The city’s silence and swift compliance with FDOT shocks artists and building owners.
Original Air Date: August 27, 2025
Host: The Florida Department of Transportation gave cities a September 4 deadline: Remove all street, crosswalk and sidewalk paintings, or else lose state funding. In Orlando and St. Petersburg, it’s all about rainbow crosswalks. But it became clear quickly that the state wants art removed as well. On Tuesday, City of Bradenton work crews erased sidewalk paintings at Village of the Arts near downtown. So it did not come as a complete surprise when on the same day a City of Sarasota crew began sandblasting permanent sidewalk art in the Burns Court area. But the speed of the erasure of Avenue of Art—that’s a painted celebration of local history produced by 200 artists during Sarasota’s centennial—and the silence by the Florida Department of Transportation and the City of Sarasota did take art curators, artists and building owners by surprise.
Denise Kowal: Nobody. Ever. At any time. If that’s what you’re asking.…