Large penis renditions, spray-painted onto Southwest 62nd Boulevard, greeted residents who drove down the crumbling road Sunday.
The art was strategically placed on large potholes and foundation cracks, which become worse with every Sunday shower or hot summer day, Chip Skinner, the City of Gainesville Public Works Department marketing and communications supervisor, wrote in an email.
A public works crew visited the scene Monday and covered the phallic images with a black coating used for roadways. The graffiti was gone by 1 p.m., Skinner wrote.
Similarly, an anonymous artist who went by the name “Wanksy” drew penises on an England road in 2015, highlighting its many potholes and causing them to be reported or fixed, The Huffington Post reported.
Alexis Romanoski, an 18-year-old Santa Fe College social work freshman, lives at The Woodlands of Gainesville, an apartment complex located on Southwest 62nd Blvd.
She first noticed the vandalism Sunday.
“I was surprised,” Romanoski said. “I looked around and was kind of like, ‘Why are there penises all over the road?’”
Romanoski said she later realized it could be a way to draw the city’s attention to the road’s many problems.
“I don’t know if it’s the best way, but I guess it was effective,” she said.
“All I know is I hate driving on that road,” she said. “I always try to go a different way, but it’s really hard to avoid.”
She said the road can be dangerous.
Vehicles, especially scooters, swerve into the median to avoid cracked pavement and deep holes.
The road has received a number of complaints from residents.
“The condition of 62nd is very poor and it is in need of reconstruction,” Skinner wrote.
According to Skinner, his department doesn’t have funding to make all the necessary repairs to Gainesville roads.
Until then, public works crews continue to patch areas that are reported problematic by the public.
A transportation surtax on the Gainesville general elections ballot in November 2014 would have provided funding for roadways. Citizens voted it down.
Reconstruction of the road could begin in 2020 if the funding becomes available, Skinner wrote.
Romanoski drives over a mile out of her way to avoid the road when possible, and she’s unsure whether painting over the holes will do any good.
“I think they should just reconstruct the whole thing,” she said. “It’s too messed up to just take it one piece at a time.”
