JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The ‘Painting of the Pawprints’ is no more — but the evidence of the annual Downtown Jacksonville tradition can still be seen if you look closely.
The yellow paw prints on Bay Street, once painted by Jaguars fans, are now covered with black squares of paint.
The City of Jacksonville said they were covered up by the Florida Department of Transportation on Thursday, less than a week after road art near six Jacksonville intersections were also covered up. The art was removed over the Labor Day weekend in an effort to meet a deadline from the state.
Action News Jax reported in August that the Jax Chamber was canceling the annual paw painting.
“We should be able to express ourselves through our paint,” said Jasmine Rodriguez, a Jaguars fan.
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An FDOT memo issued this summer said surface markings, signs, and signals that do not directly contribute to traffic safety or control can lead to distractions. It called for the removal of road art that is associated with social, political, or ideological messages or images.
The most controversial consequence was the removal of rainbow crosswalks, which many advocates argue was the intended target of the memo due to their associations with the LGBTQ+ community. Three of those were located in the Five Points neighborhood and had just been painted one year earlier.
After the event’s cancellation was announced, Republican City Councilman Rory Diamond said that he hoped the paws would be an exception to the rule.
“Everybody loves the paws,” said Diamond in August. “So my hope is that FDOT figures this out for the non-controversial stuff and just says yes soon.”
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