ORLANDO, Fla. – The city of Orlando has formally filed a request to exempt the Pulse crosswalk from a slew of traffic devices that the Florida Department of Transportation ordered to be removed.
City Commissioner Patty Sheehan, who represents the district where the former Pulse nightclub sits, revealed the news of the filing during a regularly scheduled city council meeting on Monday afternoon.
“Mayor [Buddy] Dyer did file a letter of exception on the removal,” Sheehan said during the meeting. “The city did the right thing.”
The announcement came during a meeting in which city commissioners approved a funding agreement with Orange County to support a permanent Pulse memorial.
The crosswalk outside Pulse, at South Orange Avenue and West Esther Street, has become a point of contention between state leaders and Orlando residents, who have sat in defiance outside Pulse ever since FDOT employees first removed the rainbow colors from the crosswalk last month.
[WATCH: DeSantis says new Florida law allows removal of crosswalk art. What the law says]
State leaders, including Gov. Ron DeSantis, have insisted that the removal of the rainbow colors was not a sign of disrespecting the memory of the 49 people killed inside Pulse in 2016.
“I’m certainly supportive of an actual fitting memorial for people that were murdered that day—one of the most horrific mass killings in American history,” DeSantis said earlier this month. “And I’ve approved a lot of money for that over the years. But that’s not for some crosswalk.”
DeSantis and FDOT Secretary Jared Perdue have stressed that all state and city traffic devices (roads, bike symbols, etc.) need to have uniform safety standards. Those standards have recently been updated to include the removal of all pavement markings, such as art.
Since the initial removal of the rainbow colors, protesters have covered the crosswalk with chalk in an effort to restore the crosswalk to its previous image. On numerous occasions, FDOT employees have returned to the crosswalk to power wash the chalk, only for protesters to repeat their actions.
In recent weeks, the Florida Highway Patrol has had a visible presence outside the Pulse crosswalk, frequently reminding protesters that covering the crosswalk in chalk is a violation of a Florida statute.
[WATCH: Protesters at Pulse crosswalk carry on as DeSantis defends state’s actions]
FHP troopers have arrested at least four people for covering the crosswalk in chalk. A judge later ruled that there was probable cause for three of those arrests, while finding no probable cause for the first of the four arrests.
“I can’t think of a bigger waste of state resources,” Sheehan said Monday, referring to the FHP presence. “Because we certainly weren’t going to arrest people for that.”
In an interview with News 6’s Lisa Bell, Dyer explained why the city didn’t appeal the decision like other cities have, such as Delray Beach. Officials from Delray Beach were in Orlando for a hearing on their appeal last week.
“We didn’t appeal because the hearing officer is a senior member of DOT and DOT is the one that’s taking the action to paint over the crosswalk,” he said. “So we don’t anticipate that route will happen.”
The letter, obtained by News 6 on Tuesday, cites a request for an exception under Florida Statute 316.0745(8).
“The City of Orlando is writing to respectfully request the Florida Department of Transportation to allow the city to re-paint the crosswalk located at Esther St. and Orange Ave. in Orlando, Florida, in the color pattern that existed before August 21, 2025, as illustrated in the enclosed in the enclosed photograph (the original design),” the letter began.
The letter includes the history and context behind the installation of the rainbow design, and asserts that the crosswalk was part of an “ongoing memorial to remember and pay homage to the victims.”
“The original design was not intended to be, nor do we believe it to be any form of political speech, nor does it include any words or messages or symbols,” the letter states.