I along with about 25,000 others attended a rally downtown today in support of Barack Obama today. With just four days to the General Election, Obama wanted to say thanks to those in Iowan who helped him with his first nomination victory during the Iowa Caucuses.

Here a few quotes from today’s rally along with a video slide show I put together from on his theme songs that was played today. I also have some video coverage that I shot today.

“I had confidence in the people of Iowa because I knew that the American people are a decent people and a generous people, willing to work hard and sacrifice for future generations. No where was that truer than here in Iowa. On the day of the Iowa caucus, my faith n the American people was vindicated and what you started here in Iowa has swept the nation. We’re seeing the same turnout, we’re seeing the same people going and getting in line, volunteers, people participating, a whole new way of doing democracy started right here in Iowa, and it’s all across the country now.” – Barack Obama

Read the rest of this entry »

Let’s take a look at some Halloween-inspired videos. We will start off with the History of Halloween from the National Geographic Channel.

Read the rest of this entry »

Since tonight is Beggar’s Night here in Des Moines, I thought I would share a few Halloween-inspired political cartoons that I found all over the internet. I think these will make you laugh. Tomorrow, I hope to have something more scary themed for actual Halloween.

The first three are from the Center for American Progress.

Read the rest of this entry »

Gateway Lofts

1719 Grand Avenue, Des Moines, Iowa 50309
Phone: 515-280-1962
Property Manager: Tina Braafhart
Website: www.gatewayloftsdm.com

Open House: Mon.-Fri. 9am-5pm; Sat. 10am-2pm;
Sundays & Evenings by Appointment

Pricing: starts at $950 a month

Units in Project: 80
Floors in Building: 3

Property Features:
• one bath loft flats with 850 to 1,311 square feet, starts at $950
• two bath lofts flats with mezzanine, 1,212 to 1,960 square feet, starts at $1,250
• true urban lofts with large windows and spacious open floor plans, and concrete flooring
• indoor first floor climate controlled parking and outdoor parking available for guests
• stainless steel appliances, gas ranges and microwaves
• true urban style concrete kitchen and bathroom countertops
• brazilian black slate tub/shower surrounds with true overhead rainfall-style showerheads
• in-unit washer and dryer
• limited, controlled access for your safety

Read the rest of this entry »

If you are thinking about making the move to downtown, one of the first things you are going to need to do is find yourself a great realtor with experience in the downtown housing market. Purchasing a condo or loft in an urban downtown area is much different than purchasing a condo or town home in the burbs. For one, you are not necessarily buying just square footage; you are mainly buying the downtown urban lifestyle that will come with the purchase of a downtown unit. Since the downtown lifestyle is an important aspect of your purchase plans, it’s my opinion that the realtor you choose, should also reside downtown. Suburban realtors just don’t have the insight to help the downtown buyer pick the perfect unit for him or her, again this is just my opinion.

With the above said, this will be an initial installment featuring a downtown realtor. For realtors that live downtown and sell downtown, I’ve come up with seven questions that the realtor will be asked to respond to. Their answers will help give prospective clients insight on choosing a realtor that is right for him or her in helping them select and complete a downtown real estate transaction.

1. How long have you been a realtor?
2. How long have you focused on the downtown market?
3. What makes you excited about selling in the downtown market?
4. Why is now a great time to purchase downtown?
5. What are the demographics of your typical client who wants to purchase downtown?
6. If you could change anything about downtown to increase people wanting to live downtown, what would you change?
7. A short bio about yourself and family.

Our first realtor will be my personal realtor, Tina Johnson.

Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s our October update of what Netflix DVDs downtown residents might are watching as of Monday, October 27, 2008.

Last month’s number one, The Final Season, has fallen to number two, and in at number one is movie from 1980, Flash Gordon. Not sure I understand it’s currently popularity here in Des Moines, but some people downtown must be renting it.

This month instead of posting a screen scrape from Netflix for the top 15, I am providing just the top 5 and trailers for each of them. Enjoy!

1. Flash Gordon

Read the rest of this entry »

Today I was reading a post on AbsoluteDSM.com about development projects seeking Iowa’s Housing Tax Credits as an incentive to helping construction happen. Three of the projects are for downtown. These include:

Project – Renovation of historic building to housing with preference for artists
Number of Units –34 Total Units, 34 Affordable Units

Project – New Construction of Mixed Income Housing
Number of Units – 111 Total Units, 49 Market Rate, 62 Affordable Units

Project – Historic Rehabilitation, Ground Floor Commercial
Number of Units –66 Affordable Units

View Larger Map

Here’s the complete list: http://www.dmgov.org/mayor_council/agendas/2008_as/blue/08-650.htm or take part in the discussion at AbsoluteDSM.com. These three projects would make awesome additions to the downtown housing market.

