The Albaugh Classic

If you are a car buff, you’ll want to be in Ankeny on Saturday for The Albaugh Classic sponsored by Karl Chevrolet.

It’s your chance to see Dennis Albaugh’s collection of 130 Chevrolets; some say it is the best Chevy collection anywhere!

At the same event you will see the cars that hundreds of other folks are bringing

• classics (pre-War and post-War)
• street rods and modified
• Corvettes
• cars and trucks

You will be able to vote for your favorite 12 classics and see what the judges think of cars and trucks in 20 other categories.

Where? Albaugh, Inc. at 1525 NE 36th Street in Ankeny. (Do not believe the maps you get from either Google or Mapquest!) Instead take I-35 to exit 92, turn west on E. 1st Street (0.2 mi) then north on NE Delaware (2 mi), turn east on NE 36th (0.4 mi) and you will see it on the right as you approach the underpass at I-35.

When? Saturday, August 8th from 6:30 am until 4:00 pm. Get there early. It’s going to be hot!

How much? $10 or free to those 12 and under.  Thanks to Karl Chevrolet all the proceeds go to Ankeny High School.

photos by James G. Lindberg and dok1

Des Moines and San Francisco: factual differences

Trick or treat: Beggar’s night schedule 2008

The Des Moines Register has a Beggar’s night schedule that lists cities and towns as well as community events, commercial events, and other regional activities associated with Halloween. The Register’s event pages are worth a look. There is nothing comparable. Twelve of the following are on The Register’s list, but I looked up a few others. And the weather promises to be great.

• Altoona: October 30, 6:00-8:00pm
• Ankeny: October 30, 6:00-8:00pm
• Clive: October 30, 6:00-8:00pm
• Dallas Center: October 31, 6-8 pm
• Des Moines: October 30, 6:00-8:00pm
• Grimes: October 31, 6-8 pm
• Indianola: October 30, 6:00-8:00pm
• Johnston: October 30, 6:00-8:00pm
• Mitchellville: October 30, 6:00-8:00pm
• Norwalk: October 30, 6:00-8:00pm
• Pleasant Hill: October 30, 6:00-8:00pm
• Polk City: October 30, 6:00-8:00pm
• Urbandale: October 30, 6:00-8:00pm
• Waukee: October 30, 6:00-8:00pm
• West Des Moines: October 30, 6:00-8:00pm
• Windsor Heights: October 30, 6:00-8:00pm

The Ames Tribune lists times for the towns generally north of Des Moines; that includes everything from Alleman to Zearing. Good weather there too!

photo by flickr by Gus Dahlberg

Tree debris in the Metro

Live in Des Moines? Got tree debris from the storm? Well, load up the family sedan with tree limbs, brush, twigs, your kids, and the dog and head on out to the MWA Metro Compost Center at 1601 Harriett St. just off S. E. 14th. The City left the door open. (Darn! I just vacuumed the car too.)

Check the City of Des Moines news release for the self hauling and the curbside alternatives.

Live in Ankeny? Lucky you! Beginnning July 23 the City of Ankeny will pick up storm debris curbside until August 3. The website says nothing larger than 8″ in diameter. (There must be some pretty strong people in Ankeny.) 

Live in Johnston? Beginning at 7 am July 28 the City of Johnston will also pick up storm debris, but it better be there at 7 am because that’s when they’ll start – no multiple passes, and they’ll continue until they’re done. Their website say the size should be small enough to be handled by one person. (Only a smart aleck would ask, “How big a person?”)

Urbandale has a regular log and limb collection on 1st and 3rd Fridays but for a fee.

West Des Moines and Clive will have no special pick up.

Guest Writer: James G. Lindberg (Jim) is the Purple Wren’s sweetie and is a visiting chemistry professor at Grinnell Collegeand retired from Drake University.

Branches a little low this morning?

