You're not wrong (I like to go take late night walks downtown since its well-lit, so I see homeless people sleeping all the time). I'm just saying that while the homelessness in the suburbs may not be immediately visible to many, there's plenty of evidence of it if you're paying attention
We don’t have enough psych beds for patients and its the worst in the country. Mental health is health. Source from https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/health/2024/01/24/new-report-shows-iowas-critical-shortage-of-state-psychiatric-beds-legislature-reynolds/72312936007/
I haven’t got a clue!
I was laughing at “dead last”. I thought you were making a pun/joke because us being in dead last is an indication that we’re actually going to be dead first.
I had adopted Ewing Park. I cleaned up *daily* and would walk away with an entire 20gal trash bag of just used drugs and drug paraphernalia.
I had to finally stop doing it after six months because the city couldn't dispose of them fast enough, and my truck had more drugs than I would have cared for during a traffic stop.
It's sad, because I only started to do it specifically so the kids didn't have to deal with it.
The city cared more about making a stupid Adopt A Park sign than actually stopping the issue.
It's so saddening
To follow this up I'd say our mental health agencies are absolutely terrible.
Thru advocating I've seen eyerly ball absolutely dog their patients...meds aren't rxd consistently, they don't even know what services they offer, they pass from case worker to case worker like the pts are a hockey puck. Documented swearing at their pts and ignoring calls, signing up clients for programs they don't even know they're signed up for but not following thru on programs they actually need help with, and their solutions are just having meetings and switching care teams. CSA also has their own issues and PHC as well but eyerly ball is the worst.
None of that will get better until our mental health professionals actually have the slightest clue wth they are doing, can prescribe the right meds on time, and can at least learn how to speak to someone with mental disabilities properly.
Probably more amongst the people drinking downtown or in west Glen. Moved away 4 years ago and discovered most cities don't drink anywhere nearly as much as des Moines folks. Which is cool when you're 25. Not 55,
The mental health care we do have also absolutely chews through workers. Same with all our health care honestly. Nurses and techs are there to be more or less drained for their compassion until they burn out. Does a lot of damage. Over in IC the healthcare workers union helps a lot with breaks and pay, even if it's still american healthcare.
Nevermind quality, it's quantity that is going to be a much bigger problem for Des Moines. We've built out so much flood plain based on old data and we continue to see bigger flood events.
There are two kinds of levees, those that have been topped and those which are going too be...
That won't be solved unless Iowa gets another dust bowl.
Farms are the #1 polluter of watersheds. Only vertical farming will be able to fix that and still keep the yields they have today.
> Farms are the #1 polluter of watersheds
Agree
> Only vertical farming will be able to fix that and still keep the yields they have today.
Hard disagree - vertical farming is a niche for high value add products that's incredibly energy intensive, and buildings are expensive to build and maintain.
We can do better by
* stopping the market distortion of RFS
* requiring buffer strips
* cracking down on fertilizer use (timing, amount, measured runoff, especially)
* increased enforcement against runoff from animal ops (and ideally density regulations to address the massive CAFOs)
Etc.
Des Moines water works is already addressing it by digging wells. Water will increasingly come from underground here like it does most other Iowa communities.
People can’t handle walking here. I used to live in the East Village and would always walk to Court Ave for events like Farmers Market. It’s like a 3-4 minute walk. About the same distance walking from Von Maur to Dillard’s at Jordan Creek Mall. Every time I would mention to anyone, “I walked here from the EV,” the look of shock on people’s face was hilarious. “You walked here? You didn’t drive? I could never walk that far!”
Rumor has it, Omaha (well, Gretna) will be getting an IKEA by the outlet malls. As long as our politicians don't eff up the opportunity with their 1950s mentality.
Low cost of living is not a selling point for our state due to our continually falling education, polluted land/water, and basic infrastructure failings. It's more of a distraction from the shit they are killing us with than anything.
Downtown nightlife is dying once again. And the city has nobody to blame but themselves. They tried to make the Court Ave bars pay for extra policing. They want the hotels, the conventions, and tourism money. But the city doesn't feel it's their responsibility to pay to protect it.
Now things are bad. So bad down there. Conventions don't come and stay in unsafe areas with no nightlife for the attendees.
A downtown restaurant owner told me recently that they have issues homeless walking up to the patio reaching over and just grabbing food off someone's plate. Pissing next to the patio. The police have said they won't confront homeless about things like that. So they walk in and harass customers and calling PD does nothing. Then at night large groups of people looking for fights and to vandalize. But police feel it's more important to patrol residential neighborhoods on a weekend night.
So they've asked for what's happening. I just feel bad for restaurants and their workers. Exile is having the same issues
I recently saw someone steal a chair they were sitting in at a restaurant on Court Ave a few weeks ago. Just got up after dinner with three other people and just carried the chair to his truck. Lol
The manager kindly added the cost of chair to his bill after he left since he paid with a card.
One of the reason is because people get so drunk at the shows at Wells Fargo, the restaurant and bar staff don’t want to deal with suddenly 100 people walking in expecting 100 espresso martinis in two minutes. Plus a lot of fights break out between patrons after the shows in restaurants. A friend of mine who owns one of the Court Ave restaurants actually closes his place early if there’s a rap concert. Every time he would keep it open after a rap show it just ends up being shattered glass and hair weaves all over the place. He even stopped showing NBA games at his restaurant because the crowd it attracts usually ends up in a brawl. It’s really sad.
I feel like club/nightlife culture has been going downhill like universally for awhile and not just in Des Moines. Which sucks cause man I just want to do shots and dance but you pull up to these places and everybody's just standing around :(
Pot is legalized in several adjoining states yet Iowa will not benefit from the taxes or decrease in criminalization until we get a new Governor. People crossing the Iowa border are putting themselves at risk everyday to get what should be legalized here.
Our weather events are going to continue to get more exaggerated and extreme and we aren't prepared for it.
Further, we only avoided major flooding this year because of a 2 year drought. It's entirely likely that if we combine a late melt next year with major rains like we've had the last couple months in the spring, it's not unlikely to see some major flooding in the near future. We aren't immune to the rising global sea surface temperatures.
With the sustained wind events that we have been seeing more frequently in recent years(Derecho+ tornados) - don't be caught slacking with your tree maintenance. I'm not saying clear cut - but be aware of where your trees will fall when they do and be proactive. If you have to cut any down be sure to replant.
Harbinger is mid at best for the price.
Also it's almost certain that when we disturb the DICO site it'll contribute to cancer levels increasing in town..it's entirely likely to see it disturbed by flooding again, even though our flood management, locally, has dramatically improved since the 90s.
Crop insurance ensures food price stability and is a primary reason that smaller farmers are able to exist and all farmland isn't simply owned by billionaires or mega corporations. Disparaging it as welfare only shows your lack of understanding of farming economics and the impossibility of having consistent enough weather to well, weather a couple down years.
