demonstrate good reasons why it should.
City staff said they were waiting for direction from the commission after members of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) brought up the markings during their visit to Gainesville last week.
“I don’t think this is a cooperative move or effort between different levels of government to improve safety or make our communities great places to live,” said Commissioner Casey Willits. “I believe it’s a knee-jerk reaction that serves no one.”
Citizens packed City Hall into overflow space in the basement on Thursday, with many objecting to the memorandum and remembering the legacy of former Pride Community Center of North Central Florida director Terry Fleming, who worked to get the rainbow crosswalks installed in October 2019.
Willits originally made a motion to ask FDOT’s permission to keep the non-compliant crosswalk marks, saying the memorandum lacked nuance, such as for non-state-owned roads with speed limits of 25 miles per hour or less.
The commission’s concerns over not wanting to lose more state funding during a tight budget season killed the motion.
The commission then passed a motion by Commissioner Cynthia Chestnut to update any non-conforming traffic control devices to be in accordance with FDOT standards.
Commissioners Desmon Duncan-Walker and James Ingle were absent from the meeting.
The City Commission also passed Commissioner Bryan Eastman’s motion to direct staff to return to the commission in October during LGBTQ+ history month, after collaborating with the Gainesville Art and Public Places Trust for ideas on relocating the rainbow art installation. Willits motioned to rename a portion of First Street after Terry Fleming.
“I would love for us to find ways to poke a bear, but that is not what we want to do in this situation, in my opinion,” said Mayor Harvey Ward. “I would urge everyone to remember exactly how we got here, both the good and the bad, and carry it with you to the voting booth when you get that opportunity.”
The commission also moved to table voting on proposed Regional Transit System (RTS) changes for fall 2025 until Aug. 14 after budget meetings, which could reveal areas to provide more funding for the transportation service.
The proposed service route reductions come after UF’s contributions decreased from 49.2% of RTS’s total funding sources in the 2024 budget to a projected 36.9% in 2025 ($14,050,715 to $9,940,858) and reduced routes from 38 to 27. The reductions cut the total weekday revenue hours by over 30%, decreased RTS service frequency and called for more route reconfigurations.
Additional documents indicate the cuts are likely to carry into other semesters and that UF’s Transportation and Parking Services department will continue to provide transit services to its population that previously accessed those routes through RTS.
Eastman said of all the budget cuts the commission is having to make, the ones to RTS services hurt him the most because it’s one of the best transit systems in the state, based on usage.
Ward said the cuts are also especially inconvenient after UF eliminated work-from-home schedules.
“When you see more cars on the road, when you wonder why it takes you longer to get where you used to be able to go very quickly, this is why,” he said. “When a funding partner yanks out a huge chunk of the funding, you damage the system, and you can’t necessarily get back to that level of service.”
The commission also unanimously voted during a quasi-judicial public hearing to change the land use of 5.81 acres near 100 SE 10th Ave. — the city’s former RTS charging station — from public and institutional facilities and rezone it to limited industrial designations.
The Knot Climbing Gym, which proposed to purchase the RTS building in 2023, plans to build a new gym that would feature an Olympic-sized climbing wall.
Although the commission voiced that it did not want to prohibit new housing with the industrial designation, some argued it had set a precedent with previous rezonings that steered the gym’s owners and city staff towards an industrial application.
To keep from delaying The Knot’s project with reapplication, the commission approved the land use and rezoning to change the surrounding areas to mixed-use or other residential-friendly options down the road.
“I’m incredibly excited about this whole project,” Eastman said. “It’s a very cool extension of Depot Park…I think there might be some ways to thread the needle here that would allow that while still maintaining the integrity of that area. I don’t want to see the long-term vision of South Main continue to be in industrial zoning.”
The Knot owner, Mike Palmer, said the gym intends to break ground in summer 2026.
Editor’s Note: This story was updated to remove an incorrect deadline for the crosswalk removal.
Wow, the GOP are such a joke.
Not funny anymore. Just plain evil.
The point of removing bike lane markers and green painted bike lanes is what? And just what made rainbow markings ‘dangerous’???
GOP thought police at work. The crosswalks have been here without inncident or complaint by DOT since 2019.
Of course the road markings should be FDOT compliant, this is a non-issue, instead of trying to make a political statement…
Studies conducted by the National Academies of Science and Engineering and other agencies show that the kinds of markings being removed improve safety. Therefore, the effort to remove the markings is political, not safety related.
Painting them is political, not safety related
In 2019, the installation of the rainbow crosswalks was funded by the Pride Community Center. In 2025, their removal has to be funded by the city, and it’s going to be costly. Citizens learned at yesterday’s meeting that while one crosswalk is on concrete and can be painted over, the other 2 are on brick streets, and the color was applied via thermoplastic. The city will have to spend substantial time and money figuring out how to remove it.
Thermo plastic, what about the Gainesville Sea turtles….?
