Is it just me, or has been Des Moines been going downhill? (Cedar Rapids: unemployment, housing market)

[Tek_Freek]

Act like babies, Act like children. Get some new material RJ, you're starting to bore us more than usual.

[tollfree]

Full-grown babies, that is. More accurate.

[Tek_Freek]

More of the usual. You're showing the thinness of your arguments. Time to move on, son.

[Tek_Freek]

Like shooting ducks in a pond.

I'll leave you alone now. It's just too easy to get to you. It's not fair of me. I apologize.

[ElleTea]

Originally Posted by RonnieJonez

Full-grown babies, that is. More accurate.

I'm pretty sure a "full grown baby" is actually an ADULT.

[tollfree]

There are lots on this forum. Some even have "civic booster" chairs.

[lclark316]

There's really no point in arguing matters of taste; only matters of truth. And the truth is- Des Moines isn't for everyone. Just like L.A., Dallas, Montgomery or Piedmont are not for everyone.

In terms of the original question asked of whether Des Moines is getting worse - as a person who grew up in DSM and moved back a few years ago I truly don't think so. Do I think the suburbs you've originally based your question around of Urbandale, Clive, Johnston and others have gone downhill? Absolutely, and good riddance to that.

As you went on to say, Des Moines needs to (and if you actually look in the right areas it is trying hard to do so) revamp itself. We need to work on what's already been built and quit trying to be the same as Omaha, with our city stretching for miles and miles filled with dull people with an inane idea on how they should live their life, or as I like to call it - the "White Picket Fence" theory. Don't get me wrong, every city has to and will have those people- but a small enough city cannot be focusing on that type of growth if they want to maintain their own.

If we want to build a vibrant little city filled with pride and sense of worth, then stop looking at places like Urbandale, where developers build terrible strip malls filled with insignificant chain stores or small shops that don't know how to market themselves to the community. Stop looking at movie theaters as your way of telling whether or not a city is thriving- do you honestly believe that's how Chicago shows that they are a vibrant city?

Instead, look towards where the young people are centering themselves - downtown DSM and the neighboring areas of Sherman Hill, Ingersoll, the Roosevelt Area, the East Village. If you guys want to be proud of DSM, this is where you start. We're still building but these neighborhoods have more heart than the west side suburbs could ever claim.

[econboy]

Thing of it is that the burbs are doing just fine as well. I was driving around the ones being discussed above and am seeing new home and commercial construction everywhere. Spent some time there just yesterday.

[Chicago60614]

Well Iowa's growth during the 2000's had 3 basic trends:

Des Moines metro grew by 90,000
Iowa City/Cedar Rapids grew by 40,000
Everything else shrunk by around (10,000)

Des Moines growth over that period:
Hispanic: 18,000
Black: 9,000
Asian: 7,000
White: 56,000

It certainly wasn't all hispanic, and while a lot of it came from elsewhere in Iowa (obviously, in most states the largest urban areas will absorb people from the more stagnant rural areas), it certainly wasn't everyone.

As far as Iowa's growth coming in large part due to hispanics - that's basically the story everywhere. Even in booming Texas with its huge population growth - NINETY percent of that growth was from minorities, mostly hispanics.

[ElleTea]

Originally Posted by Chicago60614

Well Iowa's growth during the 2000's had 3 basic trends:

Des Moines metro grew by 90,000
Iowa City/Cedar Rapids grew by 40,000
Everything else shrunk by around (10,000)

Des Moines growth over that period:
Hispanic: 18,000
Black: 9,000
Asian: 7,000
White: 56,000

It certainly wasn't all hispanic, and while a lot of it came from elsewhere in Iowa (obviously, in most states the largest urban areas will absorb people from the more stagnant rural areas), it certainly wasn't everyone.

As far as Iowa's growth coming in large part due to hispanics - that's basically the story everywhere. Even in booming Texas with its huge population growth - NINETY percent of that growth was from minorities, mostly hispanics.

I have to say, that in the 11 years I have lived in Des Moines, I have had nothing but good experiences with the hispanic population. It seems that every time I have needed help, it was a Mexican thta helped me whether it was to give my car a jump when it died in a parking lot or helping me get un-stuck from the snow or making me a nice, strong margarita at el Rodeo after a stressful day.