This year in particular, it seems to have reached a boiling point, said council member Josh Mandelbaum, who represents downtown. I’ve heard more adamantly, and more frequently, and from a wider variety of constituents than previously about a very broad range of concerns and that it is now starting to bleed into other times beyond just the weekend evenings. … We need to get a handle on the situation.
The Des Moines Police Department requested the change, citing an uptick in complaints about excessive noise and dangerous speeds in recent months. A year ago, the city temporarily closed streets near the sculpture park to encourage social distancing and discourage scooping the loop, which seemed to help at least when paired with increased traffic citations.
Guest opinion: Itâs time we share the rest of the story Wednesday, January 27, 2021 10:33 AM Submitted by: Carl Voss, Des Moines City Council; Emily Webb, Broadlawns board of trustees; Eric Burmeister, executive director, Polk County Housing Trust Fund; Leah Rudolphi, Des Moines community volunteer; Matt Unger, CEO, DMARC; Tim Lane, Iowa Department of Public Health, retired; Tyler Weig, Des Moines community volunteer
On Dec. 31, the Business Record published the guest opinion “It is truly time to have perspective” by Jeff Russell, CEO of Delta Dental of Iowa.
Within Russell’s editorial there was a link to a video that compared 2020 to life in the last century. It references “the hardship of four wars with millions killed, the loss of life from the flu pandemic, smallpox and polio, and the suffering of the Great Depression,” and states, “we don’t have much to complain about today when our biggest challenge in this pandemic is wa