Des Moines or St Louis? (Davenport, Iowa City: best city, crime, how much)

[El Rhino]

Originally Posted by RobertC

Eek! Don't let any Iowa Cubs hear you say that! Minor-league baseball teams are still professional... but pretty much anyone would have understood what you meant, so I guess my whole rebuttal is pretty superfluous.

I've never been to an Iowa Cubs game, but I have watched Triple-A baseball in person and it's still pretty fun. I especially like being able to sit so close to the action for the same price as a third-deck seat at a Major League stadium.

This is a good point. Having pro teams (like NFL, NBA, NHL, etc) would be cool, but it's also nice to be able to go see a decent level of the sport at a lower price, less hassle with parking and in a more intimate environment. Most ticket prices for teams in the Des Moines area aren't more than $15, parking is no more than $5 (or free). There are some advantages to being a Triple-A city when it comes to sports.

[STLCardsBlues1989]

If you wanna see a cheap game, Blues tickets are pretty cheap. Hopefully the Illinois side of St. Louis will be getting an MLS team in the next few years.

Have you posted this in the St. Louis forum? You can probably get some more detailed answers there.

I love St. Louis, but I've never been to Des Moines. I can't really make a comparison.

[mfrerkes]

Originally Posted by Northern Traveler

Des Moines metro is offers a lot more than the Quad Cities, a bigger downtown, bigger malls and a lot more nightlife.

A lot more?

The level of nightlife/cultural amenities in Des Moines is much closer (nearly identical, in fact) to the Quad Cities than it is to Saint Louis.

[capitalcityguy]

Originally Posted by mfrerkes

A lot more?

The level of nightlife/cultural amenities in Des Moines is much closer (nearly identical, in fact) to the Quad Cities than it is to Saint Louis.

Closer, maybe. But not "nearly identical".

Bottomline: it all depends on what the person asking the question is looking for. St Louis has a much larger population and thus that will provide some pluses (and minues) that DSM doesnt' provide. That said, DSM offer many things that a lot of city's its size doesn't

[mfrerkes]

Originally Posted by capitalcityguy

Closer, maybe. But not "nearly identical".

No, "nearly identical" is quite accurate.

The acts playing Wells Fargo and the Des Moines Civic Center are almost always the same who play iWireless Center or the Adler Theatre; sometimes on consecutive dates.

Nightlife? Court Avenue has lots of nightlife...but then so does The District in Rock Island, Bass Street Landing in Moline, and The Freighthouse/2nd Street in Davenport.

Culture/arts? I'd easily put Davenport's Figge Museum in the same league as Des Moines' art museum. Same thing goes with the Putnam/IMAX versus the Des Moines science museum.

"Professional" Sports? QC and Des Moines pro teams play each other year-round in hockey (AHL) and af2 (arena football). Des Moines might have a higher level of minor league baseball, but I don't see any PGA tour event making in annual stop there like it does in the Quad Cities.

Des Moines posters think their city has a monopoly on nightlife, culture, and professional sports within the state of Iowa...but the reality is it doesn't. Metro Des Moines has 200,000 more people than the Quad Cities and the built-in benefit of being a state capital. Even still, the Quad City area holds it own by comparison.

[SharpHawkeye]

Originally Posted by mfrerkes

A lot more?

The level of nightlife/cultural amenities in Des Moines is much closer (nearly identical, in fact) to the Quad Cities than it is to Saint Louis.

What is up with the Quad Cities inferiority complex I'm noticing in several threads? It's not "nearly identical" by a long shot.

[DSMGuy]

The Principal Charity Classic is on the PGA Champions Tour. But we'd probably take the younger tour if given the choice, over the old guys.

[mfrerkes]

Originally Posted by SharpHawkeye

What is up with the Quad Cities inferiority complex I'm noticing in several threads? It's not "nearly identical" by a long shot.

Read the above post I made in replying to capitalcityguy. "Nearly identical" is far more accurate of a comparison than "not by a long shot."

BTW, this whole Iowa Forum has heretofore been predicated on the notion that Des Moines is the only city in Iowa with cultural and entertainment offerings. Why do Des Moines posters become so indignant when somebody has the impertinence to question that myth?

[mfrerkes]

Originally Posted by DSMGuy

The Principal Charity Classic is on the PGA Champions Tour. But we'd probably take the younger tour if given the choice, over the old guys.

Fair enough.

This is the same difference as splitting hairs over minor-league professional baseball teams or who has a Williams-Sonoma instead of just Bed, Bath, and Beyond.

It's ridiculous, these pissing contests, but unfortunately necessary to rebutt such distorted assertions as the Quad Cities is out of Des Moines' league in quality-of-life factors. That's absolutely ridiculous.

[DSMGuy]

Sounds like you're in a bad mood.

Just pointing out that we are on a PGA tour. I think IA is lucky to have these tours passing thru (or near) the state. No big deal.


Wasn't slamming the QC's, in fact the posters here have given me cause to stop by there on the way thru to Chicago to see things like Figge, JD Museum, Zoo.