Did you wake up to low hanging tree branches this morning? Me too, but the cardinal didn’t seem to mind. However, elsewhere in the metro it was a bigger problem. As of 9 am on July 21 Mid-American Energy reported that over 50,000 customers had lost power in the Des Moines area. You can check power outages anytime. Alliant Energy has a similar and more informative site. A few years ago checking power outages (if you had no power) would have seemed silly, but today so many have laptops and access cards that we can go on-line nearly anywhere. Well, time to start cutting.

Guest Writer: James G. Lindberg (Jim) is the Purple Wren’s sweetie and is a visiting chemistry professor at Grinnell College and retired from Drake University.

Science Lecture Series at Saylorville Reservoir

Spacious Skies is the topic Friday July 19th at 7 pm at the Saylorville Visitor Center. Craig Johnson, the Executive Director of The Iowa Academy of Science is the speaker. Johnson, a local celebrity around Waterloo-Cedar Falls and in Cedar Rapids where he was a long-time broadcast weather reporter, now writes weather columns for Waterloo-Cedar Falls newspapers under the titles Weather Whys Guy and Ag Weather. The talk Friday is part of a series sponsored by the Iowa Academy of Science. The Visitor Center is near the east end of the Saylorville Dam. (Saylorville Lake map.)

For this and other events at Saylorville, check the calendar. If you don’t know the way and you’re coming from Des Moines, take Beaver Avenue north to N.W. 66th and turn east (right) then left onto Toni Drive then a little left onto N.W. 37th then (just past the dam access) you will see signage telling you to go left on N.W. Horseshoe Road (a little loop) to the Visitor Center.

Guest Writer: James G. Lindberg (Jim) is the Purple Wren’s sweetie and is a visiting chemistry professor at Grinnell College and retired from Drake University.

2008 Iowa Floods: Update 6

(Des Moines, IA, July 21, 2008)  Summer arrived at 6:59 p.m. Central Daylight Time yesterday. That has nothing to do with anything else except to note that it is summer.

According to data from the Army Corps of Engineers on RiverGages.com, the Des Moines River at 2nd Avenue in Des Moines fell below flood stage (23 feet) during the past 24 hours. At 7:00 a.m. on July 21st the river is at 22.49 feet, down 0.79 since the same time a day earlier. I was in the area yesterday evening and thought the river would be higher. There are still trees surrounded by water and the smell of dead fish was strong. Saylorville Lake Reservoir was at 884.50 feet above sea level (cf. 892.03 record on July 11, 1993).

The Des Moines River below where the Raccoon enters it fell a foot during the past day but is still at 25.33, still above the 24 feet flood level. Stories during the past week have revealed many people who experienced water in basements when the river was near its peak. There were different reasons for the water, though. In some places water seeped in from the amount of water in the surrounding land. Other places had back-ups from storm sewers as rain water met a back-splash of river water.

Downstream, the river remains significantly higher although flood waters are receding. At 7:00 a.m. on July 21st, the Des Moines River is at 20.67 feet at Tracy (flood stage = 14), 18.65 at Ottumwa (flood stage = 10), and 27.79 at Keosauqua (flood stage = 22).

At Cedar Rapids, the Cedar River is at 12.03 feet (flood stage = 12), having dropped by 1.51 feet in the past 24 hours. The Iowa River remains high, though. It is measuring 27.34 (flood stage = 22) at Iowa City at 7:00 a.m. Coralville Lake Reservoir is at 713.72 feet above sea level, only slightly off the July 24, 1993, record of 716.71 feet.

The Mississippi River is still above flood stage at Dubuque in the northern half of the state (17.33 at 7:00 a.m., with a flood stage of 17.00). The record flood level at Dubuque occurred on April 26, 1965. In the southern half of Iowa at Muscatine, the Mississippi is at 22.29 feet (flood stage = 16, with a record set on July 9, 1993). At the southeastern tip of Iowa, the Mississippi was still rising. At 6:00 a.m. on July 21st the Mississippi was at 26.16 feet at Lock and Dam 19 (Keokuk), up 0.05, with a flood stage of 16.

M.R. Field writes about local events for AroundDesMoines.com.

