Downtown St. Pete Mural Vandalized With Anti-Voting Message

Crime & Safety

Downtown St. Pete Mural Vandalized With Anti-Voting Message The artists behind the "Diversity in Democracy" mural in Central Avenue's 500 block are hosting an event to restore the vandalized art.

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — A downtown St. Petersburg mural created to encourage people to register to vote has been vandalized for the second time in about a month.

The "Diversity in Democracy" mural, designed and painted by artists John Gascot and James Hartzell on the side of a building in Central Avenue's 500 block, was tagged by a graffiti artist with an anti-voting message sometime over the weekend, Gascot told Patch.

"(Expletive) Voting Free Gaza," as well as the suspect's tag name, are spray painted across three of the five figures featured in the mural.

Now, they plan to use the vandalism as a way to rally the community by hosting an event to repair the mural at 574 Central Ave. on Sept. 29, 1 to 5 p.m.

They're raising the funds for the supplies needed for the job and seeking volunteers to help with the restoration. Voter registration opportunities will also be available on site.

"It just breaks your heart to see it," Hartzell told Patch. "So, we're trying to really rally the troops and band the drum and get people to help us repair it (and) raise attention because the voter registration deadline is (Oct. 7). "

Gascot learned about the vandalism after being tagged in a Facebook posting featuring a picture of the tagger in action. The person who took the image never called the police.

He reported it to the St. Petersburg Police Department's Garffiti Task Force, but hadn't heard back from police as of Wednesday evening. Patch has reached out to the department for information about the case. This story will be updated when they respond.

The mural was commissioned by the League of Women Voters of the St. Petersburg Area ahead of the 2020 presidential elections.

Gascot believes the most recent tagger was the same person who vandalized the mural about a month ago, spray painting "(Expletive) Elections Revolt" and included a hammer and sickle, a communist symbol.

"Over the years, it's been tagged in small areas that have been easy to fix and that's kind of to be expected because of its location," Gascot said. "It's next to bars; it's an alley that who knows goes there at night, but it was never anything political or radical or too big. It was just probably something that a drunk tagger did on his way out of the bar. This one has intent and purpose to it."

Hartzell added, "It's infuriating. Less than a month after fixing the most egregious of the graffitis that have happened in the four years that the mural existed, it gets tagged in a larger area with another obscenity."

A friend of his donated a bucket of sealant for the mural once it's been restored.

This Mural Guard protective sealant normally costs about $900 per bucket and they wouldn't have been able to afford it otherwise, Gascot added.

The mural's message is more important than ever leading into the 2024 presidential, state and local elections, the artists said.

"It's super important because St. Pete is a very diverse community and while, for the most part, we band together, there's still division here and there, and it sends out a message of community and how we're stronger together because of our differences," according to Gascot.