
Fishing for Manhole Covers by Ronnie Crawford
While at my bank last summer, at Evans and S. Broadway, where everything is torn up for street improvements, I noticed that Denver has new manhole covers. Manhole covers, how mundane.
Well they are really cool. They are completely redesigned and very arty. I have seen three variations so far, two with rainbow trout and one with a bass. They say on them “City of Denver-Storm Sewer, No Dumping-Drains to River”, with a fish motif in the middle.
I got to thinking about the damaged manhole cover in front of the Skylark. What a neat thing , if I could get the damaged one replaced with a “fish motif” cover, instead of a generic one. So, I started a conversation with my councilman and City Council President, Chris Nevitt. Nevitt is a friend of mine and I call him Nevitt, not Councilperson Nevitt, which would be the appropriate thing.
Following is an e-mail conversation between Nevitt and myself. Quite humorous. Not the usual exchange between a City Councilman and a constituent.


The next time you are at the Skylark, check out the manhole cover. They can be cool, and it WILL make you smile. This goes along with what Jeff Shoemaker was saying at our last DTU meeting, about street trash, ending up in the river. The new man hole covers are a conscious and sub-conscious way of getting people, to think and realize, that all street trash, and water run-off, goes straight to the river. Kids walking with their parents will spot the fish long before they know how to read what the message is. That might start a conversation between the kids and the parents, concerning improving our environment.