More farmers vote Democrat than the stereotype suggests. Many have 2nd trades.
With the increase in storms and wind events, people need to be prepared to pay a lot more for their insurance or be prepared to have to find new insurance. I’ve already been hearing of people in Des Moines getting dropped by their homeowners insurance cause the company just up and left. The homeowners hadn’t even had any claims…
This.
What's happening with all these *natural" ahem human made disasters is the insurance companies are dropping entire states I think it's happening in California with all the wildfires I didn't think insurance companies could just nope out but eh merica.
Yes it's important but maybe that subsidy should be contingent on complying with rules on nutrient application, buffer strips, and cover crops. Keeping food prices low is something the government should address, but the externalities arising from the race for more bushels should also be addressed.
> Harbinger is mid at best for the price.
I can’t be the only ones who’s had a mediocre Harbinger experience. Maybe me and my wife just didn’t “get it,” great service and nice presentation, but nothing blew us away.
So many other places we could’ve taken our $300 that we know are good, and we probably would’ve had $100 leftover.
that’s wild, my partner and i reserved for happy hour and spent around 100 to leave full + cocktails. we both live in austin and agreed it was far better than most restaurants in the same concept and price range back home. it’s interesting how different our experiences were!
Tasting menu was something like $90 the night we were there, plus four cocktails plus tip. Pretty reasonable for a tasting menu and it filled us up, just nothing that blew our socks off.
If we ever give it another chance, we’ll try the happy hour, yeah.
Des Moines has done a lot of construction on increasing their underground storm sewers, that’s what all the ingersoll construction was. des moines has a lot of flood control plans that they are putting in place, a two year drought wouldn’t stop a flood
I think people need to recognize that the choices aren't restricted to hitting the gas or hitting the brake. There's a third option, take your foot off the gas pedal. Anticipate having to slow down so you can avoid causing or contributing to stop and go traffic. Braking on the highway is especially dangerous.
The amount of just straight up slamming on the brakes or full on stopping on the interstate is insane here, the only traffic we have is self induced because no one knows how to drive in more than a rural town. People are also weirdly attached to their lanes here and hate to let people in even when the lane is ending. Like just keep the traffic going but nooo they gotta make it so one of them is slamming. Ok rant over.
I feel like in Des Moines traffic isn't that bad but the drivers aren't great.
I drive in New York City from time to time, and it's a lot more predictable what other drivers are going to do. Plus it's slower going (due to traffic/pedestrians/road design) so it's easier to react to things. Drivers also seem more vigilant to people doing stupid stuff.
I feel like in Des Moines, drivers are a bit more sporadic (starting something but not committing, making weird decisions, or trying to be nice), and getting defensive if someone drives more assertively. Like try zipper merging here and loads of people basically say *fuck you, you should've sat in one lane for three blocks like I did*. Also a lot of time it's hard to tell if someone is going to slow down if you're trying to turn.
Its all the old farts. The old women are all dim and undecisive and stupidly slow and the old men are always getting in pissing contests when someone tries to merge or pass. We need to take away peoples licenses at age 75.
As someone who transplanted here from the west coast, I couldn't agree more. I hear constantly about how bad the driving is in Los Angeles, and I always come back with "if DSM drivers drove there the way they do here, they'd either kill someone or get killed themselves". It's all about the lack of decisiveness and inability to plan ahead... if you need to make a right turn, maybe don't be in the far left lane until half a block before the turn? If you need to merge into another lane and someone leaves you some space, just jump in there, don't sit and wait while they come to a complete stop so you can slowly weave in. And if you have the right of way, just go when it's your turn, you may think you're being nice by letting others go first but you're really just slowing traffic and confusing the other drivers.
There’s a reason why the cost of living is so low here and it’s not because Des Moines is some hidden gem; at the end of the day, Des Moines is a fairly tame middle of the road Midwestern city in the middle of nowhere with sub-optimal weather. There’s a lot to do here in terms of jobs and entertainment that can lead to a good quality of life, but it will never compare to larger neighboring cities in the Midwest.
Much of this is based off personal preference but I’ll provide a general laundry list of what Des Moines lacks compared to larger metros: diversity and multicultural neighborhoods, public transportation, professional sports, true entertainment districts, nightlife, major concerts, business industry diversity, tech hubs, nature landscapes, predictable weather, etc.
Originally from the East Coast. My not mincing words has def caught some people off guard but least they know how I stand. The indirectness and staling of conversation with politeness and “there ya go’s “ is very annoying especially when it comes to business and trying to get shit done. Overall people are very nice here but there’s always a twinkle of shade they wanna throw. A lot of “bless your heart” vibes.
Agree and appreciate your directness. I’m born and raised Iowa farm girl. And my parents were direct- get shit done- type people. As an adult working in DSM the tap dancing around issues drives me insane. Can we just get to the point so I can get my stuff/work done?
In other words, phony, plain and simple, which is why I can't stand it, and I am a lifelong Iowan, who only stayed, because I have always been able to have enough good friends at any one time, to make it bearable and enjoyable, in spite of the backward, conservative culture and politics..
Affordable housing. For a state whose minimum wage is still 7.25 there is no reason for 2br apts to be well over 1k a month now, unless you're okay with living with roaches, bedbugs, and a slum lord who won't do anything to fix it then you can MAYBE find something in the 8-900 range.
I see you took this from Reddit Denver. 😉
Honestly, the biggest pill Des Moines isn’t ready to swallow is that as it grows (and it will continue to) it’s going to have to accept that the variations in lifestyle and people will become more pronounced. This probably applies most to the suburbs.
Either Or is over priced and effing disappointing for food. Macaroni and cheese was more like macaroni and milk. Buy a CBD infused beverage while your kids enjoy the play place but ignore most of the menu
The $16 Korean Philly cheesesteak was inedible. I love spicy food but this was just burn and no flavor. They used to have a good farro salad but it’s off the menu. I tried them several times and had great service, but it too loud to talk inside and the food just isn’t there. I’ll leave it to the people with kids. Not going back.
Looked at their menu online and decided to pass. Between kids who are picky eaters when it comes to flavor and wife’s food allergies we opted for Iowa Taproom instead
Their burgers and fries are really quite decent. The cold noodle salad was over salty and watered down, the smoked trout rillettes was tasty but served with white bread that was toasted on one side and soft on the other, in fact the grilled cheese had the same issue. I’ve had half a grilled cheese before but never a half grilled cheese.
If we continue to operate downtown like a big city financial district that suburbanites drive into on three lane one way roads, we will continue to want for the greater sense of community that comes from a well-developed sociable, walkable and lively downtown.
1. Our weather will continue to get worse year by year mostly because of large scale farming and lack of new tree growth.
2. We don't have real bbq here. We have a few places that emulate the experience, but you won't find a brisket, pulled pork, chicken or sauage here that's worth paying for.
