ATLANTA — An Atlanta landmark in Midtown was marked up over the weekend, as drivers left skid marks all over the rainbow crosswalk at the intersection of 10th and Piedmont.
However, neighbors tell 11Alive they do not think this was targeted at the gay community, prominent in that area.
"Do I think this community, LGBTQ, is being targeted? No. I just think there are some idiots that have nothing better to do and they just decided to go joyriding by Piedmont Park," said Amal Bennett-Judge, who was walking through that intersection on Monday.
Meanwhile, Eric Kim, who just moved to Midtown from Seoul, South Korea last month simply remarked, "It's ugly, it's not nice. I don't like when they do that."
Kim said he agrees it doesn't seem targeted at the gay community, but he said the fact that it happened at all is bothersome.
"It's going to get rolled over but it's on the rainbows. I don't like that," he added.
The crosswalks were first temporarily installed in 2015, then the city took over the project in 2017- paying $196 thousand dollars to make them permanent. That high price tag is because the rainbow colors are actually made up of thermoplastic tiles, not paint.
There is a surveillance camera at the corner that could've captured what happened but as of now, Atlanta Police are not releasing the video.
11Alive asked the city if it believes this community was purposely targeted, a city spokesperson responded:
We have no reason to believe this is anything more than reckless, idiotic driving. Our teams are looking into the matter.
For now...the marks remain.
"I don't think people should be messing around on the streets- especially a busy one like this, lots of traffic lots of pedestrians," Kim added.
As far as next steps go, once ATL DOT determines the extent of the damage, it will decide if the crosswalks need to be redone, but the rain this week could take care of many of the marks.