Opinion: Flood Rebuilding

In comments posted to a Cedar Rapids Gazette online article, the question of political correctness arose. The June 13th article by Adam Belz was a basic news report about comments Gov. Chet Culver made to encourage people generally depressed by or directly devastated by the floods. A poster identifying himself or herself as Ask Why cited James Madison’s 1794 rejection of a Congressional appropriation in the amount of “$15,000 for relief of French refugees.” Ask Why notes that Madison did not believe the U.S. Constitution permitted federal dollars to be used for benevolent relief. In response, a person identified as Cedar Rapids Resident tells Ask Why, “now is not the time” to express such opinions because “thousands of people [have been] affected by this tragedy.”

The people who thrive do not wait until a flood happens to prepare for it nor wait until evacuees show up on a doorstep to figure out how they will be fed and sheltered. Similarly, recovery planning cannot wait for people to finish their grieving. Already the state legislature has talked about holding a special session for flood relief. Media outlets are reporting on financial damages. The governor has stated Iowa will rebuild.

As the Des Moines River rose in downtown Des Moines several days ago, I wondered how much money would have been diverted from Project Destiny tax revenue to rebuild the Riverwalk, had that sales tax proposal been passed by skeptical voters. Similarly, I grow very nervous about who is going to benefit under governmental incentives related to flood relief. Add in the tremendously-negative citizen response last month to the Des Moines Area Metropolitan Planning Organization’s Horizon Year 2035 transportation plan, and now is exactly the time that Iowans need to be thinking about flood relief, who should pay for it, and who should get to decide how the relief is distributed.

As a side note, the National Association of Regional Councils is meeting at the Des Moines Marriott now through June 17th. The theme of this transportation gathering is “Building Regional Communities.” The agenda also shows a heavy discussion focus around public/private partnerships, including one on emerging energy markets such nuclear power. I suspect this relates to the possibility of using clean-burning nuclear power plants to generate energy to run electric trolley systems and to fuel personal electric cars. I would love to be able to cover this gathering but my schedule will not allow it.

All the questions that have been raised before about economic development, urban sprawl, and the best use of rural land should continue to be raised during any discussions around post-flood rebuilding. The diversity of Iowa’s economy also needs to be a subject of conversation. As a whole, the state is diversified. We have national headquarters, regional call centers, manufacturing, agriculture, tourism, and education. However, we could do a whole heck of a better job at diversifying entrepreneurs and connecting people with ideas with people who have the resources to make business happen.

M.R. Field has written extensively about new ideas to increase wealth for women and minority business owners.

2008 Iowa Floods: Update 5

(Des Moines, IA, June 15, 2008) This is being written about 11:00 p.m. I tried to spend the day on items other than flood news and only partly succeeded. Nevertheless, I did not monitor news conferences nor did I make any personal observations. The nightly news reports from local television had some interesting updates although it was a visual image that really grabbed my attention.

Briefly, according to www.rivergages.com, as of 10:00 p.m. Fourmile Creek in Des Moines is slightly above the 12 foot flood stage at 12.05 feet. It has risen 0.41 feet in the past 24 hours during which there was 0.03 inches of precipitation. The possibly good news for people whose homes and businesses were flooded out in the Birdland Park area is that the Des Moines River at Second Avenue is at 28.31 feet, only about 5 feet above the flood stage of 23 feet. The Des Moines River below the confluence of the Raccoon River is still almost 8 feet above flood stage.

In terms of elevation, at 10:00 p.m. Saylorville Lake Reservoir is at 889.22 feet above sea level. The Des Moines River below the Raccoon is at 794.29 feet, with a flood stage of 786.52 feet above sea level.

At 11:00 p.m., the Cedar River in Cedar Rapids is at 24.30 feet. The Iowa River in Iowa City is at 31.44 feet.

A few sinkholes developed in Des Moines over old sewer lines that run beneath levees. These were at SE 4th and SE 7th Streets. Apparently there is a likelihood of more such sinkholes developing. (Cf: The Dahl’s grocery store at Ingersoll and 35th was not rebuilt closer to Ingersoll because there is a sewer line running through the southern parking lot. So we can’t build a suburban-type store over a sewer line, but we can build levees over them.)