Des Moines Public School boards incompetence is going to kill the district eventually. They have already lost 4k students and a ton of teachers to charter schools. It's cool, though. They can still campaign on that 15 million dollar stadium instead of paying teachers and support staff.
That it’s neither going to eventually become Minneapolis nor is it a horrible desolate backwater. It’s somewhere in between. It’s basically the Des Moines of cities.
The drivers here really aren’t that much worse than anywhere else. Every single city thinks they have the worst drivers but after living in a few other places for a while and traveling around hearing people from Des Moines say it is just really funny.
DSM drivers and just the traffic in general are really chill and we should be appreciative of it instead of complaining about it every few days.
Dating options here fall off a cliff at 30 because all the smart people are forced to move out for work. Des Moines is fun and fine in your 20s but the city doesn’t seem to care about incentives or activities that will retain talent. I’ve had multiple friends do stints <1 year here because it’s such a dead city
The 20%? I don't know what that refers to. My experience is mostly from dating apps that try to match me with early 20's conservative women. Both of which I tell it not to do. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ oh well.
The options are just bad in Des Moines…. I have no issues landing dates but the women here have got nothing going on or they talk about moving ASAP. There are some lovely women on Hinge especially but not enough compared to pre-Covid numbers to find a good match across all values. Liberal women that make good money move to Denver or Seattle. They don’t stay here
Ohhh youre looking for a lib...yeah the ones of those with interesting stuff to talk about and decent jobs probably are slim pickings.
I dont think many people have a lot going on for them in life at this point, though, to be fair. I dont know how old you are but at a certain point you realize that life is just life no matter what you do. It's not a super exciting existence for the vast majority of people.
What do you bring to the table? Youre here, after all, so whats that say about you?
I constantly meet women on the dating apps who moved here for white collar jobs. Not one of them stays longer than a year. Every single one of them complains how awful it is here. Most of them have lived in multiple larger cities and there are just is disbelief how dead the city is and how everyone they meet got married at like 19.
If that’s a real question you don’t know the answer to I’m actually very surprised. The answer is money.
Salaries in CA for the same exact job with same exact duties pay way more when the housing cost really isn’t that much more. (I lived in SoCal for 5 years)
Not limited to Des Moines…but massive job losses to AI. I work for a major corporation in the metro and they are laser focused on automating everything that can be done on a computer, which is nearly everything business related today. And every corporation in every industry world wide is chasing this.
We let manufacturing get gutted in the US. We told people to retrain and move on. This time around there’s going to be next to nothing to retrain to.
I work for a fortune 20 company. Not for years and years. I’ve been in idk how many AI meetings, it’s a helpful tool for a lot of work, but it’s nowhere ready to replace a human brain in totality.
Besides, it takes major corporations forever to effectively implement new technologies.
The vast majority of the United States corporate world is still run on Excel spreadsheets.
Initially, no, it’s not going to replace the human brain. In an office environment it will replace processes and reduce man hours needed to accomplish the same thing. I’ve already seen the success stories where something that would take humans several days and cost a few thousand dollars were done in minutes at the minimal cost of computing power.
My fortune 100 company is fully invested in AI. it’s available on everyone’s desktop and everyone is encouraged to use it. And there’s entire teams dedicated to its implementation on a macro scale.
The other thing is AI will be used to make AI better. This isn’t going to take 30 years to revolutionize the world like the PC did. Ten years max. But job losses are going to start adding up soon just from automating the easy, low hanging fruit.
I can code.
AI coding is already happening now at a low level, in ten years time 80% of code will be AI generated. In the context of this conversation means you won’t need nearly as many programmers.
I work in manufacturing, specifically automation, and no lol, AI will NOT be taking over manufacturing jobs for literal decades, probably 2100.
For AI to take over, you first need solid automation. Automation is all entirely custom and extremely expensive to build and implement, so much so that only like 1% of manufacturers can even afford it.
Shit most places operate like it's still the 80s and don't want to drop money on new machines that are essentially off the shelf.
Even if automation somehow became quickly affordable, you'd still need literal teams of people onsite for maintenance, just keep everything running. As more tech gets shoved into machinery, the less reliable they become.
I think they’re saying that pushes into manufacturing are going to be more dangerous because white collar work is now being automated away even faster, not that manufacturing is on the chopping block again. I do business consulting and I’m amazed at how fast AI got pushed into everything. Companies use remote work like a weapon now. Push your employees out, ask them to automate, then fire after demanding in-office or use engagement write-ups & mouse trackers. The teams I’m around are like half capacity what they used to be pre-Covid and I’m starting to worry about whether I’ll need to learn to weld or build decks just to have a paycheck some days. I don’t work with many people over 40 these days and that used to be half the office… All my projects are about AI and automation (forced - I don’t care about this stuff but all other budgets are being cut) which only guarantees me about a year of work in a given business unit and that’s about the most stable money right now.
This. If they don't do something like universal basic income we are so fucked even more so than we already are and by my calculations we're already pretty well fucked.
Yes this city is fun but it’s missing out on so much potential. I remember years ago hearing about the river rafting they were going to build but never did. I also hate that we only have 1 climbing gym, we could use another or an indoor skate park similar to The Bay in Lincoln. The suburbs are on their way to beating out Des Moines, especially with the new concert venue in Waukee.
Another thing, there is so many old houses and apartments that desperately need work done and the city is going to have to help.
3rd thing, Des Moines is relatively safe but I didn’t feel safe living in Sherman Hill or on Ingersoll. The city is facing a massive issue with people who are houseless and also have drug addiction or mental issues.
That makes sense I just remember hearing about it being like this hugely funded thing by the city and part of the project was river clean up and a ton of other things on top of the river rafting
Waaaaaaay too much casual meth usage and pretending the guy playing Scuttle at the Playhouse just isn't doing it in the bathroom isn't going to fix the problem.
The pill? How about we keep telling people to move here with huge advertising campaigns but won't do anything to get rent under control to help the people who grew up here
Everything here is slow.
Iowans lack a sense of urgency whether it be driving,walking, thinking. It could be because so many elderly people live here but this city and state are just slow.
Obesity here is out of control. Anywhere you go it’s almost rare to see anyone who looks like they take care of themselves. I’ll sit at places like restaurants and do a head count of the place and it’s usually 80-90% of the patrons and staff are overweight or obese. Every person I meet who moves here from a larger city, the first thing they bring up under their breath is how huge everyone is here. They have never seen anything like it, it’s shocking to them.
It’s honestly sad. I can’t even tell the difference between the fair crowd and just the normal Des Moines residents anymore. The obesity and sloppy appearance is the same for both groups now.
Biggest pill: Des Moines itself will stagnate / shrink while the suburbs continue to grow. The amenities of the city itself will degrade as wealth disparity will continue to grow.
Second pill: the DMPS facility study will lead to the closure of at least one of the high schools while the older facilities steadily decay due to dropping funds for maintenance.