In the heart of the Downtown Core Neighborhood lies the Civic Center, located at 221 Walnut Street. Built in 1979 with a collaboration of public and private support. The City of Des Moines provided two prime blocks of real estate on which to build the theater and an adjacent plaza and private sources contributed the money for the construction and interior needs. The Civic Center still operates today as a private, not-for-profit business. The building opened its doors officially to the public in June 1979.

The building was designed by the Des Moines architectural firm of Charles Hebert & Associates. The Civic Center’s Main Hall features a 76-foot wide by 28-foot high proscenium stage and has a seating area that accommodates an audience of 2,735. With the design, every seat has a great fiew and no seat is further than 145 feet from center stage. The building also features two triangle shaped lobbies with 50 foot ceilings, glass walls, skylights and walkways. On the ground level, below the main hall, lies Stoner Studio Theater, a smaller venue that seats as many as 200 people.

The Civic Center is the performing home of the Des Moines Symphony, Drama Workshop, Stage West, and the Civic Music Association. The Civic Center has also been host to major Broadway touring companies, performers and groups since it’s opening. It has been nationally recognized as an excellent facility in which to perform and draws large crowds to it’s performances from throughout the Greater Des Moines area.

Here’s a quick list of some of their upcoming events:

Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve had several readers ask me for a way to make it easy for them to either send a post of friend or link to it on their Facebook or MySpace account. I’ve had to explain to more than one reader that we’ve have tried to make it very easy for them with the Share This Post button, but it appears a lot of readers didn’t understand what that buttons provides. In this post, I will give some of the highlights and power of this little button.

To begin with, this button is towards the bottom of every post, right above the by line and rating tool. Once you click on it, it opens a small window that offers four main options for a user to choose from. The first two options are for emailing the post, either from looking up an email address in your favorite online address book from services such as Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, and AOL. The second option allows the user to manually enter up to 5 email addresses to send the post to. The third option allows a user to post the article on to their favorite social network site such as, Facebook, MySpace, Digg, Twitter, and Del.icio.us to name a few. The last option allows the user to quickly just add a link to the post to their favorites/bookmarks in their browser.

Let’s take a look a some screen shots of the tool in action.

Read the rest of this entry »

For the city of our size, Des Moines has an awesome collection of downtown green spaces. Within just a few blocks of most downtown office buildings or residential units you will be within footsteps of one of the following green spaces:

• Capitol Building Terrace
• Hansen Triangle
• Nollen Plaza
• Principal Riverwalk
• Simon Estes Riverfront
• Western Gateway Park

An just outside the main downtown area, is Gray’s Lake and Waterworks Park. The City of Des Moines’ Parks and Recreation Department is responsible for 72 parks with over 3,000 acres of green space and more than 30 miles of walking and biking trails.

I believe that urban green spaces, like those that we have in downtown, are an essential component in transforming and enriching our city. If Des Moines wants to continue and attract more people to move to and live in downtown, this amenity is an important factor for a lot of people. History has shown that parks play a pivotal role in shaping the success of urban areas. Take a look at Central Park in New York City, this is considered one of the first formal “parks,” and was created to be passive and beautiful, in contrast to the density of urban life. Central Park has become a destination, not only to it’s residents and workers, but to the tourist who come to New York City, and would consider a visit to Central Park as a “must-see” on their itinerary.

Two of our public green spaces are on the verge of some wonderful changes. Western Gateway Park will be turning into a world-class sculpture garden and Nollen Plaza has some plans to completely update and transform it into an awesome destination in the heart of the Downtown Core Neighborhood. Proposed inclusions in the Nollen Plaza update include a civic gate that acts as a waterfall in the warmer months and a frozen wall during the winter. Newly created public restorms would be incased inside of a large video media cube.

Read the rest of this entry »

Running No-Where(A Time Lapse/Slow Motion mix) from HedsIc on Vimeo.

Read the rest of this entry »

Continuing the old downtown Des Moines photo series, here are some photos that I came across of what downtown Des Moines looked like in 1940. These photos are attributed to John Vachon, via the Library of Congress.

State Capitol

Read the rest of this entry »

Continuing in the theme of this weeklong photography showcase, I’d like to show off some of the nighttime photography that I captured this week downtown. My friend, Tina and I, have just finished a 4-week long course on photography as part of the Des Moines Community Adult Education Series. Nighttime photography is one of the areas that I would like to get really good in. These pictures are from one of my first evenings venturing out to try some of the new techniques that we have learned. I think the images that I got turned out pretty good for a beginner. I hope you enjoy them.

I came across some interesting photos of what downtown Des Moines looked like in 1958, about this time 50 years ago. These photos are attributed to a Charles W. Cushman, and are part of the Indiana University Archives.

Looking East on Locust St. toward the Capitol

Read the rest of this entry »

As promised, here are some downtown fall photos that I took this past weekend. Enjoy!