During Gov. Chet Culver’s late afternoon press conference on Sunday, July 15th, a sign hung behind the podium promoted the Flood2008.iowa.gov website. Essentially it offers information on Department of Human Services and Federal Emergency Management Agency assistance, in addition to information on the schedules of the governor and the lieutenant governor.

Checking the Des Moines Public Schools website to download the agenda for the June 17th board meeting, I saw information on how the schools are responding to flooding. Some students are attending summer classes and there are a few schools with a year-round calendar. The school district and the school board usually are very good about using the Internet to distribute information in a timely manner. This was not the exception. However, clicking on the link for flood information led me to a site at DMPSflood.blogspot.com that included a sidebar with general news stories from the Des Moines Register. (Comment: I think that the relationship between the school district and the local daily newspaper is too close, as I have said before. Thus, I am not pleased to see what amounts to advertising on what should be a public service site. Is Wells Fargo going to put up an ad for rebuilding loans? The bank is considered a public partner for the school system, so why not offer it advertising space?)

While visiting the website for the Cedar Rapids Gazette, I saw a link to another website: 2008Flood.org. This appears to be a general bulletin board type of site. One item of interest on it is a notice that the Cedar Valley Dance Club and the Waterloo Center for the Arts are co-sponsoring a fundraising dance to aid flood victims in the Cedar Valley.

M.R. Field covers local events for AroundDesMoines.com.

2008 Iowa Floods: Random Thoughts

(Des Moines, IA, July 15, 2008) Except for the people whose homes and businesses are in the Birdland Park area, the floods of 2008 probably are now history in Des Moines. Since one of the houses flooded is owned by a friend, I have an indirect personal interest in the continuing story. However, in terms of journalism there are other stories that now have wider interest and greater need. Before I move on from daily flood updates, I wanted to note some additional observations made during the past week.

The zip code in which Birdland Park is located has had the greatest number of home foreclosures in the city. Government looks at both the number of people affected and the dollars at risk when deciding where to invest long-range resources. Thus, the revenue of the large downtown businesses and the presence of government buildings in downtown Des Moines meant post-1993 levees were constructed there first. For the 2008 flood there was advanced concern about the Birdland levee’s condition and extra effort was given to it, at least in terms of height. The levee had not been neglected in long-range planning but there is that nagging question of was it given the right priority in terms of condition versus potential economic and personal losses?

Doing the press conferences from the emergency operations center that aired on the City of Des Moines cable channel 7, it seemed as though state legislatures who are also black were called to participate specifically to add a layer of trust. I thought there was an amazingly large number of elected officials, in general, at the press conferences. Nevertheless, given the mostly male and mostly Caucasian appearance of people speaking at the briefings, it struck me as interesting that Rep. Ako Abdul-Samad (D-Des Moines) was asked to give a warning about various scams that were operating around the city. (For example, some people were posing as utility workers and telling homeowners it would cost to shut off their gas or electricity.)

As usual, major road detours were widely reported. Yet, trying to find out where DART was detouring to and where it would return to route required calling the transit service. It still bothers me that DART does not comprehend that for it to be part of a vibrant metropolitan area it needs to start acting as though there is sufficient demand to keep people informed via its website and the news media. By forcing people to call DART’s phone line, the transit authority is telling potential customers they are only a niche priority.

I was struck by the number of people who thought they were okay because their houses only had water in the basement during floods. Many of these people were confusing flooding caused by too much rainwater in the immediate vicinity with floods caused by rampaging rivers. River flooding is not a simple matter of looking at rainfall and looking downstream. A site downstream could crest before one upstream because the downstream site might include additional water coming from creeks or rivers below the upstream site.

The Iowa State Fair is just under two months away. How can it be used to help those displaced by floods? Could there be an optional ticket surcharge or a donation jar outside the Administration building? How should money be distributed and who should oversee the distribution? Should it go to food banks, to low-income energy support, to individuals through application process? What are your suggestions and your needs?

M.R. Field covers local events for AroundDesMoines.com. 

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