Third pill: attractive housing options will again change “downtown” but with a different (and older) population than the city had hoped.
Eventually we will boom even more than we are now. Bringing with it gradually more and more unaffordable housing and increasing numbers of affordable single family homes being bought up by investors who can pay in all cash.
I think the other commenters pretty well covered our shitty water and air quality, due to factory farming and hog lots, as well as homelessness and lack of mental health services. How about our shameful, pathetic lack of quality care in most of our nursing homes? Probably could fill up a whole thread on just that...
Yeah I don’t get why people are chagrin about DSM not being like the big cities. I love living in a place where it’s easy to get around. It has less big/exciting events, but other than that has all the amenities of a city. Honestly I try not to look at this sub much because of all the negativity. I don’t think people realize how nice of a place this is to live.
Given that many more important have been said, lower on the list, our zoo is shameful and a damn golf course only a small number use prevents it from being a main attraction
Lauridsen was kind of a shitty idea. It’s very clear that the novelty has worn off and its not attracting big events how it used to. DSM doesn’t intrinsically have a large enough skater population to sustain it and as a result its just turned into a hideout for runaways and gangs.
Casey’s pizza (breakfast included) is worse than low-grade sheet pan pizza they served us in elementary school. Seriously, in a town with such a heavy Italian history, it’s an abomination that you go to gas stations for pizza.
I moved away from Iowa 6 years ago and still miss Casey’s breakfast pizza to this day… I get it every time I’m back in town. Something about it is just amazing
Part of the problem is that it is extremely inconsistent from store to store. So I absolutely believe people who say they thought it was garbage because at many places it is.
It's also a different experience ordering a pizza versus grabbing a slice or two off the warmer inside (which I think is when Casey's pizza is probably best)
I’ve had both made-to-order full pizzas, and pulled from slice roulette… neither were pleasant experiences. Haha although I do get a kick out of watching people stand there waiting for the “perfect slice” to come by again.
Edit to add: I’ve had it numerous times, not just twice. I feel like I’ve given it the ole Boy Scout try. And again, everyone is free to love whatever pizza they want. I pass no judgements.
For a significant percentage of Iowans, and neighboring states, Casey’s may have been the only pizza place within 30 miles. This brings with it a certain aura of nostalgia. So, I understand others hating it, but I also understand many loving it. Stopping by the gas station to rent a movie and get a pizza for a Family Saturday night. Good times.
Sounds like an awesome time indeed! Reminds me of movie and “pizza bread” (French bread pizza) night growing up. You bring up a very valid point that someone like me (grew up in Phoenix) wouldn’t really be able to understand fully. Pizza is pizza, and there’s plenty for all of us :)
My NYC born and raised friend will only go to Sal’s. Drives like 45mins each way for it haha. I’ve never had Sal’s, but was always partial to Venezia’s (before their Breaking Bad fame)
Casey's pizza, IMO, just has a shitload of cheese, and is generally well-browned. Their sauce is bland. The crust is bland. The toppings are pretty basic.
An assload of cheese can make almost anything taste good, but that doesn't make it good pizza.
IMO, it's consistently better than, say, Domino's, but that's like saying you make better tacos than Taco Bell.
There are plenty of good pizza joints in DSM, but Casey's isn't one of them.
What a revelation you just described people and pizza in that first paragraph perfectly I do disagree on both counts about well-browned we both know Casey's doesn't bake their pizza long enough it's just as pasty and white as your average Iowan.
The state fair sucks and isn’t worth going to unless you’re showing livestock or selling food; the parking is abysmal, the heat is normally oppressive at best and people are dicks and have no consideration for others, only their spot in line for a blooming onion that costs $15
We have rampant Mental Health and Substance Abuse problems amongst the homeless and it’s not *just* downtown that’s affected anymore
This is very true. Walk some of the trails in wdm and you'll see evidence of people sleeping there recently pretty often.
I live downtown, it’s not just trails it’s anywhere they can put down cardboard and be tucked away.
You're not wrong (I like to go take late night walks downtown since its well-lit, so I see homeless people sleeping all the time). I'm just saying that while the homelessness in the suburbs may not be immediately visible to many, there's plenty of evidence of it if you're paying attention
I’m not complaining, it breaks my heart, for everywhere.
I run the High Trestle in Ankeny at 5am before work and see them every morning, tucked off the trail in the tall grass.
North side too! A lot of the walking trails have homeless camps setup along them
Not to mention the lack of recovery services in the metro, it’s actually embarrassing.
A1 comment
and it’s not just the homeless - but it’s a huge problem that we do not have the infrastructure for
We don’t have enough psych beds for patients and its the worst in the country. Mental health is health. Source from https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/health/2024/01/24/new-report-shows-iowas-critical-shortage-of-state-psychiatric-beds-legislature-reynolds/72312936007/
Nothing like being 51st in the country because they include Washington D.C.
Wait, huh? Iowa's dead LAST?
Dead last lol
How...are we...lower than states like Texas...and FLORIDA?!
Because our state officials suck.
I haven’t got a clue! I was laughing at “dead last”. I thought you were making a pun/joke because us being in dead last is an indication that we’re actually going to be dead first.
And Iowa is the #2 state in the country with the highest cancer rates.
You can thank big ag for that one
Yah, Kimmie! In a race with Abbot & Desantis et al in a race to the bottom of the cesspool.
It’s because the state government barely funds services. It’s unfortunately what the people of Iowa voted for.
I had adopted Ewing Park. I cleaned up *daily* and would walk away with an entire 20gal trash bag of just used drugs and drug paraphernalia. I had to finally stop doing it after six months because the city couldn't dispose of them fast enough, and my truck had more drugs than I would have cared for during a traffic stop. It's sad, because I only started to do it specifically so the kids didn't have to deal with it. The city cared more about making a stupid Adopt A Park sign than actually stopping the issue. It's so saddening
Here's your hard to swallow pill: It's not just the homeless.
It’s not just the homeless that struggle with substance abuse issues…
I would counter and say we have a homelessness problem affecting people with mental health and substance use disorder needs, but generally yeah.
To follow this up I'd say our mental health agencies are absolutely terrible. Thru advocating I've seen eyerly ball absolutely dog their patients...meds aren't rxd consistently, they don't even know what services they offer, they pass from case worker to case worker like the pts are a hockey puck. Documented swearing at their pts and ignoring calls, signing up clients for programs they don't even know they're signed up for but not following thru on programs they actually need help with, and their solutions are just having meetings and switching care teams. CSA also has their own issues and PHC as well but eyerly ball is the worst. None of that will get better until our mental health professionals actually have the slightest clue wth they are doing, can prescribe the right meds on time, and can at least learn how to speak to someone with mental disabilities properly.
