Continuing with our series, Des Moines Picture of the Week, this week’s picture comes from Cyn Thia, aka thiajmarie, and titled “Reflecting on Des Moines.”

She says “I was in Des Moines to visit my best friend. A beautiful city, with a wonderful variety of photographic opportunities. I will definitely be back!!!!”

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

You know I’m a gadget geek, especially when it comes to my iPhone apps, so when I saw this one, I just had to ask when the City of Des Moines could get this going?

Did you know that if you live in New York City, you can dial one #, NYC 311 to report anything from a leaky fire hydrant, burnt-out streetlamp, graffiti, a missing manhole cover, missing signs, broken parking meters, etc.

There’s a new iPhone app out, SeeClickFix, which allows users to report issues right from their phones, complete with geotag to provide the map location of the problem.

This app would be totally great for those of us who eitehr live or work downtown in the winters to report the large number of potholes that sometimes form.

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Ok, I have to admit it, I have a real weakness for ice cream and fresh made fudge. When I lived in Sarasota, Florida, one of my favorite places to visit at St. Armand’s Circle, was Kilwin’s Chocolates & Ice Cream. Without fail, there was always a line to get into this place, and on some busy weekend nights, that’s a good 15 to 20 minute wait, but well worth it.

Opportunity: Kilwins Chocolates & Ice Cream

Business Case: I don’t think I’m unique in there’s nothing better than a good cup of ice cream. Kilwins has some outstanding flavors and if ice cream isn’t your thing, then there’s always the homemade fudge and other candies that you can watch them make right there in the store.

Kilwin’s started in northern Michigan in 1947, and has earned a reputation for its quality products and excellent service. They use only the finest and freshest ingredients and they franchise currently has over 50 locations throughout the US. Now it’s time for Des Moines residents to try some of these great treats. Trust me, you will find yourself coming back again and again. Downtown has no other ice cream venues, so competition is next to none.

Suggested location: The East Village, preferably somewhere on Locust Street. This would grab the local residents, State Office works, and those eating or shopping in the Village. Kilwins are generally located in a walking district where you can grab some ice cream and window shop other retail outlets around. In both Sarasota and Ft Lauderdale, the stores are always busy especially on summer weekend evenings.

This week, it was announced that residents of Black Hawk County can now text their requests for fire, police, or ambulance, to the 911 emergency call center in Black Hawk County, Iowa. This is being hailed as both a nationwide first and a definite improvement for deaf and hard-of-hearing residents who have thus far had to rely on TDD devices. Readers should not that, unlike voice calls, however, the 911 operator can’t get your location from a text message, meaning that the caller must first respond to a request for their city or zip code before the call gets routed.

Currently, only T-Mobile subscribers can use the service, but plans are to bring other carriers on board quickly. Other future upgrades include the ability to accept video and picture messages. All the operators ask is that you refrain from sending them those silly chain text messages — that sort of thing can be really distracting when you’re busy saving lives.

What I’m asking is if a small county like Black Hawk (Waterloo) can do this, why would the most populous county, Polk County (Des Moines) not be all over this setting a new standard not only in Iowa, but for the US. At least hopefully those in charge here in the Des Moines area will catch up soon.

Continuing with our series, Des Moines Picture of the Week, this week’s picture comes from Danyell Klein, aka 03jeepgirl, and is a nighttime photo of fireworks from Scott Avenue bridge with the  downtown backdrop.

She says “I just moved back to the Des Moines area from Oskaloosa in February and I love taking pictures here. It’s much different than the rural areas.”

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

So I finally broke down this week and purchased myself a bike. I haven’t owned a bike for a few years, because when I lived in the burbs it just set in my garage and collected dust. I’ve been doing a lot of walking this summer downtown on the trails and up down the riverwalk area and to Gray’s Lake and back. I’ve seen a lot of people out on bikes and I think I was the only resident in the Liberty Building with out a bike, so with the help of my good friend and neighbor Renae, we found me the perfect bike on CraigsList.org.

I got my bike Wednesday night and took it for it’s first ride last night. I rode from the Liberty Building east on Locust, then picked up the Principal Riverwalk trails and headed south to Principal Park, then west to Gray’s Lake, circled the lake and then north to Locust Street and back east to the Liberty Building. I’m not sure of the distance (I’ve got to figure out how to use the bike computer or find an iPhone app), but the entire ride took about 45 minutes.

Being able to ride the wonderful trails we have downtown is another great asset that us downtown dwellers have. I’m not sure of other projects downtown, but at 418 Liberty Condos, we have both an indoor bike room on the 1st floor as well as a bike station in the parking garage.

Are you interested in helping keep downtown beautiful? If so, you should come out and join your neighbors in the the 8th Annual River Run Garbage Grap, a Des Moines River clean up effort.

The event takes place this Saturday, August 15th, and starts at 9am. This event allows volunteers the opportunity to remove trash from the river or along its adjacent trails–paddlers, rowers, power boaters, walkers, hikers, bicyclers, mountain bikers, birders, etc are all welcome!

Also there will be a riverfront celebration at 6PM at the Simon Estes Amphitheater where live entertainment and food will be provided FREE for volunteers. Music provided by Community Jazz Center Big Band. Door prizes will be given away.

For more details go to: http://www.riverstewards.org/

Continuing with our series, Des Moines Picture of the Week, this week’s picture comes from Sarah Brewbaker and is of some signage from the Court Avenue District.

Sarah says “For me photography is my creative outlet and lets me show others how I view the world. I have grown up in the Des Moines area and have always loved to attend such events as the downtown farmers market.”

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