Lazy Lightning and commentors discuss replacing vs renovating the currently-condemned Meadow Lake Bridge which carried bikers across the Minnesota River between Bloomington and Burnsville.

Cam Gordon (Mpls 2nd Ward city council member) has the deets on this year’s National Night Out.

TC Biz Journal‘s 2008 Women In Business Honorees.

TC Biz Journal reports what downtown MNspeakers have known for weeks and that is that a SoupMan (of Seinfeld fame) is now open in the Minneapolis Skyway.

The great people of the Tale of Two Cities LiveJournal community discuss Minnesota’s representation in that CNNmoney list of Best Small Cities to Live. “[Y]ou’ll see most of what got Plymouth into the #1 spot isn’t even located in Plymouth.” MNspeakers discuss as well.

Mary Lahammer on Jesse’s non-announcement on Larry King Live. He did, in fact, talk to someone in the local media. Sort of.

MinnPost runs a University of Minnesota eNews report on a study confirming what people who use Facebook and Myspace already know, which is that kids learn technology skills and share/collaborate on creative efforts through social media. New news: the digital divide is perhaps not as big as we think it is. “The students participating in the University of Minnesota study were from families whose incomes were at or below the county median income (at or below $25,000) and were taking part in an after-school program, Admission Possible, aimed at improving college access for low-income youth.”

MnIndy: “Local immigration attorneys and advocates say Postville raid reflected ‘a complete lack of due process'”

NRP is sending a delegation to the 2008 Bank of the West Neighborhood Summit in Omaha. (Bank of the West is an actual bank.) “The Summit will be an opportunity to learn from residents of Des Moines, Omaha, Wichita and Kansas City what they are doing around key issues, share ideas, network, tour Omaha, and have fun!” 31 Minneapolitans attended last year. Apply to attend by August 1.

saintpaulitan visits the friendly neighborhood geodesic dome house.

vita.mn‘s guide to all the drag shows in Minneapolis and St Paul. That’s not very many, but then, how many drag shows do you need? Feel free to edit the list.

TC Biz Journal says, in the wake of the dented nose cone issue, MSP is some new runway status lights at some yet to be determined time between now and 2011. The $400 million tab is to be picked up by the FAA.

The latest numbers on the Twins stadium:

Cost: $544.4 million (including site acquisition and infrastructure)
Public financing: $392 million from a 0.15 percent sales tax in Hennepin County
Private financing: $152.4 million from the Twins

Those are ballpark figures (*ba DUM bum*). I also read $522/$387/130 + about $5/year for naming rights. Looks like the more recent the estimates, the higher all figures are.

The latest numbers on the MOA expansion:

Cost: $1.9-2.1 billion
Public financing: $371 million from a TBD sales/food/lodging tax in Bloomington
Private financing: $1.5-1.8 billion

Again, costing varies depending on the date of the article. Here’s what you get in Phase II of the MOA. Phase I puports to bring $1.8 billion/yr to the city of Bloomington. Slightly off topic, I wonder how this will affect the Waterpark of America.

Part of the hang up here is the financing of the parking ramp to the tune of $186-$204 million. The parking ramp funding will certainly have implications for whatever large projects follow it (like a Vikings Stadium).

But… just look at the disparity in public vs private financing. The only direct comparison of benefit I turned up in my cursory research is that the state expects to collect $10 million/year from ballpark-related sales and player income taxes. The MOA pays $55 million/year in state and local taxes.

Tell me how the relative cost of taxpayer burden is worth what the venture brings to the region (yes, I know it costs me personally about $30/year for the Twins stadium). I’ll add in my argument for the social and cultural benefit of having a common cause that unites us.

Maybe I should wait to see how they go about approving the tax in Bloomington before I come to a conclusion. Maybe the residents will get a choice in the matter.

[Hennepin County/Twins Ballpark Fact Sheet (pdf)]