Des Moines vs. Des Moines metro area (Cedar Rapids, Iowa City: insurance, new house)

[El Rhino]

Originally Posted by mfrerkes

Hmmmmm. That inference is not the least bit racist.

Well, what's it say about you interpreting it that way? The poster said it was "safer" and "whiter", that's it. No direct connection was made. In your bigoted mind you connected "safer" with "whiter". I think you may have racist tendencies.

[mfrerkes]

Originally Posted by El Rhino

Well, what's it say about you interpreting it that way? The poster said it was "safer" and "whiter", that's it. No direct connection was made. In your bigoted mind you connected "safer" with "whiter". I think you may have racist tendencies.

I'm not the one laying "safer" and "whiter" side by side in the analysis; that was the orignator of this thread. Besides, Northern Traveler IS drawing a direct correlation between race and crime. Read his comment below.

[El Rhino]

Originally Posted by mfrerkes

I'm not the one laying "safer" and "whiter" side by side in the analysis; that was the orignator of this thread. Besides, Northern Traveler IS drawing a direct correlation between race and crime. Read his comment below.

He did after your comment. All he did initially was post two words in a series together, separated by a comma. You put them together in your head. Face it, you're being racist and you're just trying to stir things up by trying to call other people out on perceived racism. End of story. Please do not feed the trolls, folks.

[QuadCityImages]

I think the fact that he included "whiter" in with a list of good traits for an area to have is probably what raised a flag for some people. I don't think it was meant to be racist though, as much as just pointing out how suburb-y WDSM is.

[thatguy1]

Originally Posted by QuadCityImages

I think the fact that he included "whiter" in with a list of good traits for an area to have is probably what raised a flag for some people. I don't think it was meant to be racist though, as much as just pointing out how suburb-y WDSM is.

I wouldn't confuse a red flag for being overly racially sensitive though.

[mofford]

The school districts are what seperates Des Moines from the suburbs the most. Dropout rates are higher at East, North and Lincoln, with Rosevelt a bit better and Hoover probably the best in the Des Moines district. Thats why people move away, because the schools in the suburbs are superior. It's not so much the crime, because you can move around to safe neighborhoods within Des Moines. Most the scum lives in little pockets here and there, mostly in large old apartment complexes that take section 8 housing. Easy to avoid, but maybe not for your kid at school, lol.

I think it's kind of a rat race out there on the west side. The driving is stressfull, stop and go, stop and go, there's a stoplight every 3 blocks for miles on end out there, and Ankeny and Johnson are not much better in that reguard. They hand out tickets like candy out there, and put up cameras too.

As for taxes in the burbs, even if the mil rate is lower for property taxes, your gonna pay more out there because all that property is assessed at prime rates. They like to do road improvements near your house and sock you with some astronomical bill for it on your taxes. In Des Moines the mill rate is higher, but a similar house might be assessed 50K lower so even with a higher rate, you might pay less taxes here in many cases. They just blacktopped my street a few years ago, no extra assessment whatsoever on my tax bill.

We have nice parks and trails here in Des Moines, if you don't have kids, would you not prefer your taxes to go for roads, parks and infrastructure improvements? Our city services are good in Des Moines. The water/trash bill is more reasonable too, in some suburbs it's double or triple. Perhaps the schools don't get those extra perks here, but would those perks make the kids we have to work with in Des Moines any smarter? I kinda doubt it, but I might be wrong about that. If you don't have kids, theres no big reason to move out there, you can move somewhere else within Des Moines to get to a better neighborhood.

[bluevelo]

This is an interesting thread as I was back this summer, visiting my parents with my kids, and I've been living in California since April '07, with stints in VA (91-99) and MS (99-07) and stops since the late 80s in MN, IN, OH, MI and SD.

My parents live in the Beaverdale area and you can see some points of deterioration around the area, but its not that bad. They've actually improved a lot of the area around Drake from when I graduated from Iowa with my MA in '87. What's happened is the wealth has moved west to the Dallas County line but its not real population growth... I was a bit stunned to see that the mall in WDM has so quickly been surplanted by Jordan Creek... Merle Hay had been on its way down for years but the problem teens hanging out there were a problem when I was a teen.

They're still spending enormous amounts of money in downtown DSM appeasing the insurance industry. But, overall, compared to a lot of the rest of the country, if you don't mind really bad weather most of the year - its either too hot, or too cold - DSM isn't a bad place to live. If you want diversity, its not there, but it is a safe, clean and affordable place to live.

[mfrerkes]

Originally Posted by QuadCityImages

I think the fact that he included "whiter" in with a list of good traits for an area to have is probably what raised a flag for some people.

I guess if I'm considering to make a move somewhere, I don't place any emphasis on the availability of white people in the area.

[capitalcityguy]

Originally Posted by bluevelo

They're still spending enormous amounts of money in downtown DSM appeasing the insurance industry.

Most decent sized cities in the US are investing in their downtowns...as is Des Moines. I'm not sure what the insurance industry has to do with it. Care to explain what you mean and what projects are specific to appeasing the insurance companies?

[annalyta]

I have to disagree with the assessment of the schools in Des Moines. It really depends what school your children go to and what you as a parent do. If you are involved in the school and know what is going on, your child is probably going to have a good experience. There are also programs in Des Moines that are unique-IB, Montessori, Project Based, Traditional, etc. There are also the high school programs at Central Campus/Academy.