Are there areas in the Des Moines metro area that are more liberal minded then others? (Washington: wage, organic)

[capitalcityguy]

Sherman Hill, neighborhoods south & west of Drake University, Ingersoll Avenue area, North/south of Grand neighborhoods, Beaverdale.

[capitalcityguy]

Here's an interesting blog entry on Ingersoll Neighborhood:

- desmoinesisnotboring.com

[Stavemaster]

Originally Posted by Tek_Freek

Yeah, posting from SF seems a bit, well, distant. The problem is that it isn't just local. The whole state seems to have gone off the rails. We have a governor who promised to add 200,000 jobs. His finest effort (lately) in getting that done is to close most of the unemployment offices and replace them with kiosks.

I grew up with Branstad as governor and it's amazing to see what a wingnut he's become on his second go-around. The question is are people happy with the job he's doing? Judging by comments I see on the DMR and elsewhere online, I get the feeling they aren't. Even among Republicans, teabaggers, etc. I don't see a lot of enthusiasm for the guy. My impression is that a lot of the people who voted for him did so remembering him as the relatively moderate, fairly competent governor we had in the 80's and 90's. If they'd known what he was going to be like this time around, Culver would have been re-elected in a landslide. Of course I could be completely off about that. It's just the impression I get online and on those rare occasions when I get back home.

Anyway, I don't think it's fair to judge the DM area or the whole state based on Branstad and a few nutjobs like Steve King (It will be interesting to see if he can hold onto his seat now that he's been redistricted and Christie Vilsack is running against him).

Originally Posted by Tek_Freek

I'll lay a $100 dollar bill on the table that he doesn't do any better, and will probably do worse, than the last time he was governor.

You're really putting yourself on the line with that one. Want to make it $200 and also bet that the sun comes up tomorrow and that gravity doesn't spontaneously reverse itself and fling us all into space?

Originally Posted by Tek_Freek

And the insanity of the latest political craze isn't the main reason we're leaving. Taxes, weather, COL in general, expensive to fly anywhere, yadda yadda.

Cost of living? Really? Of course again I'm looking at it from a San Franciscan perspective. The rent I pay for my tiny apartment here would cover mortgage on a modest but livable home in the DM metro area.

But best of luck wherever you end up.

[Samarami]

I would agree with the Sherman Hill/Ingersoll suggestions, but don't know how you want to define "liberalism". I believe you have the "right" to believe what you've come to believe, do whatever you choose to do, and associate with whomever you like as long as you do not aggress upon me (or my family or friends) -- without interference from agents of state. Since the nature of state agents (parasites all) is to interfere you need a self declaration of sovereignty. Divorce the Demopublicans and the Republicrats.

I am a sovereign "state". As such I can live in any area of Des Moines without a need for sovereign neighbors or peers, since few would understand sovereignty if it up and bit them in the arse. It's always fun when I discover liberty-mindedness up and down the street -- and as internet becomes more extensive I see that in greater numbers. Fewer and fewer are willing to remain subjects of state (well, agents of state, since states are abstractions and do not exist).

I recently bought a house in an "impacted" part of town and just posted my first "blog" about my concerns for starting the renovation project. "Impacted" apparently means some bureaucrats feel our neighborhood needs an injection of socialism -- steal from "A" to "give" to "B", you know the drill.

Good luck in your move to Ioway. I'm a transplanted Texan. Samarami

[DSM22]

I live and work downtown Des Moines and love the area. I would recommend looking at the places around 10th Street downtown, Sherman Hill or the E. Village area. There are many young professionals, younger families and there is a stronger progressive feel than in the surrounding suburbs. If you need more info on living/working here, check out Greater Des Moines Partnership | Home page. Best of luck with the move!

[tptvosox]

Originally Posted by capitalcityguy

Here's an interesting blog entry on Ingersoll Neighborhood:

- desmoinesisnotboring.com

Definitely a good synapsis of our Ingersoll area / North of Grand neighborhoods. There is definitely a left tilt to this area of town, but also an excellent blend of both tradition and progressiveness. We moved back to Iowa after 11 years between Boston and NYC, and this was my only place of focus for our move, and we got lucky and found a place. If we were richer, we might have looked at the Waterbury neighborhood perhaps (west of Polk Blvd, in the 50s out to 63rd St), for more house and yard, but we love our place in the mid 30's north of Ingersoll (that whole 35th-42nd St area between Ingersoll and Center is wonderful). Perfect spot at this time for us and the kids, age 6 and 1.5. Most homes are from the early 1900s (ours is 1913) and many have been fixed up / remodeled over the years...at the very least, nearly all of them are very well kept up. Neighbors are architects, designers, musicians, teachers, winery owners, professionals of all types, and a mix of older folks and local business owners. There's the nightlife/restaurants/drinks that we crave just a walk or short drive (and a babysitter) away from reality, and we love the "calm but hip" vibe we get on our family walks, as you check out people's landscaping, vehicles, family gatherings, block parties, neighborhood events happening...maybe you get a chance to meet someone new who's out on a walk or on their lawn. One of a few places where we wouldn't have felt so out of place having little ones as we crossed into our 40s. Super cool vibe, lots of soul, and just outside of downtown, which we needed (having lived in Manhattan).

