City Hall’s Rainbow Crosswalk

Art in Public Places Hits the Road

February 2019

It was painted in late 2017 as part of the city’s opt-in to Art Basel: two multi-colored crosswalks from City Hall to the adjacent side streets of Coral Way and Biltmore Way. Since then, the striped crosswalks have gotten a little faded – but won’t stay that way for long. The city commission has approved $180,000 from its Art in Public Places fund to purchase the two works of art, though no money has changed hands yet. That won’t happen until artist Carlos Cruz-Diez is satisfied with the painters who will be doing the repainting. “In the contract that we are working on now it’s an annual repainting of the colors, with a quarterly inspection to see if it needs touchups,” says Donna Spain, the city’s historic preservation officer. “On our end, we have submitted a contract to the painting studio and are waiting to hear.”