Hennepin County Taxpayer Watchdog

Tom Hauser did a great “Tracking Your Money” story on my Lowry Avenue Bridge post last week:

Golden Hydrant goes to Lowry Avenue Bridge

We’re in the midst of budget hearings and property tax discussions on the Hennepin County Board, so it’s been awhile since I last awarded a Golden Fire Hydrant, but I can’t pass this one up. The newest Hydrant goes to the Board’s decision to spend an extra $14 million to make the new Lowry Avenue Bridge in Minneapolis a “signature” bridge - meaning it will look much fancier than most other bridges in Minnesota.

A little background:

The Lowry Avenue Bridge was built in 1905 and spans the Mississippi at Lowry Avenue in North Minneapolis.  For over 100 years, the bridge carried motorists over the Mississippi almost uninterrupted until it was closed last year based upon the discovery that one of the bridge piers had shifted.

After that discovery, the county appropriately decided that the old bridge was no longer structurally safe and needed to be demolished and rebuilt. Read more…