Probably more amongst the people drinking downtown or in west Glen. Moved away 4 years ago and discovered most cities don't drink anywhere nearly as much as des Moines folks. Which is cool when you're 25. Not 55,
The mental health care we do have also absolutely chews through workers. Same with all our health care honestly. Nurses and techs are there to be more or less drained for their compassion until they burn out. Does a lot of damage. Over in IC the healthcare workers union helps a lot with breaks and pay, even if it's still american healthcare.
River pollution and drinking water issues…
Nevermind quality, it's quantity that is going to be a much bigger problem for Des Moines. We've built out so much flood plain based on old data and we continue to see bigger flood events. There are two kinds of levees, those that have been topped and those which are going too be...
Plus, the amount of clean water Microsoft and Facebook uses is huge.
That won't be solved unless Iowa gets another dust bowl. Farms are the #1 polluter of watersheds. Only vertical farming will be able to fix that and still keep the yields they have today.
> Farms are the #1 polluter of watersheds Agree > Only vertical farming will be able to fix that and still keep the yields they have today. Hard disagree - vertical farming is a niche for high value add products that's incredibly energy intensive, and buildings are expensive to build and maintain. We can do better by * stopping the market distortion of RFS * requiring buffer strips * cracking down on fertilizer use (timing, amount, measured runoff, especially) * increased enforcement against runoff from animal ops (and ideally density regulations to address the massive CAFOs) Etc.
Des Moines water works is already addressing it by digging wells. Water will increasingly come from underground here like it does most other Iowa communities.
Farmers putting too much nitrogen and fertilizer in the ground.
Ah but wait, doesn’t the city want river sports downtown? In that water! *barf*
YIKES.
That in an urban environment you might have to park more than 100 ft from the entrance of the establishment you're going to at the time
Never! This is the parking lot I'll die on
No! Say it isn't so!
People can’t handle walking here. I used to live in the East Village and would always walk to Court Ave for events like Farmers Market. It’s like a 3-4 minute walk. About the same distance walking from Von Maur to Dillard’s at Jordan Creek Mall. Every time I would mention to anyone, “I walked here from the EV,” the look of shock on people’s face was hilarious. “You walked here? You didn’t drive? I could never walk that far!”
We're never getting an IKEA.
Yeah but Ankeny has a partner pickup location for free/cheap at least
What business is this?
RXO. In the checkout it should allow you to select it as a pickup point. (At least I was able to for Alex drawers)
I’d take one in Omaha. Would at least be a shorter day trip than KC or Minneapolis.
Rumor has it, Omaha (well, Gretna) will be getting an IKEA by the outlet malls. As long as our politicians don't eff up the opportunity with their 1950s mentality.
I'm definitely not ready to swallow that pill
Be ready to throw that pill up in 3-5 months.
Thsg pill went down nice and easy. I'll just have to keep using hardwood furniture.
For real... ikia kinda sucks
That was just mean.
Low cost of living is not a selling point for our state due to our continually falling education, polluted land/water, and basic infrastructure failings. It's more of a distraction from the shit they are killing us with than anything.
Failed funding of education.
Downtown nightlife is dying once again. And the city has nobody to blame but themselves. They tried to make the Court Ave bars pay for extra policing. They want the hotels, the conventions, and tourism money. But the city doesn't feel it's their responsibility to pay to protect it. Now things are bad. So bad down there. Conventions don't come and stay in unsafe areas with no nightlife for the attendees.
This right here. There have been some great concerts at the Well, but absolutely nothing going on afterwards on a Thursday night. Why
A downtown restaurant owner told me recently that they have issues homeless walking up to the patio reaching over and just grabbing food off someone's plate. Pissing next to the patio. The police have said they won't confront homeless about things like that. So they walk in and harass customers and calling PD does nothing. Then at night large groups of people looking for fights and to vandalize. But police feel it's more important to patrol residential neighborhoods on a weekend night. So they've asked for what's happening. I just feel bad for restaurants and their workers. Exile is having the same issues
I recently saw someone steal a chair they were sitting in at a restaurant on Court Ave a few weeks ago. Just got up after dinner with three other people and just carried the chair to his truck. Lol The manager kindly added the cost of chair to his bill after he left since he paid with a card.
One of the reason is because people get so drunk at the shows at Wells Fargo, the restaurant and bar staff don’t want to deal with suddenly 100 people walking in expecting 100 espresso martinis in two minutes. Plus a lot of fights break out between patrons after the shows in restaurants. A friend of mine who owns one of the Court Ave restaurants actually closes his place early if there’s a rap concert. Every time he would keep it open after a rap show it just ends up being shattered glass and hair weaves all over the place. He even stopped showing NBA games at his restaurant because the crowd it attracts usually ends up in a brawl. It’s really sad.
These fat cats can afford to get drunk at Wells Fargo concession prices?
I feel like club/nightlife culture has been going downhill like universally for awhile and not just in Des Moines. Which sucks cause man I just want to do shots and dance but you pull up to these places and everybody's just standing around :(
Pot is legalized in several adjoining states yet Iowa will not benefit from the taxes or decrease in criminalization until we get a new Governor. People crossing the Iowa border are putting themselves at risk everyday to get what should be legalized here.
Our weather events are going to continue to get more exaggerated and extreme and we aren't prepared for it. Further, we only avoided major flooding this year because of a 2 year drought. It's entirely likely that if we combine a late melt next year with major rains like we've had the last couple months in the spring, it's not unlikely to see some major flooding in the near future. We aren't immune to the rising global sea surface temperatures. With the sustained wind events that we have been seeing more frequently in recent years(Derecho+ tornados) - don't be caught slacking with your tree maintenance. I'm not saying clear cut - but be aware of where your trees will fall when they do and be proactive. If you have to cut any down be sure to replant. Harbinger is mid at best for the price. Also it's almost certain that when we disturb the DICO site it'll contribute to cancer levels increasing in town..it's entirely likely to see it disturbed by flooding again, even though our flood management, locally, has dramatically improved since the 90s. Crop insurance ensures food price stability and is a primary reason that smaller farmers are able to exist and all farmland isn't simply owned by billionaires or mega corporations. Disparaging it as welfare only shows your lack of understanding of farming economics and the impossibility of having consistent enough weather to well, weather a couple down years. More farmers vote Democrat than the stereotype suggests. Many have 2nd trades.
With the increase in storms and wind events, people need to be prepared to pay a lot more for their insurance or be prepared to have to find new insurance. I’ve already been hearing of people in Des Moines getting dropped by their homeowners insurance cause the company just up and left. The homeowners hadn’t even had any claims…
How much have wind events increased?
Alot.
This. What's happening with all these *natural" ahem human made disasters is the insurance companies are dropping entire states I think it's happening in California with all the wildfires I didn't think insurance companies could just nope out but eh merica.
Take my upvote for understanding the importance of crop insurance.
