The city’s silence and swift compliance with FDOT shocks artists and building owners.
By Johannes Werner
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
Denise Kowal: Nobody. Ever. At any time. If that’s what you’re asking.
Johannes Werner: This is Denise Kowal, organizer of the Avenue of Art, when asked about what kind of communications she got ahead of the sandblasting crews’ arrival. She says she heard in the news about federal and state efforts. Then she traveled to Italy to serve as a judge in a chalk festival.
DK: When I came back into the United States and rolled into town at midnight, I saw that 19 of the sidewalks had already been removed as of yesterday, throughout the day. The City of Sarasota never communicated anything to me. They didn’t write to me. They didn’t ask my opinion. They didn’t seek solutions. Nothing. I’ve heard nothing. So I finally put a call in to some of the commissioners, because the questions I have, of course, are, “Have we made an attempt to try to save the Avenue of Art?” I feel like the project could’ve had a fighting chance if that effort was made. I’ve been told that that effort was not made.
JW: The same lack of communication affected the Child Protection Center on nearby Orange Avenue. Douglas Staley, executive director of the non-profit, told WSLR News that staff and children, including a group from Easter Seals, participated in painting the sidewalk in front of their building. Staley said he learned about the possible removal through news reports. A board member contacted the Florida Department of Transportation whether there’s a process to appeal, but there was no response.
Douglas Staley: We’re saddened. Obviously we want to follow the rules and things of that nature, but a lot of work and energy went into creating the sidewalk to go with the messaging of the services that are provided in our building. It’s sad to lose that.
JW: As of mid-day Wednesday, the art was still there, but a few blocks down, an entire block of sidewalk art was gone. One artist who arrived at the site of her erased paintings broke out in tears and threw fits of rage, both at the same time. Here’s Beck Lane’s reaction, as she first saw the empty sidewalk:
Beck Lane: How is this even close to being real? And if Ron DeSantis uses freedom as a label to do anything he’s doing, he’s a…liar, and we all need to say that over and over again. He has done nothing but…lie and destroy communities! Destroy them! Destroy people’s lives—hurt as many people as possible—try and get people killed. Him and those…in the White House. They are trying to kill us one community at a time. And look at these people! They’re all out shopping like no…is going on.
JW: Denise Kowal says she knows artists are considering suing under the Visual Arts Rights Act of 1990, which defines the rights of artists to their products. Beyond that, art removal—without even a discussion—does not make Florida’s Cultural Coast look good.
DK: What’s the most sad about our community is that we are the Cultural Coast, and we should have a much, much more mature stance in the way we approach the art in our community. That no discussion—no emergency community gathering—was made to discuss this, and “How do we feel, community?” and stuff, is tragic.
JW: At noon today, some 50 people showed up for a protest at the offices of SEE Alliance on Orange Avenue, which also stands to lose sidewalk art. SEE Alliance founder Zander Moricz said artists will be able to start painting his organization’s parking lot, and he announced an Art Reclamation Day in September.
We requested an interview with City of Sarasota Mayor Liz Alpert but did not hear back before deadline. Commissioner Debbie Trice did agree to talk to us. She calls the sandblasting “unfortunate” but says the city could not afford to risk losing hundreds of millions of dollars in state funding for essential projects, including for hurricane recovery and to harden the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall before the next flood. Trice says the city received a letter from FDOT August 21 announcing the September 4 deadline.
Debbie Trice: We had until September 4 to remove everything, and we needed to report to them confirmation on September 5 that everything had been removed; otherwise, we were subject to the penalties. With a threat like that, I think it would be irresponsible of us to take the chance on us losing that funding.
JW: Asked why the city of Sarasota did not choose to respond like the mayor of St. Petersburg, who told FDOT it was not the city’s responsibility to remove the street art, Trice said in Sarasota, this was the Sarasota city manager’s responsibility. Sarasota does not have a strong-mayor system like St. Pete; an interim city manager is currently running operations here.
Joe Gruters, the Sarasota state senator who was just appointed to chair the Republican National Convention, is the local politician who has spoken out most clearly against the removal. Commenting Tuesday on a post on the Observer’s Facebook page, Gruters wrote this: “This is unnecessary, and I will see what can be done! I have a call into FDOT!”
Reporting for WSLR News, Johannes Werner.
To watch a video of the SEE Alliance protest, click here.
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