Photo courtesy of ARENAdigest. Artistic license courtesy of Erica M.(click to embiggen)

Not only will the Target Center will be getting a green roof after all, it’ll be the second-largest green roof evar. The firm currently in charge of the Target Center facility assessed the needed roof replacement and estimated that a green roof was not feasible. CM Lisa Goodman said, “Wrong! Try again.” Lo and behold, a green roof is now pretty much a given.

The benefit to the green roof is three-fold.

1. It reduces temperatures in our lovely downtown urban heat island.
2. It manages storm water runoff.
3. It lasts twice as long as a traditional tar roof.

You can wonder about a the power-wielding of our city council, or you can wonder about mandating forward-looking consideration of our environmental impact and the health of our city.

I’m curious to see how obvious the green roof will be from the ground.

As mentioned a few weeks ago, American Idol’s invasion of Minneapolis was unavoidable. And today, traffic alerts have been issued for all downtown Minneapolis commuters and anyone passing through I35W and I94 thanks to an anticipated 20,000 extra folks in town thanks to American Idol auditions at Target Center. That’s on top of the 140,000 people who normally trek downtown on weekdays in downtown Minneapolis.

Experts say there’s a 1 in 7 chance that next season’s American Idol will come from the Twin Cities tryouts. Full Minneapolis audition information here, although you’re probably too late if you’re not reading this standing in line right now.

Registration begins today and continues to the morning of Friday, September 8. Road closures began yesterday night with one lane of 7th Street North closed from 1st Avenue North to Olson Memorial Highway. Then at 10 p.m., 2nd Avenue North will close from 7th to 6th streets north and one lane of 6th Street North will be closed from 2nd to 1st avenue north. These roads will reopen at 11 a.m. Wednesday, but will re-close on Thursday night.

I wish them all luck, but instead of wasting your time on manufactured, formulaic pop next spring, I would recommend checking out some authentic local music from artists who can play their own instruments, sing more than cover songs and don’t need 2 million 13 year-olds to vote them to fame.