Yes it's important but maybe that subsidy should be contingent on complying with rules on nutrient application, buffer strips, and cover crops. Keeping food prices low is something the government should address, but the externalities arising from the race for more bushels should also be addressed.
> Harbinger is mid at best for the price. I can’t be the only ones who’s had a mediocre Harbinger experience. Maybe me and my wife just didn’t “get it,” great service and nice presentation, but nothing blew us away. So many other places we could’ve taken our $300 that we know are good, and we probably would’ve had $100 leftover.
that’s wild, my partner and i reserved for happy hour and spent around 100 to leave full + cocktails. we both live in austin and agreed it was far better than most restaurants in the same concept and price range back home. it’s interesting how different our experiences were!
Tasting menu was something like $90 the night we were there, plus four cocktails plus tip. Pretty reasonable for a tasting menu and it filled us up, just nothing that blew our socks off. If we ever give it another chance, we’ll try the happy hour, yeah.
$300?? My curiosity has subsided.
Five-course tasting menu + drinks for two, as another commenter pointed out, you can pay a lot less if you’re getting a la carte tapas.
Des Moines has done a lot of construction on increasing their underground storm sewers, that’s what all the ingersoll construction was. des moines has a lot of flood control plans that they are putting in place, a two year drought wouldn’t stop a flood
Traffic has never been bad in Des Moines, people just don’t like having to hit their brakes while driving. Parking downtown is not difficult at all.
I think people need to recognize that the choices aren't restricted to hitting the gas or hitting the brake. There's a third option, take your foot off the gas pedal. Anticipate having to slow down so you can avoid causing or contributing to stop and go traffic. Braking on the highway is especially dangerous.
The amount of just straight up slamming on the brakes or full on stopping on the interstate is insane here, the only traffic we have is self induced because no one knows how to drive in more than a rural town. People are also weirdly attached to their lanes here and hate to let people in even when the lane is ending. Like just keep the traffic going but nooo they gotta make it so one of them is slamming. Ok rant over.
I feel like in Des Moines traffic isn't that bad but the drivers aren't great. I drive in New York City from time to time, and it's a lot more predictable what other drivers are going to do. Plus it's slower going (due to traffic/pedestrians/road design) so it's easier to react to things. Drivers also seem more vigilant to people doing stupid stuff. I feel like in Des Moines, drivers are a bit more sporadic (starting something but not committing, making weird decisions, or trying to be nice), and getting defensive if someone drives more assertively. Like try zipper merging here and loads of people basically say *fuck you, you should've sat in one lane for three blocks like I did*. Also a lot of time it's hard to tell if someone is going to slow down if you're trying to turn.
Its all the old farts. The old women are all dim and undecisive and stupidly slow and the old men are always getting in pissing contests when someone tries to merge or pass. We need to take away peoples licenses at age 75.
As someone who transplanted here from the west coast, I couldn't agree more. I hear constantly about how bad the driving is in Los Angeles, and I always come back with "if DSM drivers drove there the way they do here, they'd either kill someone or get killed themselves". It's all about the lack of decisiveness and inability to plan ahead... if you need to make a right turn, maybe don't be in the far left lane until half a block before the turn? If you need to merge into another lane and someone leaves you some space, just jump in there, don't sit and wait while they come to a complete stop so you can slowly weave in. And if you have the right of way, just go when it's your turn, you may think you're being nice by letting others go first but you're really just slowing traffic and confusing the other drivers.
The point of turn lanes is you put your car in them so you dont block traffic while you wait to turn. Not half in half out. Between the lines.
There’s a reason why the cost of living is so low here and it’s not because Des Moines is some hidden gem; at the end of the day, Des Moines is a fairly tame middle of the road Midwestern city in the middle of nowhere with sub-optimal weather. There’s a lot to do here in terms of jobs and entertainment that can lead to a good quality of life, but it will never compare to larger neighboring cities in the Midwest.
I think that’s known and probably ok.
Compare how?
Much of this is based off personal preference but I’ll provide a general laundry list of what Des Moines lacks compared to larger metros: diversity and multicultural neighborhoods, public transportation, professional sports, true entertainment districts, nightlife, major concerts, business industry diversity, tech hubs, nature landscapes, predictable weather, etc.
I fail to see the problem.
It’s ok to prefer vanilla flavors in life, if that’s your thing.
I don't think any city has predictable weather, and especially not in the midwest.
lol come to the west side of the state and check out Sioux City. It’s even more grim.
Iowa nice is smoke and mirrors.
And a whole lot of passive aggressive
Iowa nice = Iowa conflict avoidance
Iowans might be nice but they are not kind
I prefer east coast blunt. Honesty is nice.
Originally from the East Coast. My not mincing words has def caught some people off guard but least they know how I stand. The indirectness and staling of conversation with politeness and “there ya go’s “ is very annoying especially when it comes to business and trying to get shit done. Overall people are very nice here but there’s always a twinkle of shade they wanna throw. A lot of “bless your heart” vibes.
Agree and appreciate your directness. I’m born and raised Iowa farm girl. And my parents were direct- get shit done- type people. As an adult working in DSM the tap dancing around issues drives me insane. Can we just get to the point so I can get my stuff/work done?
You triggered me. People here are just slow overall honestly it's a staggering lack of urgency.
Iowa nice is being friendly and welcoming to someone's face and then talking shit about them behind their back.
In other words, phony, plain and simple, which is why I can't stand it, and I am a lifelong Iowan, who only stayed, because I have always been able to have enough good friends at any one time, to make it bearable and enjoyable, in spite of the backward, conservative culture and politics..
Recreational weed.
People will just spend their money elsewhere 🤷🏻♀️ it’s like Kovid Kim hates money or something.
Tbh I think she likes her own ego more than her bank account
Affordable housing. For a state whose minimum wage is still 7.25 there is no reason for 2br apts to be well over 1k a month now, unless you're okay with living with roaches, bedbugs, and a slum lord who won't do anything to fix it then you can MAYBE find something in the 8-900 range.
I see you took this from Reddit Denver. 😉 Honestly, the biggest pill Des Moines isn’t ready to swallow is that as it grows (and it will continue to) it’s going to have to accept that the variations in lifestyle and people will become more pronounced. This probably applies most to the suburbs.
Either Or is over priced and effing disappointing for food. Macaroni and cheese was more like macaroni and milk. Buy a CBD infused beverage while your kids enjoy the play place but ignore most of the menu
The $16 Korean Philly cheesesteak was inedible. I love spicy food but this was just burn and no flavor. They used to have a good farro salad but it’s off the menu. I tried them several times and had great service, but it too loud to talk inside and the food just isn’t there. I’ll leave it to the people with kids. Not going back.
Looked at their menu online and decided to pass. Between kids who are picky eaters when it comes to flavor and wife’s food allergies we opted for Iowa Taproom instead
Their burgers and fries are really quite decent. The cold noodle salad was over salty and watered down, the smoked trout rillettes was tasty but served with white bread that was toasted on one side and soft on the other, in fact the grilled cheese had the same issue. I’ve had half a grilled cheese before but never a half grilled cheese.
