Results tagged “des moines” from DesMoinesIst

The City of Des Moines is considering adding red-light cameras to intersections and Interstate 235 off-ramps. Clive already has them in six locations, so the horse is already out of the barn around here, in a sense. But that doesn't mean Des Moines should roll over and follow suit. Red-light cameras are not only creepy symptoms of a surveillance state, they're not even especially good at reducing collisions (in fact, they tend to increase rear-end collisions). If you want safer roads, you have engineers design them to be safer -- and you don't complain when those designs seem strange or unusual. Roundabouts, for instance, are remarkably safe: They've been measured to reduce injury crashes by 50% to 75%. But Americans aren't used to them, and that's gotten in the way of their widespread acceptance. Red-light cameras, though, are intrusive and more than a little Big Brother-ish. A civilized society relies on accommodation and judgment, not always-on surveillance. As it's been put elsewhere, if a police officer follows you for 500 miles, you're going to get a ticket. Red-light cameras are like that ultra-persistent cop: They don't blink. That's because red-light cameras aren't really about traffic safety: They're about revenue generation.

We were right. The storm reports from last night suggest it wasn't just tornado weather...it was hail and high wind weather, too. Damage was left behind. And there's a big, fat, ugly blotch over much of Iowa threatening new severe weather for tonight. We're being given another sporting chance of lots of new storms before the night is through. No thanks, Mother Nature. No thanks.

A Minneapolitan (because that's what we should take to calling people from the Twin Cities) named Jen Scott ought to get a free pass to the Iowa State Fair or some other state honorific for sharing these words about Des Moines:

Stopped by the most ghetto QT in Des Moines, to find it sparkly clean and filled with cops.

Based on the rest of her narrative, she was undoubtedly referring to the QuikTrip on Grand Avenue near Iowa Methodist, which isn't really in the highest-crime portion of town, but definitely wouldn't show up on a local real estate tour. And she's right: The place is always clean and there are always police nearby. We should thank Jen for noticing how we do things in the Des Moines area.

The Des Moines Register is laying off a dozen staff members and reducing its Washington bureau. The long-time farm editor is going, too. The Register was once a prominent newspaper, owned by the Cowles family and operated profitably for generations under their private control. When the paper was sold to Gannett in 1985, it had more Pulitzer Prizes in its name than any newspaper but the New York Times.

Unfortunately, it would seem that Gannett doesn't really know how to operate in a competitive environment. Newspapers long had a tendency towards natural monopoly on local advertising, since the first press run is the only one that costs (that is, all the hard work is in gathering the news...not in printing additional copies of the same paper). But the Internet is clobbering any newspaper that doesn't bring something extra to the table. The news itself is no longer unique; it's how that news is delivered that will determine whether a newspaper, website, or other medium will succeed.

And getting rid of a whole bunch of senior writers hardly seems like the right answer.

Everyone's talking about back-to-school time for the kids, but there are some opportunities in the Des Moines area for those who have already made their way through high school and college. Here are some quick reference links:

• Des Moines Public Schools Community Education will be issuing its course list on August 26th, with classes beginning in late September.
• West Des Moines Community Education hasn't indicated when it's putting its fall course schedule out yet, but that will probably happen shortly.
• Ankeny Community Education has already listed its courses, though the website is tricky to navigate.
• DMACC has fall courses in a number of locations, most starting next Monday
• Drake, obviously, has a lot of courses available, as does Grand View

For an up-close view of the floodwaters as they hit Des Moines a week ago, check out these excellent amateur shots of the city, right in the thick of it.

Obviously, the flooding and evacuations in Des Moines have been bad news, but judging from the photos, Cedar Rapids and Iowa City appear to have gotten it much worse. Iowa City is in far worse shape than in 1993, which at the time was thought to be the worst of all possible scenarios. Eastern Iowa has been losing power plants (in Iowa City and in Vinton), and even though the floodwaters are falling around Iowa's second city, drinking-water supplies are at risk. Des Moines, by comparison, has had some levee breaches and localized flooding, but the overall effects seem to be more limited than in I-380 corridor.

Those wishing to help from out of town ought to consult the Des Moines-area Red Cross and United Way.