Earlier this week, I was featured in an article, Walking Warm Through the Winter, in the Des Moines Register. The article focused on the usefulness of the skywalk, especially during the winter. Here’s a few excerpts:

The downtown skywalk has taken heat over the years for killing pedestrian street traffic. But talk to skywalk fitness walkers. During this bitter winter, they don’t have broken hips, frostbite or have to wear Arctic gear just to stay warm.

Those elevated hallways tying together miles of downtown buildings are a viable weekend walking trail that more are utilizing. If you stretch the core skywalk hallways end to end it’s 3.1 miles.

Larry Bradshaw, 40, puts in an hour walking both on Saturday and Sunday as well as a couple nights a week. “Sometimes friends come down and we power walk on weekends,” he said. The skywalk is Bradshaw’s main form of transportation since moving to a downtown condo a year ago from West Des Moines. His car doesn’t run for days at a time, as he walks to work at Wells Fargo.

Legions of downtown workers use it for walking during lunch hour, smartly dressed in their skirts, hose and blinding-white walking sneakers, their arms pumping. It’s a little quieter on weekends but many take advantage of the free parking to get in exercise without having to brace against frigid air.

But to get to my point about hint’s of skywalk expansion, the article includes:

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I’m not sure if we have any outdoor accessible public restrooms downtown, at least none that I can recall. I believe that’s why you some porta-potties at some downtown events such as the Farmer’s Market.

Here’s a suggestion, when the make-over is being done on the Nollen Plaza or the new Sculpture Garden in the Gateway West Park, how about installing some public restrooms and maybe copy the City of Houston on their somewhat unique take on a public toilet.

It’s made entirely of one-way glass! No one can see you from the outside, but when you are inside it’s like sitting in a clear glass box! This style public restroom would draw a lot of attention.

It started out on Merle Hay Road. One of those rare restaurants that remind you of your childhood. Mmmm, take a deeeep breath, open your mouth, enjoy!, and be zapped back to the aromas and tastes emanating from your mother and grandmother’s kitchen. Are you hungry yet?

It was 1970 and someone else got a whiff all the way up to Minneapolis that something was selling hotter than pancakes in Des Moines. Mrs. C’s sold sandwiches, home made soup, and its Pièce de résistance … fresh baked pie, double-crusted fruit pies, crème pies. Mind you, we’re not talking ordinary home made pies. We’re talkin’ pies that were so goooood, they quickly earned a reputation as being as good as grandma’s. It didn’t take long for Pillsbury to purchase Mrs. C’s and name it Poppin’ Fresh Pies. In 1983, Vicorp bought the 60 Poppin’ Fresh restaurants from Pillsbury for a cool 38 million and renamed them Baker’s Square.

A 1989 Baker’s Square Commercial for more than 20 different pies:

Continuing with our series, Des Moines Picture of the Week, this week’s picture comes from Flickr user, Jason Bradwell a.k.a moonwell and is of the Polk County Court House in downtown Des Moines.

Jason says, “I like photographing Des Moines because I always manage to find something new & interesting to shoot & explore. I also like the challenge of capturing the well known spots in a unique and unexpected way.”

Check out previous pictures in of our series, Des Moines Picture of the Week.

I think that over past year Des Moines, like the rest of the world, has discovered how useful and fun Twitter can be in getting your message out. Twitter was one of the most talked about startups over the past year. According to recent reports Twitter grew in user base an 752% in 2008, and for the last month of 2009 showed a total of 4.43 million unique visitors in December.

As Twitter continues to gain in popularity, those of us already on Twitter might find ourselves in a position where we have to explain Twitter to a non-techie type person, and you know who those people are. I always first turn to Wikipedia,  which says that Twitter is a “free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows its users to send updates (otherwise known as “tweets”) which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length.”

Say what? You know your non-techie friends won’t understand that definition, so here’s another way to put it: Twitter is a free online tool that allows you to send messages to all of your friends all at the same time. Your Twitter friends (also known as followers) receive an alert each time you send a new message either on their mobile phones and/or on their computers.

Here’ a great video that helps to explain what Twitter is all about.

So you want to know who’s following who in Des Moines, here are the top five Twitter Users and the number of followers they had at post time:

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Skywalk Golf presented by The Principal Charity Classic returns on Saturday, Feb. 7, 2009, in downtown Des Moines’ skywalks. Early bird registration is almost over, Friday is the last day to register for $25.00. The event will take place from 7:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.

