Hey, if you’re sick of talking about Eau Claire’s riverfront (how pretty it is, how the city abandoned it, how to reclaim it, whether or not to build a bigass jail on it, etc.) you can always talk about Chippewa Falls’s riverfront – yep, they have one, too. And they’ve been talking about redeveloping it.

In fact, just yesterday: a little bird named “WQOW TV18’s website WQOW.com” whispered some news into our eager little ears about their redevelopment progress. The city just a got a $660,000 grant to use for the project. What are they going to do with all that money? Buy swanky lampposts and park benches? Haul in truckloads of cobblestone to repave the area? Maybe build some quaint gift shops selling knickknacks telling you to “Dance like nobody’s watching?”

Slow down, partner. There’s a lot to do over there before the city can start perusing catalogs for sweet-looking bike racks. The money will be used to remove a large overflow pond that’s part of the city’s wastewater facilities. No, it’s not real glamorous, but it needs to happen. So while the fine people of Chippewa Falls are dreaming of walking trails, an amphitheatre, and a permanent farmer's market structure – much like this suff over in Eau Claire (MySpace) – the city will be beefing up their pump system so they can eliminate the need for an overflow area. In a few years, the area should be looking pretty good.