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> The notion would be laughed out of any city budget here.

I could see it happening. Portland, Oregon has an art tax that goes towards things like large scale murals in public spaces. An extra 5-10% on the cost of a man hole cover would fit within this, easily.

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5-10% isnt realistic. These are carved from aluminum and molds are custom made, and the colored ones are than partially filled with colored resin.

This adds substantial material costs, but more importantly adds a lot of skilled labor to a process which is usually just simple casting.

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