State removes $180,000 art crosswalks by Venezuelan artist in Coral Gables
By Jimena Romero
September 16, 2025 at 6:00 AM EDT
While two South Florida cities take part in hearings this week seeking to preserve their rainbow crossings, the state removal of two art crosswalks in Coral Gables happened without a fight — and went almost unnoticed.
" It’s in a location that not a lot of pedestrians see it. So, a lot of people have not noticed, and if they have noticed it's because of the news,” City of Coral Gables commissioner Melissa Castro said.
In fact the artwork, which initially cost the city $180,000, had many residents upset when it was originally installed in 2017 during Art Basel.
Like many cities across the state including Fort Lauderdale, Key West and Miami Beach, Coral Gables was targeted for its colorful crosswalks as part of a mandate from the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) to remove “non-standard surface markings" from streets.
READ MORE: 'Wasteful, hateful': South Florida residents oppose rainbow crosswalks crackdown, poll shows
Although the mandate points to safety, it also singles out the removal of "political ideology" — which has meant that various crosswalks in the state which promoted inclusion of the LGBTQ community through rainbow flags have been targeted.
In the case of Coral Gables, the crossing was a piece of artwork commissioned through the city’s Art in Public Places program. It was called Induction Chromatique and was created by the late renowned Venezuelan artist Carlos Cruz-Diez.
“ It just brought a little color to the street, now everything there is grey and sad looking,” wrote Tyler Meyer, in a poll conducted by WLRN about the new state code. “These colorful crosswalks are a great traffic calming device that encourages walkability in areas that are more car centric.”
“It’s nuts that anyone cares about this to the point where the state government gets involved," Meyer added.
“If I had known [FDOT] was coming to [remove] it, I would've been standing there cheering them."
The art crosswalks were painted onto state-owned Le Jeune Road, on its intersections with Biltmore Way and Coral Way, right in front of City Hall. FDOT started to cover them up in asphalt color on the weekend of Aug. 22.
“ They kind of gave us a heads up saying what was happening, that [it] had to be painted — but they just did it… FDOT carried out the work to bring the roadway into compliance. It was out of our jurisdiction,” city commissioner Melissa Castro said.
After Art Basel, in 2018, the city permanently acquired the art piece and made an agreement that only the artist or his staff was to maintain the piece when the striped colors faded. The city agreed to pay an annual fee of $18,000 for that maintenance.
Crosswalk artwork in Coral Gables has been covered up following a state mandate. The work by Venezuelan artist Carlos Cruz-Diez, called Induction Chromatique, had cost the city $180,000. Seen on Sept. 4, 2025. (4032x3024, AR: 1.3333333333333333)
“From the very beginning when this was proposed and voted for, I was not happy,” said Maria Cruz, a retired educator and Coral Gables longtime resident. “I thought it was silly to spend the kind of money that was being proposed.”
“I thought any child could go there and put some chalk over it and it would look the same,” she said. “If I had known [FDOT] was coming to [remove] it, I would've been standing there cheering them [on] because it was money that we would not have to spend anymore.”
Fading colors
But before the art mural was removed, its colors were already fading. For the past two years, the city hadn’t repainted the crosswalk nor paid the annual fee as it lost contact with the Cruz-Diez foundation, according to commissioner Castro. In total, the city made four payments to maintain the art.
Matthew Dietz, a law professor at Nova Southeastern University and former Coral Gables resident was also critical of the city’s decision to permanently acquire the crosswalks.
“ I couldn't believe that the city was spending $180,000 in painting a crosswalk when they couldn't spend a fraction of that in making their crosswalks accessible to the residents who are blind,” Dietz said.
“ I didn't appreciate the art, it just reminded me of the fact that the city of Coral Gables really didn't care about its citizens with disabilities.”
Commissioner Castro, who was not part of the commission that voted for the art to be permanently acquired, said she doesn’t oppose the removal of the crosswalks.
“ This is not a crosswalk that pedestrians are really walking a lot in. So, as a commissioner, I would think that we can maybe come up with a different type of art… Something that's more visual,” Castro said. “When people are driving, they can't even see it, they're stepping over that, honestly.”
