Oops: Petrochemical-soaked ballpark soil from the Twins stadium site was improperly deposited on a Burnsville flood plain last summer, the Strib's Heron Marquez Estrada reports. Possible clean-up cost: $1 million. Haulers juuust missed getting 2,800 dump trucks worth of dirty dirt into the proper repository, a lined Burnsville landfill. Who pays? Maybe the public ballpark authority, or landfill owner Waste Management. Hauler hirer Mortenson Construction ain't talkin'.
More dirt: The story says two Minnesota Pollution Control Agency divisions "did not communicate with each other" about the project, so one part of the agency could've said yes to the dumping. The agency admits the two divisions don't talk to each other. The dirt was used to build a Minnesota River levee so the landfill can be expanded. The Glean is more worried about what a landfill is doing so close to a flood plain.
The PiPress crosses the river to report on the plague of Minneapolis potholes. David Hanners reports that the city is using 7 tons of asphalt a day, compared with last year's 4 tons. Why is it worse in Minneapolis? Over the years, the city has skimped on public works maintenance versus police and fire staffing. It stopped seal-coating streets years ago. Annually, the city can improve about 2.5 miles of streets. It has 1,000 miles all told.
*******If you're a j-junkie and missing the work of
ex-PiPresser Chuck Laszewski, he's been digging through the East German police files on Dean Reed. Who? The American singer (contemporary of the Everly Brothers, among others) who bolted behind the Red Curtain, re-emerging in 1978 to be arrested at Minnesota power line protest. Laszewski has a book out about Reed's death (won't spoil the ending) and discusses "The Red Elvis" at the
Twin Cities Daily Planet.
