I spent the winter writing songs about getting better
BRTD
Atlas Prophet
Posts: 113,043
Political Matrix
E: -6.50, S: -6.67
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« on: November 16, 2014, 11:48:55 PM » |
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Well now I have. In fact my main contacts are quite lucky to live in an 89.7% Obama in 2008 precinct, which managed to beat even my 2008 numbers of almost 89% flat for Obama! Quite impressive.
But yes, Des Moines. Not what most people who haven't been there would expect. Impressive downtown with real skyscrapers, and probably one of the most "urban" layouts I've ever seen in a city with the parking on the majority of streets banned on one side and the streets overall more narrow than Minneapolis. And plenty of small houses, most without driveways, reminds me of the neighborhoods of Minneapolis like the Northeast or Longfellow. Des Moines proper actually is lacking any real suburban sprawly areas, though you don't have to leave far to find those I have learned. But nice for what it is.
Other things I learned:
-Iowa's extremely lax liquor laws impressed me. There's not many actual liquor stores in Iowa, but that's because you can buy alcohol almost everywhere, in gas stations, grocery stores and even Target sells hard liquor. Oh and the only times sales are restricted are 2-6am, now compare that to Minnesota's ban on any offsale from 10PM-8AM and none at all on Sundays. Minnesota does need to get with the picture.
-Iowa's state capitol is really cool looking. Way better than Minnesota's (which is actually kind of ugly), better than Wisconsin's (which is rather boring) and better than North Dakota's, which is an efficiently designed skyscraper that is the tallest building in North Dakota, but still also boring. The golden dome is really cool! Also the Iowa Capitol Grounds still have a building named after Henry Wallace, which is also cool.
-Des Moines calls its transit system DART standing for Des Moines Area Regional Transit. But as acronyms go this is silly, it should be DMART, like would anyone ever abbreviate New York City with just an N? But I'll let them slide, because DART actually sounds really good and looks nice on the buses and bus stops, DMART just wouldn't be as appealing.
Honestly there's something to be said about having a relatively small actual downtown area and then a larger surrounding area of heavily mixed commercial and high density residential territory rather than the major city pattern of an almost exclusively commercial and government downtown and tons of high density residential areas surrounding it, it's convenient in a way and actually arguably further away from cookie cutter suburbia as well. A very common pattern in mid-sized Midwestern cities, see also Fargo and Duluth. But ultimately give me my high density tracts, easy public transportation or walking distance if it's not cold to downtown, and still plenty of commerce even if further out it's all residential like I have now. But it's better to live in such a place than the boring suburbs of a real majority city. But ultimately if I were in Des Moines I'd have to deal with a Republican Governor, soon to be two Republican Senators including one who is a total lunatic, and a Republican representative, while I currently live without a single Republican representing me at any level. Yeah appealing but I'm better off where I am.
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