My Old Neighborhood (Des Moines, Indianola: section 8, apartment complexes, renters)

[Tarheel Hopeful]

Hello everyone,

I used to live in Des Moines back in the early 90s as a child, and although I have fond memories from that time I was wondering what it was really like. I lived in the Southwest section with my family, just north west of Lake Easter. I lived off of East Park Avenue.

I remember my dad telling me years later this is a drug infested area, is this true? If not, what is it like and/or what was it like 15 years ago?

Thanks!

[Luke9686]

It depends on the street. My sister in law lives in the newer housing development a couple blocks from the lake, and it's great. Five blocks east, its a rat whole. Most of the southeast side is pretty bad actually. It hasn't always been that way...

[El Rhino]

That's where I live and unfortunately there's a bit of truth to that statement. Like Luke said most of the developments are nice. I live in one of the older homes and the very immediate neighborhood is nice. The problem lies with the renters. There's a ton of section 8 housing and apartment complexes in this area. My parents live a few blocks away in one of the nicer developments and going from my place to theirs really makes me lose faith in the future of this community and the world as a whole. Litter everywhere, people constantly milling around, no one takes care of their properties, unruly loud children running around all over and the cops are around quite a bit. You can listen to the DMPD's scanner on the internet (City of Des Moines - Police Department) and you will hear lots of calls for this area.

A trip to the Hy-Vee also makes me lose faith in the future. As far as business goes in that area it's nothing but smoke shops, predatory lending and fast food. Traffic is terrible, the three intersections of SE 14th & Park, Indianola and Park and Indianola and SE 14th are among the three worst for accidents in the city.

There's also a rumor that they're planning on moving the Oakridge Projects to that part of town. If that happens, gloves come off.

So yeah, among the homeowners of this area there's still plenty of decent, normal people. Take the renters out of the equasion and it's a nice middle class/blue collar neighborhood. Unfortunately I don't see a ton of section 8 housing opening up anywhere else in the metro area to lure these people away for a while.