In Minot, selling bricks to renovate the Amtrak station

In nearly 3/4 of its stations, Amtrak is a tenant. It is not in the station-building business. So when Minot, North Dakota, prepares to renovate its Amtrak station, it draws on block grants and local matching funds. Those sources are good for $360,000. But the estimate is for $500,000. To make up some of the difference, Minot plans to sell paving bricks engraved with personal messages.

Minot's Amtrak station, busiest in North Dakota, handled 33,314 passengers in 2005; that's up from the 29,511 passengers handled in 2004. Exactly two trains call there daily, the eastbound and westbound Empire Builder.

The bricks are a great idea, but can you imagine an airport financed that way?