Would you call Des Moines a 'vibrant' city? (Lincoln: lease, home)
Des MoinesDallas, Guthrie, Madison, Polk, and Warren Counties
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If you are from a small-town, most likely, yes. Nighttime, besides Court Ave on weekends, not really. Court Ave used to be a free place to practice your takedowns and submission moves on weekends, not sure if it still is. Every other guy was an aspiring UFC fighter in those days.
Keep in mind though, there is a very powerful "with-us-or-against-us" vibe there. It's a nice town with several good offerings for its size, but if you aren't interested in groupthink mentality, you may not like it.
Absolutely everything revolves around the young professionals, the local art scene, some recent Forbes ranking, a few restaurants (owned by the same people), and a few bars.
It's billed as a good place for younger people to start, which is true, if you plan to work in banking or insurance and want a comfortable city with most of what you'd need. If you're looking to reinvent yourself and start over, a city like Des Moines that thinks someone making 25 - 40K selling insurance is somehow some high-ranking professional, might not be the place. There's a huge big fish/small pond effect as well, people who wouldn't consider themselves above you will, because of this fascination with middle-management culture.
Another thing people don't know about Iowa...there's not much in the way of privacy. I know people who have gotten divorced, had to pay child support, divide the assets, the usual. This is all viewable on the Iowa Courts Website. You can see how much money each person got (down to the penny), who filed the divorce, who their attorneys were, if they have children and the child support payments, etc.
Obviously there's things people have to know (serious crimes), but they take it too far in Iowa. In some states, you'd have to goto the courthouse, pay money per search (whether online or in person), and you still wouldn't get that level of information you get for free in Iowa. A drinking ticket, no seatbelt, speeding ticket, will follow you forever in Iowa. You can be at a party, and a fight breaks out, just because you were present, you might somehow wind up on the state courts website as well, although you won't actually be mentioned in any of the filings. I've seen it happen. Keep in mind, If you start working somewhere, people will look you up for fun, it's like the first thing everyone does in Iowa. I've heard people talk about it over lunch, like they couldn't wait to check out the new person. It's still small enough in Des Moines you have a bit of a tribal feel.
Last edited by RonnieJonez; 05-22-2012 at 11:06 PM..
I like Des Moines, personally. I've visited the city several times. I'm impressed with the downtown area, and architecture, for a city its size. I think the suburbs are really nice. It is a growing city. Going from DFW, you may get bored, though, because realistically you are going from the 4th largest metro in the USA to somewhere between the size of Omaha, NE and Wichita, KS. Ya know? Another thing about Des Moines, based on my own perception is that it is kind of a more "level-headed & serious-minded" town. I don't know if I feel that because of the insurance companies that are there, or what. Now, there is plenty of love of the arts and stuff there. But, compared to adjacent Omaha, it is a little less quirky, maybe, or eccentric. I don't know. I like it, though. And, I like the way the city is laid-out. I like the cleanliness and orderly feel of West Des Moines, too.
Basically you'll get a similar feel in most cities in the midwest a different feel from West Coast Cities and the same for East, similar mindsets in regions
yes you would get bored there
go bigger city
plenty of big cities have winter
Quote:
Originally Posted by capitalcityguy
As you, yourself, pointed out on another thread, you've never lived here.
To the OP, take that in to consideration on how helpful this poster (whose past posts already demonstrate a negative disposition) can be in answering your questions here.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RonnieJonez
If you are from a small-town, most likely, yes. Nighttime, besides Court Ave on weekends, not really. Court Ave used to be a free place to practice your takedowns and submission moves on weekends, not sure if it still is. Every other guy was an aspiring UFC fighter in those days.
Keep in mind though, there is a very powerful "with-us-or-against-us" vibe there. It's a nice town with several good offerings for its size, but if you aren't interested in groupthink mentality, you may not like it.
Absolutely everything revolves around the young professionals, the local art scene, some recent Forbes ranking, a few restaurants (owned by the same people), and a few bars.
It's billed as a good place for younger people to start, which is true, if you plan to work in banking or insurance and want a comfortable city with most of what you'd need. If you're looking to reinvent yourself and start over, a city like Des Moines that thinks someone making 25 - 40K selling insurance is somehow some high-ranking professional, might not be the place. There's a huge big fish/small pond effect as well, people who wouldn't consider themselves above you will, because of this fascination with middle-management culture.
Another thing people don't know about Iowa...there's not much in the way of privacy. I know people who have gotten divorced, had to pay child support, divide the assets, the usual. This is all viewable on the Iowa Courts Website. You can see how much money each person got (down to the penny), who filed the divorce, who their attorneys were, if they have children and the child support payments, etc.
Obviously there's things people have to know (serious crimes), but they take it too far in Iowa. In some states, you'd have to goto the courthouse, pay money per search (whether online or in person), and you still wouldn't get that level of information you get for free in Iowa. A drinking ticket, no seatbelt, speeding ticket, will follow you forever in Iowa. You can be at a party, and a fight breaks out, just because you were present, you might somehow wind up on the state courts website as well, although you won't actually be mentioned in any of the filings. I've seen it happen. Keep in mind, If you start working somewhere, people will look you up for fun, it's like the first thing everyone does in Iowa. I've heard people talk about it over lunch, like they couldn't wait to check out the new person. It's still small enough in Des Moines you have a bit of a tribal feel.
While more literate and wordy I advise taking the same advice as given above.
Yes, I would say that it is pretty vibrant. Vibrant can mean alot of different things depending on the perspective but I would say that for it's size 'class' of city Des Moines is very vibrant. Any city that is growing is going to be vibrant.
Not to high jack the thread, but to see if it can evolve or be added to....how is Des Moines different from similar sized Midwestern cities? Or is it essentially, very similar to them? It sure sounds a lot like my hometown of Madison, WI...but that isn't a direct observeration, just an inference. Any opinions?
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Chelito23
Not to high jack the thread, but to see if it can evolve or be added to....how is Des Moines different from similar sized Midwestern cities? Or is it essentially, very similar to them? It sure sounds a lot like my hometown of Madison, WI...but that isn't a direct observeration, just an inference. Any opinions?
Des Moines doesn't have the large university presence like Madison does. Also, Des Moines seems to have a larger corporate influence than Madison, even though it is also the state capitol with government types of employment. If you subtract out Dallas county in Iowa, Madison leads in terms of overall job growth.
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