At approximately 3 p.m., the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) arrived at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg campus to begin removing the campus’ street mural titled “Fluid Structures.” The removal comes just one week after FDOT denied the City of St. Petersburg’s request to keep the city’s five street murals, a pushback against FDOT’s June memo ordering Florida cities to remove “non-standard surface markings” or risk losing state funding. The memo cited safety reasons, stating that street art can lead to “distractions or misunderstandings.” U.S Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy stated on X after issuing his own letter to all U.S. states and territories, that “taxpayers expect their dollars to fund safe streets, not rainbow crosswalks.” In the ensuing months, Florida cities such as Orlando, Pensacola and Daytona Beach removed all non-compliant street art. “It is not a safety issue,” St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch told The Crow’s Nest hours before FDOT arriv...