Who’s running for mayor? Mari Culver’s new job. Prairie Meadows update. Potholes — and more sabbaticals.
4/5/2023The race for Des Moines’ highest office is stacking up. Connie Boesen, an at-large councilmember for the city, announced her run for mayor last month. Boesen has served on the Des Moines City Council since 2018. She previously served on the Des Moines School Board and owns two concession vendors at the Iowa State fair: Applishus and The Salad Bowl.
Boesen joins the race alongside fellow councilmember, Josh Mandelbaum, who is serving his second term representing the southwest quadrant of the city. Mandelbaum is a senior attorney with the Environmental Law & Policy Center. He announced his run for mayor in late January.
As their current terms don’t expire until Jan. 1, 2026, both Boesen and Mandelbaum could remain on the council even if defeated in the mayoral election.
Also in the running is Denver Foote, a cosmetologist and community organizer/activist. They are involved with organizations including People’s Town Hall of Des Moines, Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement and the Iowa Abortion Access Fund. Foote, alongside news photographer Mark “Ted” Nieters, is currently suing the Des Moines Police Department for injuries and losses incurred during city-wide protests following the 2020 death of George Floyd.
At press time, current Mayor Frank Cownie had yet to announce intentions to seek a sixth term. The city’s longest-serving mayor has held the job since 2003. At Cownie’s recommendation, the city council voted Boesen as Des Moines Mayor Pro Tem for the 2023 calendar year. Mandelbaum held that position in 2022.
The Des Moines mayoral election will take place on Nov. 7. Candidates may begin filing nomination papers with the Des Moines city clerk on Aug. 28. The deadline is Sept. 21 at 5 p.m. …
Former First Lady of Iowa, Mari Culver, was appointed assistant county attorney for Polk County, under new Polk County Attorney Kimberly Graham, who is a Democrat. The Polk County Board of Supervisors voted on Culver’s salary of $98,880 at its Feb. 28 meeting.
Mari Culver was one of 19 employees asked to resign from the Iowa Attorney General’s Office as Brenna Bird, a Republican, took over from Democrat Tom Miller in January. Her husband, Chet Culver, also a Democrat, served as Iowa governor from 2007 to 2011.
Culver’s new county role came with a significant pay decrease from her previous appointment in the state’s consumer protection division. She was appointed as a state lawyer in 2016 and was reported to have a salary of $122,000 in 2017. Prior to that, Culver had a lengthy career as a trial lawyer with the Duncan Green law firm in Des Moines.
Culver made headlines in 2019 when she was arrested on the midway during the Iowa State Fair for public intoxication. She pleaded guilty to a simple misdemeanor charge. In 2008, Culver was seen smoking in a state-owned vehicle while a state trooper was driving. Culver admitted to violating the state’s smoking ban — which her husband had signed into law earlier that year. …
If you think you’ve been feeling more bumps in the road this spring, you’re not the only one. It’s pothole season in the Midwest, and the City of Des Moines has confirmed: It’s more than twice as bad as last year. The city’s public works department disclosed that they received 1,209 reports of potholes as of March 7, compared to just 578 during last year’s milder winter.
On the state level, the Iowa Transportation Commission has addressed the pothole problem by approving an additional $15 million for maintenance on interstates and U.S. and state highways.
In the meantime, road patching is a temporary fix until the weather warms up. Cold-mix asphalt doesn’t require heating during the patching process but “never truly sets,” explained a city spokesperson. Its more permanent cousin, hot mix asphalt, won’t hit the streets until construction season.
Potholes on Des Moines city streets may be reported at dsm.city/report or by calling the 24/7 Public Works Customer Service Center at 515-283-4950. …
Prairie Meadows saw a record year in 2022, and the trend has continued into this year. In February, gross revenues were almost $19.7 million. So far this year, revenues are nearly $38.2 million compared to this time last year, when they were nearly $33.6 million. Most is coming from slot machines.
At the board’s March 22 meeting, casino lobbyist Troy Skinner reported that many large gaming businesses are pushing for the legalization of online gambling. Casino attorney Tom Flynn said it would bypass safeguards the state uses to prevent gambling abuses. It would also hurt brick-and-mortar casinos.
Despite success elsewhere, the buffet at Prairie Meadows has yet to reopen. CEO Gary Palmer told CITYVIEW it rarely made money and required 150 employees to operate — an infeasible number given the current labor shortage. Prairie Meadows is down from almost several thousand employees to about 900, with more than 100 open positions. Starting wages are now $16.50 an hour with an impressive benefits package — although perhaps none as impressive as Palmer’s most recent bonus. The board approved $939,744 in February, or 150% of Palmer’s base salary. Last summer, Palmer delayed his retirement plans for the end of 2023.
“They asked me to stay until the end of 2026,” he told CITYVIEW. “I’m not sure I’ll last that long — meaning I may retire before then.”
Palmer, who is 75, said he couldn’t consider retirement until a replacement is waiting in the wings. The search is currently at a standstill but is hoped to be restarted in a few months. Meantime, Palmer estimated staying with the casino for a minimum of two more years.
The board’s next meeting is June 28. …
And finally, another sampling of professional development assignments granted by the Iowa Board of Regents to state university professors. A total of 109 faculty members will take paid sabbaticals either in the fall 2023 or spring 2024 semesters to work on these special projects, with $470,654 budgeted in faculty replacement costs.
Mark Berg, a sociology and criminology professor at the University of Iowa, will study how firearms have contributed to the lethality of violent incidents over the last three decades. He’ll also develop a data infrastructure tool for researchers to assess lethality patterns.
An English professor at UI, Stephen Voyce, will complete two chapters of his book titled “Dark Worlds: Culture, War, & The National Security State.” The project will address, among other questions: “How do artists, writers and filmmakers engage in the clandestine activities of National Security?”
Olivia Valentine, art and visual culture professor at Iowa State University, will “document and respond to recent ruptures in the urban fabric of Izmir, Turkey, due to a 2020 earthquake, through the creation of new works in the areas of textiles, sculpture and drawings.”
From ISU’s Department of Apparel, Events, and Hospitality Management, Eunha Jeong will explore “how restaurants can communicate food waste reduction practices directly to consumers” via transformative green marketing.
At the University of Northern Iowa, biology professor Tilahun Abebe will investigate the response of cereal crops to environmental stress, using barley as a model. He will also evaluate a crop new to Iowa called “tef.” It is widely cultivated in Ethiopia, where Abebe received his bachelor’s degree.
Gunwoo Yoon, a professor of marketing and entrepreneurship at UNI, will research whether AI-generated images of the future self are an effective way to promote “constructive changes” in conservation behavior — specifically, climate change.