This event is often billed as the world’s largest indoor miniature golf tournament, the Skywalk Golf Tournament in Des Moines encompases four 18-hole miniature golf courses laid out inside the skywalk.

Each registered golfer recieves one round of Skywalk Golf, an official 2009 Skywalk Golf long-sleeved t-shirt, and a commemorative golf ball for play that day. As a bonus this year, each registered golfer also receives a ticket good for any day to The Principal Charity Classic.

This year they’ve even added a new course, you can check it out and all the courses by downloading the course map.

Some of you might not realize it, but over 1,000 downtown parking meters are now accepting the Parking Meter Smart Card. If you work, live or visit downtown often, it’s great just to get one of these cards and keep in your wallet or purse for those instances when you need to park at a parking meter.

The cards are simple to use, just purchase one for $5, plus the amount placed on the card and anytime you need to use a parking meter, you insert the card; buy time on meter, and when you are done, place your card back in the meter and any unused time is refunded back to the card.

You can get a card at any of the following three locations downtown:

• 3rd & Court Parking Garage Office
• 9th & Locust Parking Garage Office
• City Hall Lobby @ 400 Robert D. Ray Drive

When mobs and riots involve thousands of people such as have occurred in Paris, Berlin, or London, it’s not shocking news. It has happened in European capitals and other cities before. But, one would never envision such a riot in an American city in the midwest of 86,000 people. The rest of the country also never envisioned such an event happening in peaceful, quiet, Des Moines, Iowa.

J. R. Harrigan was the Vice President and Manager of the Des Moines City Railway Company. Harrigan set events in motion on August 4, 1911, when he fired an employee by the name of B. J. Hiatt. The union, the Amalgamated Association of Street and Electric Railway Employees of America, insisted that Hiatt was entitled to a hearing before being discharged. Harrigan refused to back down. The union immediately ordered a strike. Motormen and conductors abandoned their cars and Des Moines was instantly paralyzed. Abandoned cars obstructed travel and blocked streets everywhere. Des Moines business section in 1911:

Strikebreakers had been imported from Chicago and Omaha. They would break the union and save the city, or so they thought. The next day on Saturday, August 5, the first attempt by a strikebreaker to get a car into operation was immediately stopped by union sympathizers. Des Moines Mayor, James R. Hanna, sensed that worse trouble was coming. He ordered every saloon in the city closed.

As Hanna feared, the situation grew rapidly worse. The mobs went to boarding houses to find the imported men. The entire Des Moines Police Department and it’s reserves were powerless to stop the riots. One of the worse mobs surrounded the Iowa Hotel in the afternoon. They demanded that strikebreakers being protected by the police be turned over to them. Police were injured by flying bricks. The Des Moines Fire Department came to the rescue of the police and the strikebreakers by dispersing the crowd with a cannon of water. Strikebreakers at the Second Street Car Barn were surrounded by jeering, menacing, union sympathizers. The strike breakers were without food and no chance of escape. Police decided it was best to get the strikebreakers to the county jail for safe keeping.

Later that night, mobs numbering in the thousands stormed the offices of the General Manager, J. R. Harrigan, at the City Railway Station. Attempts to enter the building were blocked by the police until the arrival of reserve squads. The reserve squads only angered the mobs even more. The mobs smashed every window in the building. The screams of the thousands could be heard everywhere in the city. Children cried from fear. People stayed in their homes for safety.

Three days later the street cars of Des Moines were running again. A city in shock wanted to quickly forget the the weekend of August 5th, 1911.

Continuing with our series, Des Moines Picture of the Week, this week’s picture comes from Flickr user, Carl Wycoff a.k.a cwwycoff1 and is a cold winter night in Des Moines. Carl says he has been photographing in Des Moines since January of 1999 and feels that photographing downtown gives him an opportunity to express himself.

Carl says, “I love to shoot in the downtown area and I love to shoot at night using available light as I am probably more comfortable with that since I work nights and see things in that way. Des Moines has such a beautiful downtown area that I never get tired of driving through it and photographing what catches my eye to share with others.”

Check out previous pictures in of our series, Des Moines Picture of the Week.

First Place Winners with Organizers

Last night 91 people competed in 27 different teams to scavenge downtown in search of 27 clues scattered through out downtown. At 7:45 pm they set off from the Liberty Condos and were told to be back no later than 11:30 pm. The first place team arrived back with all clues found approximately 9:50 pm, second place about 5 minutes afterwards and then third place about 10 minutes after second place. In total of the 27 teams, 16 made it back by 11:30 pm. With most teams finding all 27 clues. 