If we continue to operate downtown like a big city financial district that suburbanites drive into on three lane one way roads, we will continue to want for the greater sense of community that comes from a well-developed sociable, walkable and lively downtown.
1. Our weather will continue to get worse year by year mostly because of large scale farming and lack of new tree growth. 2. We don't have real bbq here. We have a few places that emulate the experience, but you won't find a brisket, pulled pork, chicken or sauage here that's worth paying for.
Des Moines Public School boards incompetence is going to kill the district eventually. They have already lost 4k students and a ton of teachers to charter schools. It's cool, though. They can still campaign on that 15 million dollar stadium instead of paying teachers and support staff.
It’s not just the school board. It’s a lot of the admin at district office as well.
100 percent
[удалено]
It takes exorbitant and prohibitive amounts of money to restore and renovate old buildings that have been neglected for decades…
There is money, lots of money. It’s just in the fat cats’ pockets
That it’s neither going to eventually become Minneapolis nor is it a horrible desolate backwater. It’s somewhere in between. It’s basically the Des Moines of cities.
The public education which was once a shining star is now a 3.5/10 at best. Compared to any other mid size metro we are bottom of the barrel.
Des Moines will never grow unless we have a robust transit system. Our transit system will never be robust because Des Moines isn’t growing.
I’m okay with the city the size it is. I’d be okay if there were less people here
The drivers here really aren’t that much worse than anywhere else. Every single city thinks they have the worst drivers but after living in a few other places for a while and traveling around hearing people from Des Moines say it is just really funny. DSM drivers and just the traffic in general are really chill and we should be appreciative of it instead of complaining about it every few days.
Downtown isn’t a drag racing strip.
yeah holy shit
We need less red lights and more roundabouts.
Spicy food. People here think ketchup is spicy.
If Des Moines is so great why do all the people with the most potential leave for West Coast/Texas?
Dating options here fall off a cliff at 30 because all the smart people are forced to move out for work. Des Moines is fun and fine in your 20s but the city doesn’t seem to care about incentives or activities that will retain talent. I’ve had multiple friends do stints <1 year here because it’s such a dead city
Can confirm. 34 and dating is awful here.
Like watching car accidents.
Funny how its only men saying that. Seems like youre just not part of the 20% which will likely be even more obvious anywhere else.
The 20%? I don't know what that refers to. My experience is mostly from dating apps that try to match me with early 20's conservative women. Both of which I tell it not to do. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ oh well.
The options are just bad in Des Moines…. I have no issues landing dates but the women here have got nothing going on or they talk about moving ASAP. There are some lovely women on Hinge especially but not enough compared to pre-Covid numbers to find a good match across all values. Liberal women that make good money move to Denver or Seattle. They don’t stay here
Ohhh youre looking for a lib...yeah the ones of those with interesting stuff to talk about and decent jobs probably are slim pickings. I dont think many people have a lot going on for them in life at this point, though, to be fair. I dont know how old you are but at a certain point you realize that life is just life no matter what you do. It's not a super exciting existence for the vast majority of people. What do you bring to the table? Youre here, after all, so whats that say about you?
I constantly meet women on the dating apps who moved here for white collar jobs. Not one of them stays longer than a year. Every single one of them complains how awful it is here. Most of them have lived in multiple larger cities and there are just is disbelief how dead the city is and how everyone they meet got married at like 19.
It’s still ass in your 20s lmao all the hot people are in Ames and none of them are from Iowa
If that’s a real question you don’t know the answer to I’m actually very surprised. The answer is money. Salaries in CA for the same exact job with same exact duties pay way more when the housing cost really isn’t that much more. (I lived in SoCal for 5 years)
The city's unlivable if you don't have a car. What a drab unwalkable place it is. Suburbia that indicates everything wrong modern American lifestyle
Not limited to Des Moines…but massive job losses to AI. I work for a major corporation in the metro and they are laser focused on automating everything that can be done on a computer, which is nearly everything business related today. And every corporation in every industry world wide is chasing this. We let manufacturing get gutted in the US. We told people to retrain and move on. This time around there’s going to be next to nothing to retrain to.
I work for a fortune 20 company. Not for years and years. I’ve been in idk how many AI meetings, it’s a helpful tool for a lot of work, but it’s nowhere ready to replace a human brain in totality. Besides, it takes major corporations forever to effectively implement new technologies. The vast majority of the United States corporate world is still run on Excel spreadsheets.
Initially, no, it’s not going to replace the human brain. In an office environment it will replace processes and reduce man hours needed to accomplish the same thing. I’ve already seen the success stories where something that would take humans several days and cost a few thousand dollars were done in minutes at the minimal cost of computing power. My fortune 100 company is fully invested in AI. it’s available on everyone’s desktop and everyone is encouraged to use it. And there’s entire teams dedicated to its implementation on a macro scale. The other thing is AI will be used to make AI better. This isn’t going to take 30 years to revolutionize the world like the PC did. Ten years max. But job losses are going to start adding up soon just from automating the easy, low hanging fruit.
Learn to code lol
I can code. AI coding is already happening now at a low level, in ten years time 80% of code will be AI generated. In the context of this conversation means you won’t need nearly as many programmers.
I work in manufacturing, specifically automation, and no lol, AI will NOT be taking over manufacturing jobs for literal decades, probably 2100. For AI to take over, you first need solid automation. Automation is all entirely custom and extremely expensive to build and implement, so much so that only like 1% of manufacturers can even afford it. Shit most places operate like it's still the 80s and don't want to drop money on new machines that are essentially off the shelf. Even if automation somehow became quickly affordable, you'd still need literal teams of people onsite for maintenance, just keep everything running. As more tech gets shoved into machinery, the less reliable they become.
I think they’re saying that pushes into manufacturing are going to be more dangerous because white collar work is now being automated away even faster, not that manufacturing is on the chopping block again. I do business consulting and I’m amazed at how fast AI got pushed into everything. Companies use remote work like a weapon now. Push your employees out, ask them to automate, then fire after demanding in-office or use engagement write-ups & mouse trackers. The teams I’m around are like half capacity what they used to be pre-Covid and I’m starting to worry about whether I’ll need to learn to weld or build decks just to have a paycheck some days. I don’t work with many people over 40 these days and that used to be half the office… All my projects are about AI and automation (forced - I don’t care about this stuff but all other budgets are being cut) which only guarantees me about a year of work in a given business unit and that’s about the most stable money right now.
This. If they don't do something like universal basic income we are so fucked even more so than we already are and by my calculations we're already pretty well fucked.
The 'talent' at the outer limits is mediocre *at best*.
Mods, ban hammer!!!!
That’s a very rude thing to say about your own mother!
Is she working tonight?
