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St. Pete pride murals painted over – again
Two Central Avenue murals have been covered again, though who did the work remains unclear.
Weeks after portions of two St. Petersburg Pride murals began bubbling up through the black surfaces that covered them last year, the intersections at Central Avenue and 25th Street and Central Avenue and 5th Street have been covered – again.
The Catalyst observed the changes but did not receive a response from the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) confirming it was their work or when the black paint was applied. Even numerous city officials were unaware that the murals were painted over again, saying that if the murals were repainted, it wasn’t done by the city.
The two intersections contain the Progressive Pride mural at Central Avenue and 25th Street, installed in 2020, while Common Ground, a multicolored geometric mural by artist Cecilia Lueza, has occupied the intersection at Central Avenue and 5th Street since 2016.
Both were among five St. Petersburg street installations FDOT ordered removed last year.
The Catalyst reported Aug. 25 that traffic had worn through portions of the covering over the Progressive Pride mural, allowing traces of the rainbow to reappear. The original design had become increasingly discernible from the street nearly a year after it disappeared beneath a layer of black.
The same deterioration was visible at Common Ground before the latest covering.
FDOT originally painted over the murals in August 2025, rejecting St. Petersburg’s request to exempt five street installations from new state requirements governing pavement markings.
Those included the Progressive Pride mural, Common Ground, the Black History Matters mural near the Woodson African American Museum of Florida, artwork near the University of South Florida St. Petersburg and another installation in Childs Park. FDOT warned that it could withhold state transportation funding if the city refused to comply.
Mayor Ken Welch’s administration ultimately declined to challenge the order. City personnel would not remove the artwork themselves, Welch said at the time, leaving FDOT to carry out the work.
The state claimed its crackdown was about roadway safety, and FDOT maintained that nonstandard pavement markings could cause distractions or misunderstandings for drivers and pedestrians, despite evidence to the contrary.
City Transportation and Parking Management Director Evan Mory told FDOT that a three-year before-and-after analysis of Common Ground at Central Avenue and 5th Street showed a 70% decrease in crashes at the intersection. Over the same period, crashes increased 100% and 25% at the immediately adjacent intersections without similar treatments.
Welch subsequently pointed to those numbers while challenging the state’s safety argument. The city had presented the data to FDOT while seeking exemptions for the murals, but the agency denied the request.
The state’s reasoning seemed connected to Senate Bill 1662, which Gov. Ron DeSantis signed in June 2025, and FDOT subsequently updated its standards governing pavement and surface art. FDOT Secretary Jared Perdue described the effort as keeping transportation facilities clear of political ideologies, while an internal department memo identified social, political and ideological messaging as examples of noncompliant street art.
Common Ground was St. Petersburg’s first intersection mural. Created during the SHINE Mural Festival in 2016, the colorful prism design predates the state crackdown by nearly a decade.
The Progressive Pride mural arrived four years later. St. Pete Pride raised money to install it at Central Avenue and 25th Street in 2020, near the birthplace of the city’s Pride celebration. It remained a prominent feature of the Grand Central District until the state ordered its removal.
The dispute over what could remain painted on St. Petersburg’s streets has since been joined by another fight between City Hall and Tallahassee over how local governments can support diversity initiatives.
City Council unanimously approved a resolution in June opposing state legislation restricting municipal diversity, equity and inclusion programs. The measure was introduced during Pride Month as city officials prepared for a new state law limiting how municipalities can fund, promote and support programs that fall within the state’s definition of DEI.
The Council resolution affirmed the city’s support for LGBTQ residents and opposed state actions targeting people based on sexual orientation, gender identity and other protected characteristics.
The new restrictions take effect Jan. 1, 2027. They do not prohibit private Pride events and preserve content-neutral permitting and public safety services, but they restrict municipal funding and promotion of DEI initiatives.
The mural fight came first. More than 100 people gathered at the Progressive Pride intersection as the state’s removal deadline approached in 2025, leaving chalk drawings and messages of support nearby.