Everyone that participated said that they had a lot of fun and would love to participate again in the next round. Contestants commented on how they learned about downtown and all the businesses that they found, that they didn’t even know existed. Tina Johnson, one of the main organizers spoke with the returnees as they came in. She received comments such as: “It felt like the Amazing Race!”; “I found out that my boyfriend can’t drive.”; “This was so much fun, you should do it again this summer.”; “This was so well organized.”; “The sponsoring businesses  were so nice when we came in.”; “People were trying to help us all along the way.”; “The clues were so hard, it really made you think. Thank God for the iPhone.”
 
Our first place winning team, the Timmons team, took home almost $1,500 in prizes, second place, the Reinert team, almost $400 in prizes and third place, the Walstrom team almost $200 in prizes. All participants took home one free week at Gym F/X downtown. FI

If you are interested in what clues the teams had to locate, check out the Clue Sheet they were given.

With this being the first time, we had a 127 people sign up, however due to the colder weather not everyone made it out. The contest had so much interest that people were still wanting to register after the deadline, however we were not able for fairness to except additional registrations after the deadline.

Here are some pictures from last night’s event:

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Look for updates on winners and participants on Sunday! If you didn’t get a chance to register for this one, we will hosting another next year.

Here’s our January update of what Netflix DVDs downtown residents are watching this month.

Example of a Modern Tram

Recently two public meetings were hosted by the Downtown Community Alliance to get public input on the feasibility of a tram system for downtown. I was unable to attend either of the sessions, but here’s what I’ve found out from others on the Downtown Shuttle System forum at AbsoluteDSM.com.

The following points were made at the meeting:

• Most people are only willing to walk .25 miles for mass transit.
• Start the tram system on a small scale that can later be expanded to include a larger area, with the first segment running about three miles in distance. 
• About every 900 feet would be a stop. At tram stops, there would be a GPS tracking system that would tell you how many minutes before the next tram arrives. You could then make a decision to either wait for it or not wait for it and instead walk to your destination.
• Tram cars would be modern style cars, not historic replicas, and initial run would require three cars. Cars cost approximately $3 million each.
• The first segment would cost approximately $50 million for planning, construction of track and overhead electrical lines and purchase of rail cars. Over 2/3rds of the money goes toward track construction, about 1/4 towards purchase of the cars.
• Initial build out is fairly quick since minimal existing utility relocation is done, a three block section can be done in about three months time. 
• The proposed bus transfer station is not part of this project and this project is not dependent on it.
• Every city that has added tram lines such as this has spurred development along the tram route.
• Tram would run till 10 pm on weeknights, midnight on Friday & Saturday nights, 8 pm on Sundays.

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If you told someone that Walt Disney was alive and well in downtown Des Moines, they might look at you in a goofy way (no pun intended). But everyday at the downtown school, young lives are being shaped by Walt Disney.

The process was the creation of Walt Disney himself even before he opened Disneyland in 1955. Walt had the idea that he didn’t want his employees to know only about their specific job and the skills needed to go with it. Disney wanted them to know the Disney culture and traditions regardless if it was a part time employee hired for the summer or an executive being hired for upper management. He didn’t consider it an expense. Walt Disney considered it an investment.

Teachers at the Downtown School in Des Moines are trained to break the mold of traditional education methods. Teachers encourage students to be self motivated. Students learn and grow in a nuturing atmosphere of mutual respect and trust. Drake University is also a partner offering a Master’s Degree in Elementary Education.

One of the best examples of Disney’s process was an experience by Disney himself. Walt Disney hired a 12 year old boy who was the spittin’ image of Mark Twain’s Tom Sawyer. The boy read Mark Twain’s novel and knew all the quirks about how to act like Tom Sawyer. The boy took his role too seriously that he was getting into fights. Walt Disney didn’t get angry with the boy or fire him. Instead, Walt Disney felt that the Disney company had failed the boy by not teaching the boy what was expected of him.

More can be learned about the downtown school and the Disney way at this book, The Disney Way: Harnessing the Management Secrets of Disney in Your Company.

Editor’s Note: A Blast from the Past is part of a re-occuring series, check out previous Blasts from the Past.

Continuing with our series, Des Moines Picture of the Week, this week’s picture comes from Flickr user, David Benna a.k.a IowaPilot and is a Fake Tilt Shift image of Des Moines. Fake Tilt Shift photography makes it appear as though you are looking at a miniature model.

Check out previous pictures in of our series, Des Moines Picture of the Week.