So glad that the Republican DOGE is addressing issues of such high priority to all Floridians. Projecting dominance by getting rid of those rainbow crosswalks and green initiative markings makes us all feel so safe and prosperous. Jobs, healthcare, insurance, etc. are just trivial distractions from this more important work.
The reporter in me would ask why, if the City of Gainesville found the ceramic brick rainbow crosswalks to be important to our community, would the commission quickly accede to the state’s view that they do not “serve the purpose” of traffic control? And, if the state invites appeal by cities “that can demonstrate good reasons” to depart from the DOT rule, why not demonstrate the good reasons? In a social media post, Mayor Ward cited data that show “graphic representations in crosswalks” make them safer. Why would the commission unanimously and quickly abandon its previous commitment to colorful, effective traffic safety? Might the cost of a few hours of legal advice save the considerable expense of tearing up, removing and replacing all those colorful bricks? As an added benefit, might a reasoned, thoughtful resistance to this “new rule” better cement the mortar that binds community?
Great questions GN. They may be a bit anxious with the other reviews being done.
odd how the state government is using OUR money to force compliance.
Why not? It’s our money that put them there…
Gainesville’s woke policies all need to be reviewed! The city has become so path ethic since I lived there in the 70’s and 80’s!
Path ethic?
What are some of Gainesville’s “woke” policies? I grew up in Gainesville, graduated from UF. My dad was a tenured professor who worked on the City Urban Planning and played a big role in the desegregation of the city. In the 1960’s he helped recruit Ivey League professors and researchers in part by showing them Gainesville was liberal and progressive-“woke.” And despite having terrible far-right extremist governors and their culture wars, Gainesville continues to be a liberal/progressive oasis.
and the wok policies are…??? You don’t know, do you?
Why not raiinbow-stripe all the SIDEWALKS around, say, Bo Diddlly Plaza and all the gov’t building in town? Does FDOT regulate sidewalks, too?
Oops. Looks like even sidewalks are FDOT regulated! CRAZYY!!!!! https://www.yourobserver.com/news/2025/jul/28/sarasota-street-art-ban/
Looks like it does. Sarasota determined its sidewalk art needed to be removed.
Commissioner Willits says removing them “serves no one”. Correction Mr. Commissioner, removing them serves me. I am offended and sickened every time I have to see a gay advertisement displayed in public places where I live or visit. I’m sick of it. We are suffering from “gay fatigue”. Gays can do anything they want in the privacy of their own homes so why is it acceptable, even applauded to put advertisements all over every city of a particular sexual practice? Let them paint their houses, fly their flags or whatever else on their own property. Not on public roadways and buildings where it does nothing but offend a large portion of the citizens who live and work and pay taxes here.
People are suffering from fatigue, but it’s from a 34x convicted felon’s assault on our democracy, his illegal racial profiling and brutal removing/deporting people of color without due process, the chaos of the Trump regime… “Offend a large portion of citizens..” Don’t flatter yourself if you think a large portion shares your homophobia and hate. That’s so 1950s. You should be sickened by a fascist who’s sexually assaulted multiple woman and girls, who’s tanking our economy and is actively trying to steal the next election.
Can we also lobby to take down all religious symbols? Such paganism and superstition is surely offensive to all people currently living in the 21st century. Will you reply that that’s protected by our Constitution? So is the free speech demonstrated by a rainbow.
This is crazy! FDOT issues a ‘standards’ book each year and is made available to contractors, civil/traffic engineers and others. Every year something changes and they normally highlight those in a synopsis. Who is advising the CC and CM? Did they not know of the state standards? Did the standards change from 2019 as far as patterned crosswalks and markings for ‘bike boulevards’? If so, then the City should have been made aware then, not years later. Incompetence!
This is worse than sad. What ever happened to “home rule”?
Where are the intersections (cross streets)?
When you back down in the face of bullying, you encourage the bullies to come at you harder. The only way to respond to this obvious attempt by Florida’s state government to chip away at the visibility (and rights) of our LGBTQ+ sisters and brothers was to stand firm. I am deeply disappointed by the City Commission’s willingness to cave. No guts — no glory — just shame.
We should allow freedom of expression in our crosswalks regardless of whether they are for Traffic Control. I move that we immediately allow corporations or whoever can afford to start having crosswalks painted start advertising. McD! Walmart! Wells Fargo! The city could actually make money!
I support the LGBTQ+ community, but for me a traditional zebra crossing is more visible than a rainbow one. A mural would be great to honor the community. However, no need to throw away the baby with the bath water. The Green Lanes are so much better than regular asphalt and they make the biking lanes much more visible. Sadly, the city has to spend money NOW to get this fixed. When the state has to release funds for disasters or education, they can take as long as they want. But if they want to force a non-emergency issue with political bents, then it must be done immediately and everything else has to stop – or they punish out of proportion. So they force us to pull the funding and get the crews that are fixing roads and potholes out of scheduled maintenance jobs and tend to this issue right away. Sad and petty.