Rainbow Crosswalks Unveiled In Sacramento's Lavender Heights

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) – Dozens of people gathered in Midtown Sacramento Saturday morning to celebrate the new rainbow crosswalks at 20th and K streets.

"This is very historic and important to the LGBTQ community," Clarmundo Suloivan said.

Community members wanted a way to mark the area known as Lavender Heights.

"We looked at all the other crosswalks we had out there and we wanted something uniquely Sacramento," said Paul Weubbe, the Rainbow Chamber of Commerce president.

Small and large donations poured in, and in five months, $30,000 was raised to create these rainbow stripes.

"This is definitely not from taxpayer dollars, but this is from the community itself," Weubbe said.

The community celebration for the new crosswalks comes just days after Spencer Stone was stabbed a few feet away.  Community leaders hope the stripes are a small way to make a big difference.

"That's definitely not the culture of midtown. We want to be welcoming and embracing many people that come in," Weubbe said.

Most everybody sees the change to the cross walks as a good thing.

"I think it will encourage pride. People will come together," Donald Castanon said.

Suloivan has been celebrating this area and thinks this will do a lot for the LGBT community.

"We want a place where we can call our own, where businesses are successful, and offer everybody an opportunity to understand our community," Suloivan said.

The only complaint from some is that the stripes aren't bright enough, like in San Francisco's Castro District. But bright or not, there's no denying anymore this is Lavender Heights.

"This is the heart of it," Weubbe said.