A SIDEWALK HAZARD’S SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY 
A coverless manhole just west of Shepherd on 34th St. in Garden Oaks has taken to Twitter to broadcast its plight. “I am a gaping hole in the city’s underbelly,” declares Gringo Trap 34, between drooling appreciations of photos of attractive manhole covers posted on other Twitter streams. By the hole’s third-ever tweet, yesterday, it had snared a response from Mayor Parker, who commiserated over problems caused by copper thieves. (“Like roaches, they mess up more than they take,” quipped the mayor.) Shout-outs to various reporters followed. But as of Friday afternoon, the square hole under the constable sign is still uncovered, and Gringo Trap 34 has posted its latest “glamor shot.” “I may be pretty,” reads the latest report, “but that doesn’t mean I won’t tear your ACL.” [Twitter] Update, 9:13 pm: The Gringo Trap 34 account appears to have been suspended, but its tweets live on in this Chronicle story. Photo: Gringo Trap 34
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Ironically I have a 100lb cover sitting on the corner of my property. It’s not covering anything, it’s just sitting there.
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I’ve put out scrap metal in the same area that gets quickly picked up. I asked a few scrappers why no one never takes this cover, and they said scrap metal companies won’t take them (I guess for obvious reasons they’re not allowed and could get fined).
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So here I have a homeless cover, and there we have a coverless hole. If only there was a match.com for road equipment.
I wonder how many dead hipsters are lying at the bottom of that shaft, having fallen in while tweeting about it?
USA AD 2012, everybody tweets about stuff, nobody bothers doing anything about it…
Copper thieves? Since when are manhole covers made of copper or bronze?
Manhole covers are made of steel.
Eiioi: same concept. Take material to scrap it for cash. It may not be copper or bronze but people are picking up junk metal all the time to turn in for a few bucks. I guess it’s enough of a problem that no one will pick mine up because they could get busted for trying to sell it.
@eiioi, those covers are made of cast iron, not steel.
@Ibrahim: Not sure if you’re serious, but drawing the attention of the Mayor to your problem almost immediately counts as “doing something” pretty effectively. You want they should forge a new cover in their backyard?
Not sure why, but this Twitter account now has been suspended.