You won’t see any more artistic crosswalks or street art in Tallahassee or anywhere else in Florida because of a new state law.
The Florida Department of Transportation sent removal notices to municipalities over the summer, saying the change was necessary for safety.
“We’re not doing the commandeering of the roads to put up messaging,” Gov. Ron Desantis said in August.
DeSantis said street art of any kind will not be tolerated under the law. “They're doing it uniformly throughout the state. I think the street art got out of hand. I think it's much better that we use crosswalks and streets for their intended purpose.”
DeSantis said the new law includes public roadways, intersections, crosswalks, and sidewalks. Over 400 street art locations were targeted for removal statewide.
“The reason we started our artistic crosswalk initiative is we were looking at ways to improve safety; safety for the drivers, but also safety for pedestrians and people cycling or looking at different ways to get to school,” says Betsy Couch, executive director of Knight Creative Communities Institute (KCCI). “One thing we found is there was international and domestic data that showed that artistic crosswalks improve safety.”
“Each year our KCCI projects are different, and the year we did the crosswalks near schools and in neighborhoods that were artistic, that was with the goal to improve safety, and it worked,” Couch says. “They slowed down traffic, they improved traffic compliance, and the neighbors and the kids loved them.”
While the crosswalk art has been removed, Couch says there are many other options to beautify Tallahassee. KCCI is on a mission to enhance placemaking through citizen-driven projects. One of the ways they do that is through KCCI Community Catalysts. KCCI is now accepting applications from anyone interested in being part of the program.
“Research shows that communities that have strong sense of place and also where their citizens feel attracted to and attached to their community -- those communities fare better economically. They also have greater rates of talent retention and talent attraction,” Couch says. “It's a lot of benefits when you have communities with strong placemaking.”
The latest KCCI project is a giant mural at the entrance to Argonaut Coffee at Cascades Park titled "Good Things Grow Here."
Given the beautification work and more being done by KCCI around Tallahassee, Betsy Couch joined us for Speaking Of. Click LISTEN above to hear the full segment.