For your kids, essentially all elementary schools in the immediate area are great, with Hubbell Elementary being Iowa's first International Baccalaureate (IB) elementary school. Our house is just outside that boundary, but we got in via open enrollment approval. Should that not have happened, however, Greenwood is also an incredible elementary, and we would have loved that. For middle school, I'd have to give the nod to Merrill over Callanan, as Merrill is an IB school and tends to just have less problems, so you may want to focus on finding a home within the Merrill boundary. There are probably more comments in this site about those two schools, so I'll let you look those up. Greenwood feeds into Callanan, while Hubbell feeds into Merrill. I'd have to look up where the others feed.

Ultimately, assuming you stick with public school, the kids all feed into Roosevelt HS, which when combined with all of the Central Campus / Central Academy opportunities (variety of elective, more IB and AP classes), cannot be beat for DM Public School options, in my opinion. SIX high school kids from RHS/Central Academy scored perfect on their ACTs between spring and this fall, which doesn't necessarily mean much beyond the drive of those particular kids, but I also look for teachers who inspire kids like that, and curricular options, so the whole package to me is amazing. For us, it was, if our sons ever want to work/live out east or in another country, what environment here will best prepare them for that?

That's the two-four cents I can throw in before heading to lunch. Good luck with your research and decision! Let me know if I can help with anything.

--Oh, what do you guys do for a living?

[tptvosox]

Meant to include a link to DMPS' site for schools, each of which should have a school boundary link:
School Web Sites

[nw_chick]

I apologize that I did not reply sooner. We just started a large 10-month project at work and we are under-staffed. That along with school starting, my daughter's after school schedule and painting our house has kept me very busy.

I was encouraged by your post. I am definitely looking for a "calm but hip" vibe. I want my daughter to live in an environment that celebrates different ways of thinking. My mother-in-law lives in a suburb north of Des Moines. It is a nice but I cannot imagine living there or any of the other Des Moines area suburbs.

The Ingersoll area / North of Grand neighborhoods and the Waterbury neighborhood sound very interesting. If possible, we are planning to come back for the holidays and will be checking out these areas.

We are also older parents (I am 39 and my husband is 42). We have an eight-year-old daughter. We are considering expanding our family by one more. Older parents are very common where we currently live. When you mentioned you did not ‘feel out of place having little ones’, I realized that I forgot to factor that into the equation.

I have heard very good things about the public schools in the Des Moines area. Thank you for including the link. Education is very important to us. Our daughter was in a Montessori environment from preschool through first grade. We love the Montessori school she attended for preschool and kindergarten. Unfortunately, that school only went to kindergarten. We then enrolled her into the local Montessori elementary for first grade. We realized at the end of the school year that this option was not going to work. She was behind on her reading and the disorganized school administration was frustrating. We enrolled her in a catholic elementary school the following year. It is very different from the Montessori program but her reading has significantly improved and we have been very happy with her progress. If we stay here, there is a very good public magnet school that we would enroll her in for middle school and high school.

I appreciate all the information that you included in your post. It is a tough decision but finding an area that has a similar vibe to where we currently live will make a possible transition easier.

Oh, I almost forgot... I work in the technology industry as a programmer/analyst for major financial systems. My husband is a manufacturing/process engineer specializing in foundry environments.

[tollfree]

The good public schools are in the suburbs. Too many of these "boosters" have rose-colored glasses on and believe everything must be within the confines of DM proper. If you are from a bigger city, you'll realize that soon as you land here. Anyone from a central Iowa high school can goto Central Academy - you don't have to be enrolled in a DM proper school. Some city dwellers do try and claim it.

[SixFive175]

I've lived in the Des Moines area for about 50 years. Now I live in East Peoria, IL. As for Liberalness, Iowa is actually a purple state. It was red in the 2000 election, blue in the 2004 & 2008 elections. The most Liberal (at least vote wise) parts of the state are Iowa City, and the counties in far E and NE Iowa (Democrat Catholic). The most Republican counties are in the far W and especially far NW (Dutch Reformed). Des Moines proper tends to vote Democrat, while the suburbs go Republican.

Iowa is purple. Just because it went Red in one election doesn't mean a thing given the long term. Iowa does that.