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

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Posted under Living Downtown
Tags: Community | Neighbors | Video

The list for Des Moines’ most endangered buildings is in and three of the seven are located in downtown Des Moines. The Des Moines Rehabbers Club sought public nominations this past summer and selected seven buildings that represent a variety of styles and ages. Rehabbers Club organizer Steve Wilke-Shapiro, who coordinated the nominations, said the seven buildings “have individually compelling tales.”

Below are three that are located in downtown, two are in the Sherman Hill neighborhood and one is in the East Village.

• The 1893 Sherman Hill mansion at 692 17th St. burned in 1988 and has been under reconstruction since.

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Posted under Living Downtown
Tags: Community | East Village | History | Sherman Hill

This weekend the Des Moines area Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community will celebrate Pride, marking 30 years of Pride Celebrations in Des Moines. Major events of the celebration include a Pride Weekend Kickoff Party at the Garden Friday evening; a street party in the East Village Saturday evening; and the annual Pride Parade and Festival on Sunday. Full details of this weekend’s events can be found on their website at: CapitalCityPride.org. Des Moines’ annual Pride celebration is generally held the second weekend in June every summer, but this year had to be re-scheduled due to the flooding that was occurring during that time in downtown Des Moines.

A local group of residents, formed together as Capital City Pride-Des Moines organizes the event. Their mission is to “promote acceptance, tolerance, and understanding of the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community through education, programming, and visibility.”

Last year more than 8,000 attended the weekend long festivities and organizers are hoping for even a larger crowd with this being the 30th anniversary of the first Gay Pride demonstration in the City of Des Moines. This years theme for Pride 2008 is “Catch the Spirit” and the event is being sponsored by more than 90 Des Moines-area businesses and organizations.

I’m looking forward to attending this year’s celebration. Last year I was out of town during the celebration, but have attended the celebrations here in Des Moines the last few years. I find it’s around this time that people generally ask me “Why do you have to have these Pride celebrations?” I always try to answer first with a phrase that I saw on an Atlanta billboard the very first Pride celebration I ever took part in, back in 1994, it said” We are not ashamed of who we are; and for that we are proud!” I think this phrase says a lot.

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Posted under Living Downtown
Tags: Community | Festival | Parade | Video

In doing research for the blog, I was amazed at the amount of statistical data that City-Data.com has on the city of Des Moines. You can find almost any statistic related to demographics, income, home sales, etc. on this site. I’ve pulled a few of these stats to highlight some of the information that I found interesting. My focus of course for this piece is on downtown, the 50309 zip code, also keep in mind some of these stats are really dated and may not reflect the recent boom we’ve had in people moving to downtown in the last couple of years.

Demographics

Males: 2,806 (56.0%) Females: 2,205 (44.0%)

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Posted under Living Downtown
Tags: Community

Nomination Deadline: September 22nd and can be emailed to: swilkeshapiro@gmail.com.
 

The Des Moines Rehabbers Club is seeking nominations from the public to name “Des Moines’ Seven Most Endangered Buildings.” Neighborhood groups, individuals, and businesses are encouraged to submit nominations for buildings in danger of demolition or neglect. Nomination forms are available for download at http://renovatedsm.com/node/305 and must be received by September 22, 2008 or can be emailed to: swilkeshapiro@gmail.com.

Eligible buildings must be located within the city of Des Moines, must be threatened with active demolition or severe neglect, and should not be in a condition that is beyond the possibility of rehabilitation. Buildings may be residential or commercial, of any size and being used for any purpose. The list will be announced in mid-October.

The Des Moines Rehabbers Club hopes to raise awareness of endangered structures in Des Moines and to promote opportunities for rehabilitating them.

The Des Moines Rehabbers Club is a group of people of all skill levels with a common interest in preservation, rehabilitation, and maintenance of Des Moines’ buildings. Free monthly meetings take place on the first Saturday of each month. Topics range from demonstrations and “work in progress” tours to classroom topics such as how to look up a home’s history. For more information you can  visit: http://renovatedsm.com/

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Posted under Living Downtown
Tags: Community | History

“Get off your soapbox” may be what you begin to hear if plans go forward on an idea to put a “speakers corner” at the Principal Riverwalk. The The idea of a speakers corner came from a belief in the importance of freedom of speech, engagement and the art of oration. 

The Des Moines Register had an article yesterday that stated that’s the Iowa National Bar Association, a group of composed of minority lawyers has raised approximately $500,000 of its $1,000,000 goal to building a speakers platform on the Principal Riverwalk. A design or actual location hasn’t been determined as of yet, but they are looking at a spot near the federal courthouse building with hopes to break grown at the beginning of the year.

Leading the effort is Polk County District Judge Odell McGhee who wants to make this project on the scope of what Hyde Park has in London. The vision is to have a gathering spot where anyone could stand up and express opinions, “even if the KKK wanted to go there … anybody could go there to play a flute, debate, yell back and forth,” he said. An act of the British Parliament paved the way for the original in London’s Hyde Park almost 150 years ago. A speakers corner is to be located in the heart of the city and be shown as a powerful symbol of citizens’ rights, as well as focus for civic pride and a platform for free public exchange in the midst of the downtown events.

I’ve personally witnessed the speakers corner in Hyde’s Park a few years ago when I was in London. It seemed a popular attraction on Sundays when a range of speakers would get up on their soapboxes and ladders to argue with the passing crowds. I found it quite interesting to watch.

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Posted under Living Downtown
Tags: Community

In addition to my community involvement with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Iowa for the last three years, I had the opportunity today, thanks to a fellow blogger, Pete Jones with www.desmoinesisnotboring.com, to check out another civic organization, the Greater Des Moines Young Professionals Connection. If you are not familiar with this group, it’s mission is to promote an environment that attracts and retains young professionals in the Greater Des Moines area. Their efforts focus on connecting young professionals to each other and to the community through social, civic, charitable, and professional development endeavors.

This organization is part of the Greater Des Moines Partnership and provides a voice to the 20-to-30-something age demographic. The group was formed in 2000 and now has over 500 active members. In the meeting I attended today the group was focusing on two efforts, one is working with at-risk youth in the community and the other thinking about what needs to happen to help get more people to make the decision to live downtown.

Having moved downtown myself in March, I can’t begin to say how happy I am with making that decision, it was one of the best decisions I’ve made. It opens your life up to many more and new experiences and the best part I don’t have to spend very much time in my car. Now don’t get me wrong, I love my car, I drive a Bimmer for a reason, but this week I had the opportunity to work in downtown four days in a row and I haven’t had to drive to work all week! It’s a nice feeling to get up in the morning, usually about 30 minutes later than usual, get ready for work and then walk out my front door, take the elevator down to the skywalk level and walk for less than 10 minutes and be at work. Plus, think of all of those extra calories I’m burning and the gas I’m saving. It’s even better for the environment! Living and working downtown is a win-win situation!

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Posted under Living Downtown
Tags: Community | Condos | Lofts