Lots of different takes on the Red Bull Illume exhibit in which some big black cubes are perched on the Stone Arch bridge. They light up at night revealing some pretty amazing photography.

Taylor talked about it as an art exhibition. My take away is I’ll wander over if I happen to be in the area, but I’m not going out of my way.

Corporate Babysitter talked about the crass advertising aspect.

Peter Fleck is concerned about some logistical issues.

Looks like they considered pedestrian traffic but forgot that this is a major bike route. It’s hard to understand this lack of awareness given that City Hall is shouting from the rooftops what a bike-friendly town we have here.

and

Besides the whole bike thing, there’s also the issue of promoting Red Bull on park property. The Minneapolis Park Board has also been accepting some other advertising money some residents don’t think it’s proper.

(That other advertising money would be from Lowe’s.)

A Downtown Journal article on the exhibit asks two good questions.

Is this proper use of the Stone Arch Bridge? If not, where should the exhibition be put up instead?

To me, the question of whether the exhibit-as-advertising is appropriate for the historic nature of the Stone Arch Bridge is less important than the funding questions and the traffic questions. If the goal is to put this type of exhibit up on a bridge over the river, what other alternative do they have? The other options are a train bridge, car-carrying bridges, or the Washington Ave Bridge which has limited visibility because of the covered walkway in the middle.

As for where to put it instead, how about Gold Medal Park? It gets close to similar visibility since there are lots of viewing points along the river. It’s as easily accessible. It’s not completely public land so there are different rules as to how the money comes and goes. It does not block traffic.

i was thinking explains the Harrington Household Index (HHI) for local grocery prices, from the point of view of someone who loves a good ethnic market.

Ponedaddy’s Pound has good things to say about Minneapolis Public Schools. One of ’em, anyway. That would be Cityview in North Minneapolis.

Two items on Northwest Airlines’ nickel-and-diming: News Cut is brainstorming ways to work around the new luggage checking fees. Aaron Landry explains why he’s breaking up with Worldperks.

On the Radar rounds up some of the plentiful free entertainment options in Minneapolis over the next week.

MinnPost says that the Trust for Public Land says St. Paul parks are awesome.

Altered Esthetics is having its first ever Arty Garage Sale this Saturday.

Car Free Family says “[t]he Northeast Parade was as toxic as usual.”

Two upcoming NRP-sponsored workshops: “Neighborhood Volunteer Training” on July 16 and “Walking your way to a safer neighborhood” on July 17.

TC Biz Journal: Wal-Mart found guilty of violating Minnesota’s labor laws. “[Dakota County] District Judge Robert King Jr. ruled after a nonjury trial that Bentonville, Ark.-based retail giant Wal-Mart owes employees $6.5 million, and faces up to an additional $2 billion in damages.”

MinnPost: “[Minneapolis Mayor R.T.] Rybak has been elected as vice president for communications of the National Conference of Democratic Mayors, which means he’ll be a spokesman on national urban issues for that organization.”

TC Daily Planet: South High School students, with the help of the Minneapolis Television Network, produced a video of interviews with undocumented workers their age.

Rhubarbarism: Amazon bookstore is staying open but the cooperative ownership is ending. Nice further discussion on co-ops in the Twin Cities.

Patent Pending: St. Cloud State’s masters program in regulatory affairs is entering it’s second year. This is near and dear to my heart, since I work for Satan Big Pharma. Their focus is mainly on servicing the medical device industry, but any industry regulated by the FDA faces similar challenges.

TC Daily Planet: Dan Wilson tells the story behind Semisonic’s “Closing Time” “I figured Wilson would be sick of playing ‘Closing Time’ by now, but he managed to revive and re-contextualize this once-ubiquitous hit single in a refreshing way.”

MPR: Six MnSCU schools to pilot textbook rental programs.

MnIndy: All the while I was worried about Lowe’s buying ad space in our parks, Toyota already had a deal in the works.

And don’t you forget it.

Minnesota Monitor has an item on proposed corporate sponsorship for our parks.

Minneapolis taxpayers could soon be greeted at their city parks by banners advertising a national home improvement chain that has no stores in the city proper. Lowe’s says it’s willing to donate $90,000 in goods and services to six parks. The string attached: Lowe’s wants to hang 8-foot by 2-foot banners proclaiming “This area brought to you in part by Lowe’s” in outdoor locations such as Loring Park as well as smaller signs near donated equipment reading: “These products and more are available at Lowe’s.”

Say wha? No, WTFF?!

Like it’s not bad enough that there are parks called “Gold Medal Park” to begin with (scandal-ridden as it is) (not that it’s not a nice space).

I’d readily take my $30/year from the Twins Stadium and add them to my tax dollars that already go towards city and regional parks. Yes, I will gladly pay extra to keep your corporate sponsorship off our parks.

Funny how with a stadium, you’re glad that there is corporate sponsorship so that’s less out of your pocket to pay for a stadium you probably didn’t want to pay for in the first place.

There’s another argument in here somewhere about corporate interests in government affairs and privatization.

I guess the said thing is that we can’t find enough money in the budget to adequately fund the parks in the first place. Although I wouldn’t be surprised if Lowe’s made the offer anyway.

(Isn’t there already a water park in North Minneapolis somewhere with a corporate sponsorship? Or Cedar-Riverside? Or did someone blog it? I can’t remember now where I saw this.)