On Monday, Fort Lauderdale officials had their latest hearing with FDOT to argue for their rainbow crosswalks, while Miami Beach's hearing is scheduled for Friday.
" It’s in a location that not a lot of pedestrians see it. So, a lot of people have not noticed, and if they have noticed it's because of the news,” City of Coral Gables commissioner Melissa Castro said.
In fact the artwork, which initially cost the city $180,000, had many residents upset when it was originally installed in 2017 during Art Basel.
Like many cities across the state including Fort Lauderdale, Key West and Miami Beach, Coral Gables was targeted for its colorful crosswalks as part of a mandate from the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) to remove “non-standard surface markings" from streets.
READ MORE: 'Wasteful, hateful': South Florida residents oppose rainbow crosswalks crackdown, poll shows
Although the mandate points to safety, it also singles out the removal of "political ideology" — which has meant that various crosswalks in the state which promoted inclusion of the LGBTQ community through rainbow flags have been targeted.
In the case of Coral Gables, the crossing was a piece of artwork commissioned through the city’s Art in Public Places program. It was called Induction Chromatique and was created by the late renowned Venezuelan artist Carlos Cruz-Diez.
“ It just brought a little color to the street, now everything there is grey and sad looking,” wrote Tyler Meyer, in a poll conducted by WLRN about the new state code. “These colorful crosswalks are a great traffic calming device that encourages walkability in areas that are more car centric.”
“It’s nuts that anyone cares about this to the point where the state government gets involved," Meyer added.
“If I had known [FDOT] was coming to [remove] it, I would've been standing there cheering them."
The art crosswalks were painted onto state-owned Le Jeune Road, on its intersections with Biltmore Way and Coral Way, right in front of City Hall. FDOT started to cover them up in asphalt color on the weekend of Aug. 22.
“ They kind of gave us a heads up saying what was happening, that [it] had to be painted — but they just did it… FDOT carried out the work to bring the roadway into compliance. It was out of our jurisdiction,” city commissioner Melissa Castro said.
After Art Basel, in 2018, the city permanently acquired the art piece and made an agreement that only the artist or his staff was to maintain the piece when the striped colors faded. The city agreed to pay an annual fee of $18,000 for that maintenance.
Crosswalk artwork in Coral Gables has been covered up following a state mandate. The work by Venezuelan artist Carlos Cruz-Diez, called Induction Chromatique, had cost the city $180,000. Seen on Sept. 4, 2025. (4032x3024, AR: 1.3333333333333333)
“From the very beginning when this was proposed and voted for, I was not happy,” said Maria Cruz, a retired educator and Coral Gables longtime resident. “I thought it was silly to spend the kind of money that was being proposed.”
“I thought any child could go there and put some chalk over it and it would look the same,” she said. “If I had known [FDOT] was coming to [remove] it, I would've been standing there cheering them [on] because it was money that we would not have to spend anymore.”
Fading colors
But before the art mural was removed, its colors were already fading. For the past two years, the city hadn’t repainted the crosswalk nor paid the annual fee as it lost contact with the Cruz-Diez foundation, according to commissioner Castro. In total, the city made four payments to maintain the art.
Matthew Dietz, a law professor at Nova Southeastern University and former Coral Gables resident was also critical of the city’s decision to permanently acquire the crosswalks.
“ I couldn't believe that the city was spending $180,000 in painting a crosswalk when they couldn't spend a fraction of that in making their crosswalks accessible to the residents who are blind,” Dietz said.
“ I didn't appreciate the art, it just reminded me of the fact that the city of Coral Gables really didn't care about its citizens with disabilities.”
Commissioner Castro, who was not part of the commission that voted for the art to be permanently acquired, said she doesn’t oppose the removal of the crosswalks.
“ This is not a crosswalk that pedestrians are really walking a lot in. So, as a commissioner, I would think that we can maybe come up with a different type of art… Something that's more visual,” Castro said. “When people are driving, they can't even see it, they're stepping over that, honestly.”
On Monday, Fort Lauderdale officials had their latest hearing with FDOT to argue for their rainbow crosswalks, while Miami Beach's hearing is scheduled for Friday.