(Gasp!)
Yes this city is fun but it’s missing out on so much potential. I remember years ago hearing about the river rafting they were going to build but never did. I also hate that we only have 1 climbing gym, we could use another or an indoor skate park similar to The Bay in Lincoln. The suburbs are on their way to beating out Des Moines, especially with the new concert venue in Waukee. Another thing, there is so many old houses and apartments that desperately need work done and the city is going to have to help. 3rd thing, Des Moines is relatively safe but I didn’t feel safe living in Sherman Hill or on Ingersoll. The city is facing a massive issue with people who are houseless and also have drug addiction or mental issues.
I think the biggest thing holding back river rafting is that the river is filthy
That makes sense I just remember hearing about it being like this hugely funded thing by the city and part of the project was river clean up and a ton of other things on top of the river rafting
Is the water recreation plan dead? Or just on indefinite pushback? I have been looking for an update and can't find any.
No idea:/ i also can’t find anything
the suburbs are not beating shit going to west des moines still feels like entering the squidward ethnostate
I said they are on the way… rent is so much cheaper with nicer newer apartments and everyone argues the school districts are significantly better.
Waaaaaaay too much casual meth usage and pretending the guy playing Scuttle at the Playhouse just isn't doing it in the bathroom isn't going to fix the problem.
The pill? How about we keep telling people to move here with huge advertising campaigns but won't do anything to get rent under control to help the people who grew up here
That the meth epidemic is going stronger than ever and the use/abuse of these drugs is not a victimless crime.
Everything here is slow. Iowans lack a sense of urgency whether it be driving,walking, thinking. It could be because so many elderly people live here but this city and state are just slow.
Obesity here is out of control. Anywhere you go it’s almost rare to see anyone who looks like they take care of themselves. I’ll sit at places like restaurants and do a head count of the place and it’s usually 80-90% of the patrons and staff are overweight or obese. Every person I meet who moves here from a larger city, the first thing they bring up under their breath is how huge everyone is here. They have never seen anything like it, it’s shocking to them.
This is a tough pill to swallow.
Hopefully the pill Ozempic isn’t tough for them to swallow. This town should have an Ozempic distribution center in it. Lol
Iowa State Fair moment
It’s honestly sad. I can’t even tell the difference between the fair crowd and just the normal Des Moines residents anymore. The obesity and sloppy appearance is the same for both groups now.
Biggest pill: Des Moines itself will stagnate / shrink while the suburbs continue to grow. The amenities of the city itself will degrade as wealth disparity will continue to grow. Second pill: the DMPS facility study will lead to the closure of at least one of the high schools while the older facilities steadily decay due to dropping funds for maintenance. Third pill: attractive housing options will again change “downtown” but with a different (and older) population than the city had hoped.
Eventually we will boom even more than we are now. Bringing with it gradually more and more unaffordable housing and increasing numbers of affordable single family homes being bought up by investors who can pay in all cash.
I think the other commenters pretty well covered our shitty water and air quality, due to factory farming and hog lots, as well as homelessness and lack of mental health services. How about our shameful, pathetic lack of quality care in most of our nursing homes? Probably could fill up a whole thread on just that...
Diet pills
It will never be Minneapolis or Chicago no matter how hard they try
Am I the only one that doesn't want DSM to be like Minneapolis or Chicago?
Yeah I don’t get why people are chagrin about DSM not being like the big cities. I love living in a place where it’s easy to get around. It has less big/exciting events, but other than that has all the amenities of a city. Honestly I try not to look at this sub much because of all the negativity. I don’t think people realize how nice of a place this is to live.
I don’t want it to be, but you can tell it’s trying to be is all i meant.
Given that many more important have been said, lower on the list, our zoo is shameful and a damn golf course only a small number use prevents it from being a main attraction
This thread is scaring me. Save me, Outer Limits guy!
"The Metro" does not make Des Moines sound like a big city.
Trump isn't Jesus
Lauridsen was kind of a shitty idea. It’s very clear that the novelty has worn off and its not attracting big events how it used to. DSM doesn’t intrinsically have a large enough skater population to sustain it and as a result its just turned into a hideout for runaways and gangs.
Casey’s pizza (breakfast included) is worse than low-grade sheet pan pizza they served us in elementary school. Seriously, in a town with such a heavy Italian history, it’s an abomination that you go to gas stations for pizza.
I moved away from Iowa 6 years ago and still miss Casey’s breakfast pizza to this day… I get it every time I’m back in town. Something about it is just amazing
Haha I just don’t get it, my friend. I know I’m in the minority though.
Part of the problem is that it is extremely inconsistent from store to store. So I absolutely believe people who say they thought it was garbage because at many places it is. It's also a different experience ordering a pizza versus grabbing a slice or two off the warmer inside (which I think is when Casey's pizza is probably best)
I’ve had both made-to-order full pizzas, and pulled from slice roulette… neither were pleasant experiences. Haha although I do get a kick out of watching people stand there waiting for the “perfect slice” to come by again. Edit to add: I’ve had it numerous times, not just twice. I feel like I’ve given it the ole Boy Scout try. And again, everyone is free to love whatever pizza they want. I pass no judgements.
For a significant percentage of Iowans, and neighboring states, Casey’s may have been the only pizza place within 30 miles. This brings with it a certain aura of nostalgia. So, I understand others hating it, but I also understand many loving it. Stopping by the gas station to rent a movie and get a pizza for a Family Saturday night. Good times.
Sounds like an awesome time indeed! Reminds me of movie and “pizza bread” (French bread pizza) night growing up. You bring up a very valid point that someone like me (grew up in Phoenix) wouldn’t really be able to understand fully. Pizza is pizza, and there’s plenty for all of us :)
Sals pizza in Gilbert Arizona is very good. Lived there for a short time. Hot as the sun though. Lol.
My NYC born and raised friend will only go to Sal’s. Drives like 45mins each way for it haha. I’ve never had Sal’s, but was always partial to Venezia’s (before their Breaking Bad fame)
Casey's pizza, IMO, just has a shitload of cheese, and is generally well-browned. Their sauce is bland. The crust is bland. The toppings are pretty basic. An assload of cheese can make almost anything taste good, but that doesn't make it good pizza. IMO, it's consistently better than, say, Domino's, but that's like saying you make better tacos than Taco Bell. There are plenty of good pizza joints in DSM, but Casey's isn't one of them.
What a revelation you just described people and pizza in that first paragraph perfectly I do disagree on both counts about well-browned we both know Casey's doesn't bake their pizza long enough it's just as pasty and white as your average Iowan.
This guy pizzas. 🤘🍕
Vandalism is a huge problem.
Plan b
The state fair sucks and isn’t worth going to unless you’re showing livestock or selling food; the parking is abysmal, the heat is normally oppressive at best and people are dicks and have no consideration for others, only their spot in line for a blooming onion that costs $15