Mexico City (7,350 feet above sea level) is located on an enormous dry lakebed in a valley surrounded by mountains. Like Denver, this capital city suffers periodic droughts, water shortages and harsh weather.
Unlike Denver, this ancient center of pre-Hispanic America is home to 22 million people. It is the cultural heart of Latin America, boasting Aztec ruins, elegant Beaux Arts urban design, strong contemporary architecture and some of the worst poverty, illiteracy and economic challenges in the world.
Despite a soaring unemployment rate, rampant crime and slumping tourism, this City of Palaces is full of public parks, boulevards and public squares that rival Baron Hausmann’s Paris.
And (pay attention Denver) the fountains that honor its key public places – Chapultepec Park, Paseo de la Reforma, and the National Museum of Anthropology – are all operating.
Mexico’s fountains offer cooling respite and civic pride to its residents and visitors. Cities from Rome to Tokyo, New York to Paris recognize that beautiful fountains are an ideal antidote to urban stress, hot sidewalks, parched greenways and soulless boulevards. Fountains celebrate the life force and are a vital expression of civic respect for democracy in the public realm.
Denver has 14 public fountains, several of them historic:
Benedict Fountain at 20th and Logan, designed by Maurice Bardin, was donated to Denver by architect Jacques Benedict in 1932.
Cheesman Fountain was built in 1910 and restored in 1999.
Children’s Fountain was built in City Park by Mayor Speer in 1912 and was fully restored five years ago.
Pioneer Fountain, located at the intersection of Civic Center and Broadway, was created by famed sculptor Frederic MacMonnies. It needs extensive structural and mechanical repairs.
Sullivan Fountain – also known as Dolphin Fountain – was erected in 1917 at the foot of East High School and fully restored in 2000.
Seal Fountain, created by Robert Garrison in Civic Center in 1922.
Thatcher Fountain, built in 1917 to represent the virtues of Colorado – loyalty, learning and love – is also in City Park.
Along with historic Seal, Benedict and Thatcher fountains, Denver’s Department of Parks and Recreation plans to spend nearly $20,000 to return the Babi Yar and Hungarian fountains to active use this year.
The decision to turn off the fountains was made several years ago, despite the hundreds of thousands of dollars allocated in the 1989 Citizens for Denver’s Future bond issue. City hall and water department policymakers decided that local citizens might think that keeping the fountains operating during the recent drought was wasteful.
Rather than protecting taxpayer investment with repairs, myopic bureaucrats chose to ignore the defining theme of Denver’s character: a green oasis. Water is the lifeblood of our city, a respite from the arid plains and harsh environment. We celebrate water and honor our citizens and public spaces with fountains, lakes, the tree canopy and landscape.
Turning off the fountains was an affront to Denver’s history and its citizens. Isn’t the celebration of water in the public realm especially important when individual yards and gardens languish due to watering restrictions?
Instead, fountains were shut down and the Water Department bought silly ads suggesting Denverites skip showering, eat directly from food containers or brush without turning on the tap. How much more productive it would have been if enlightened civic leadership had chosen to reinforce the value of water in a healthy public realm, by maintaining the operation of important and historic public fountains.
It’s a wonderful first step that Manager of Parks and Recreation Kim Bailey is determined to return five of our fountains to active use this year. Now the mayor and members of the City Council – who have been able to identify funding for crime diversion, convention center promotion and business marketing – ought to look harder for the $3 million it might take to return all of our civic fountains to the public.
Beautiful fountains may not attract conventions or deter crime, but they are an important symbol of respect for this place, its history and its citizens.
Susan Barnes-Gelt (bs13@qwest.net) served eight years on the Denver City Council and was an aide to former Denver Mayor Federico Peña. She writes on alternate Thursdays.
