Roughly a year after the Monterey City Council approved the repainting of the crosswalk at Alvarado and Pearl streets in rainbow colors to show support for the LGBTQ+ community, Monterey Vice Mayor Ed Smith is proposing to paint another crosswalk in downtown Monterey in patriotic colors.
Although Smith did not respond to the Weekly for additional comment, his June 2 written request to agendize the action at a future council meeting stated that he is seeking to allow a “new applicant” the opportunity to paint a crosswalk in red, white and blue in recognition of the Fourth of July and to honor the country’s 250th anniversary celebration. “The location requested is the head of Alvarado Street,” the request states.
Smith wrote that he received a request to paint a crosswalk on Alvarado Street red, white and blue from “several individuals” and that the repainting would be executed “at no cost to the city,” but does not elaborate on the identity of the individuals or how the paint job would be paid for.
In May 2025, when the council approved the rainbow crosswalk, Smith cast the lone dissenting vote, saying he didn’t think crosswalks should be used for public art.
Since then, the crosswalk “has been painted and repainted several times to maintain its condition in violation of the approved Crosswalk Policy,” Smith’s request reads. “The maintenance of this crosswalk has been at city cost and not in alignment with what was approved by council in 2025.”
Smith wanted the City Council to review and clarify whether the rainbow crosswalk was intended to be permanent or temporary, if other community members can apply to repaint it and other crosswalks in the city and to evaluate “whether the patriotic theme colors would be an expression the City Council could affirm as being within City Values.”
On June 2, Smith elaborated at the council meeting that his intention is not to remove the rainbow crosswalk at Pearl and Alvarado streets, and that some of the unnamed community members in support of the patriotic crosswalk would accept repainting the crosswalk at Alvarado and East Franklin streets or elsewhere.
Councilmembers Gino Garcia and Kim Barber pointed out that Smith’s request consisted of two agenda items: cleaning up the crosswalk policy and approving a privately-funded patriotic crosswalk. City Manager Dante Hall explained that to have a crosswalk painted by the Fourth of July holiday, the council would need to consider the item at its June 16 meeting, and that, because of the time that staff would need to review the crosswalk policy, that would need to be considered at another meeting in the near future.
Mayor Tyller Williamson was absent at the June 2 meeting and the vote to agendize the two items received two votes in favor: Smith and Councilmember Jean Rasch, and two opposed: Garcia and Barber. Despite the tie, per city policy, the request to agendize the item passed.