Who pays for the holiday decorations in downtown Des Moines? CITYVIEW contacted Rena Mauk, vice president of Downtown Development at the Greater Des Moines Partnership, to get this answer. Here is her response: “The festive atmosphere is created by various businesses, organizations, property managers and groups who decide to invest
Read More →Where can I donate used books? This question was posed by a reader who used to donate books to Planned Parenthood, which is no longer accepting book donations after ending its annual book sale. The good news for this reader, and those also looking to donate books, is that there
Read More →What are Des Moines’ goat ordinances? According to the city of Des Moines website, which lists the ordinances and laws surrounding all shapes and sizes of livestock within the city limits, goats fall under many of the same rules as chickens. Section 18.4, article a, states, “No horse, cow, calf,
Read More →What are Polk County’s dog ordinances? In Polk County, dog owners are required to annually obtain a dog license for any dog more than 4 months old. According to the ordinance, the license needs to be obtained no later than the first business day of January of each year or
Read More →Why does Polk County send inmates to other county jails? One county jail might send inmates to another for a number of reasons. The most common ones are for court appearances, as the inmate may have court hearings or other legal proceedings in a different county. Another reason is overcrowding,
Read More →What are the R2D2-shaped green boxes on nearly every West Des Moines residential block? We reached out to the City of West Des Moines to find out the answer. Communications Specialist Lucinda Stephenson responded. “Our Engineering Services Department says these are telecommunication pedestals, and they are used to provide telephone,
Read More →What is the cable and pulley system at the 63rd Street and Grand Avenue intersection used for? CITYVIEW reached out to the city of Des Moines for an explanation and received this response from Communications Specialist Devin Perry. “63rd Street is the dividing road (give or take a bit of
Read More →How long after construction ends does the DOT have to remove road construction signs? We asked Scott Nixon, District Construction Engineer at the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT), who said: “Our standard specification on traffic control devices for the Iowa DOT does not give a set time frame for when
Read More →What are some of Iowa’s most interesting ghost towns? With the May edition containing our Summer Arts & Entertainment feature, we compiled many of the area’s most exciting, attractive and thrilling events. One of our readers posed this question that might be more suited for the fall version. Iowa is
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Remembering Chuck Betts, a nice man
“When someone asks how you’re doing, they don’t really want to know,” Chuck Betts mentioned over coffee a few weeks before he died at age 93 on Sept. 1. “They don’t want to know any depressing details.” “So I just say, ‘I’m doing fine,’ ” he said. He was, and he wasn’t. He
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