But some members of the LGBTQ community say city leaders didn’t fight hard enough to keep the rainbow crosswalks.
SAN ANTONIO — The City of San Antonio will remove its rainbow crosswalks from the area of this month, in compliance with the state’s order last fall on keeping roadways distraction-free.
The impending removal comes after the city’s failed bid at securing an exception to preserve the rainbow colors in its recently designated Pride Cultural Heritage District, an area that for decades has been home to LGBTQ bars and businesses.
Some members of the city’s LGBTQ community are celebrating a silver lining in the defeat: Rainbow striping is coming to area sidewalks, and members of the city’s LGBTQ+ Advisory Board say they will cover more ground and be more visible than the rainbow crosswalks were.
“I’m a bit chuffed to point out that this stretch will be roughly triple the amount of rainbow as the crosswalks, a fact I find extremely satisfying, said Ben Harrell, the advisory board representative for District 1.
Public Works crews have been spotted starting to clean and prepare the sidewalks for the designs, which will be installed on both sides of North Main between Park Avenue and Laurel Street, encompassing two blocks. City Manager Erik Walsh told council members in a memo the sidewalks would be done by Friday.
The adjacent crosswalk designs, meanwhile, will be removed next week.
“This design included input from the LGBTQ+ Advisory Board, which will help ensure that the Pride Cultural Heritage District is still a vital and inclusive space in our city,” Councilwoman Sukh Kaur, whose district includes the Pride Cultural Heritage District, said in an online post.
Walsh said in his memo to leaders that the “total estimated cost of the project is $170,000,” with that money coming from existing operational dollars allocated to the Public Works Department.
The removal of the crosswalks, which have been in place since 2018, will mark the culmination of a fight that began in October, when Gov. Greg Abbott issued a directive for cities to remove political or ideological markings from Texas roadways—framing it as an effort to improve safety on Texas roads.
Representatives of Pride San Antonio pushed back, calling the crosswalks a symbol “of love and acceptance” in the neighborhood just north of downtown. The organization applauded the city’s move to file for an exemption from Abbott’s order in November.
But the state rejected the exemption request. Now, two months later, Pride San Antonio thinks city leaders could have made a bigger stand.
“The city said (to Pride SA) that if they were to stand up, that they don’t know how far they would get in the court system, so it’s easier just to let it go,” said James Poindexter, secretary for Pride SA. “We went through all this protocol to get the crosswalk and it’s like there’s no protocol to remove it.”
“Facing this situation, we just want our city leaders to stand up for us,” he added.
At an Oct. 30 rally by community members hoping to save the rainbow crosswalk, Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones made a surprise appearance and appealed that she’s with the people.
“We have to be smart, but y’all, my pride is not tied to this paint,” Jones, the city’s first openly gay mayor, said that night. “It’s in my heart and head.”
This week, however, Poindexter said it’s been difficult for Pride SA to get a sit-down meeting with Jones on the matter—something he said was never an issue with the previous mayoral administration.
“The mayor said ‘pick your battle,'” Poindexter said. “So obviously we know which battle they wanna pick.”
He also pointed to the $170,000 cost for removal and installation, calling it an “extraordinary” amount compared to the $45,000 it cost to install the crosswalks in 2018. Of that, Pride SA helped raise $25,000, with the rest coming from tax dollars.
Because this week’s sidewalks project is being overseen by “contractors previously approved by the City Council,” Walsh explained in his memo, no further action by council was needed on the matter. Poindexter, however, said he would’ve preferred that City Council members were on the record regarding where they stand.
If a shared press release from District 9 Councilwoman Misty Spears and District 10 Councilman Marc Whyte was any indication, there would have been at least two nay votes were that full council vote to happen. The council members said they disapproved of the $170,00 allocation, saying the funds are “intended to address longstanding, critical infrastructure needs throughout the city.”
“If private individuals or businesses wish to use their money to make a statement, they have the right to do so,” Whyte said in the release. “But to use public dollars to paint colored sidewalks instead of allocating that money to core infrastructure needs is not in the best interest of our citizens.”