Two freebies to chat about tonight, since other than the pile of tainted dirt from the new Twins stadium site being dumped in the Minnesota River floodplain instead of in the “ultra-secure” lined landfill that will one day be directly adjacent to a nice lake and recreation area in Burnsville, there really isn’t anything worth writing about.

First freebie was a movie rental which we cashed in on Friday night for Disney’s Enchanted. While I had heard the movie was funny I didn’t believe anything I was told. Rarely do I find girly movies worth my time but knowing that Kimmy suffered her way through American Gangster I figured renting that would be an even trade. Unfortunately, it wasn’t terrible even because after the stupid cartoon beginning, the rest of the movie (well, minus the stupid cartoon ending) was quite enjoyable and I found myself pausing it several times to laugh, almost in hysterics and usually out loud, because it really was that funny. If you haven’t seen Enchanted yet and you’re looking to please the significant other in your life that might be into girlish movies, this is one that I promise will be at least tolerable for you.

The second freebie was also a Kim special which was to try out two of LeeAnn Chin’s three new menu items between 4:30 and 6:15 today only. Now, I despise LeeAnn Chin almost as much as I despise anything on this planet and even though I have been called hypocritical by plenty of douchebags on the Internet, there are just some things you must do to please your wife (thankfully, she doesn’t enjoy coffee enough to make me go into Starbucks) and this was one of those times.

We were greeted with a long line stretching out the front door and after we got inside we were offered a small cup of their “excellent” frozen yogurt. Having not ingested frozen yogurt since TCBY’s heyday in the late 1980s I found this taste test to be just like eating really cold yogurt. Before I could even open my mouth to form the words, they had already come out of Kim’s. While I eat yogurt every single day, and for the most part have come to tolerate it, this was pretty nasty and not something I would eat again, especially not in a large portion after eating fake Chinese food.

Their three new options were Mongolian, Bourbon, and Kalbi chicken. The free deal mandated that you get at least one of the three before getting another free but I decided to go with two new ones just for kicks. Anything had to be better than what they normally offer, right? Well, not so much in this case. The new offerings taste exactly like everything else they offer…the same. There are no distinct flavors in anything they serve and the Kalbi and Mongolian chicken were no exceptions.

My recommendation? Don’t bother with LeeAnn Chin, even if your wife likes it and it’s free but definitely rent Enchanted — funny flick.

I have been following the story that Apple Valley, Burnsville, Hastings, Lakeville, and Rosemount received portions of a one million dollar grant from the Community Development Agency which is meant to revitalize “tired business areas” in those cities.

Individual grants, ranging in amounts from $15,000 to $250,000 were divided up amongst the five cities meant to help fund items from tearing down residential housing to pave way for more commercial property and a larger city tax benefit in Rosemount to replacing soil under a former office in the last parcel of the overpriced and under-supported Heart of the City project.

I’m all for Dakota County funding projects aimed at helping cities revitalize as long as it really does something to bring more to residents of their respective cities. I just cannot get behind plans to create a buffer zone between new commercial development and other preexisting residential areas at the expense of more residential land.

On that note, I cannot fathom spending a quarter of a million dollars to replace the soil under a building that originally purchased for 1.8 million dollars as part of Burnsville’s plans for the Heart of the City “revitalization” back in 2001. From what I’ve read about the Performing Arts Center in the Burnsville City Planning Commission Minutes from June 25th, 2007 (warning: MS Word document, see the Google HTML version here), 20 residents were given the opportunity to speak (after being asked not to applaud when they agreed with someone) of which only one single person (Diane Rowse) “welcomed” the Performing Arts Center close to her home. Two parties were neutral or off-topic and the remaining seventeen were against the project in one way or another. My favorite quote from the minutes came from Dave Erickson who was recorded as saying:

He noted that there are so many deviations or variances needed to build this building that by rubber stamping approval for this will set precedence for future development and will invite future lawsuits by developers who are not given the latitude that this project will require. He would like to see the Planning Commission do the right thing and recommend stopping the PAC until the Mayor and Council does its do diligence on the need for this center. Most studies indicate that the Twin Cities Arts Center are over built and most operate at under capacity and tremendous losses. This white elephant will not be able to be converted into a useful building when it is realized to be a mistake to build.

This entire project is an absolute fucking money pit and in my opinion more people in Burnsville and now the rest of Dakota County should be fucking outraged that our money is going to fund pet projects that are nothing but black holes for cash which benefit only the City government members’ friends and egos.

To compare use of funds, Apple Valley also received a $250,000 grant which will be used to help relocate underground utilities needed for office expansion and construction of a training facility by Uponor which happens to be one of the city’s largest employers. Uponor has pledged, in the past, to continue their facility’s expansion through at least 2014. While I think that the $250,000 could be used elsewhere, at least it’s going to help continue funding jobs that currently exist, and will continue to exist, rather than those that may exist if, and only if, some City government official’s project becomes a success — even when the expensive feasibility study showed extreme losses at 5 years.

You can read all of the related articles here (Pioneer Press), here (Rosemount Town Pages, and here (Star Tribune)