Sitting at a red light along International Drive or in College Park, you may have noticed these brightly decorated traffic signal boxes on the corner. City leaders said because of this art, they have noticed a drop in crime. Now other cities hope this alternative art will make a difference in their community.
The stretch of U.S. Highway 17-92 through Sanford is where the Seminole Cultural Arts Center would like to spruce up. They’re targeting chunky metal traffic signal boxes.
Often seen as an eyesore due to graffiti and plastered posters, Donna Bundy wants it to become a canvas for art.
“If you make unattractive things attractive, especially if you cover them with art, they’re less likely to be tagged by graffiti artists and destroyed,” said Bundy, executive director for the Seminole Cultural Arts Center.
Officials call this concept CPTED – Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design. They said this art doesn’t just stop graffiti, but other possible crimes.
“Before we did the artwork on the boxes, they were constantly tagged or having things glued on them,” said Pauline Eaton, main street coordinator.
The Seminole Cultural Arts Council is requesting $53,000 for this project, and it’s the cost that may be turning these boxes into a roadblock.
Seminole County staff members said they are not recommending this project be funded because they said the traffic boxes on Orlando’s International Drive were paid for by local businesses, not local government.
The other boxes decorated in downtown Orlando were paid for with matching city grants and donations.
“It wasn’t direct city money,” Eaton said.
So before this project gets the green light, Seminole County will have to decide just how much this art is worth, if anything at all.
The Community Redevelopment Agency in Seminole County will take a funding vote on this possible art project March 10.