Des Moines, Part VII - More Rankings, #1 - Best for Young Professionals

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/455778424759132478/

Wow.  I just gotta tell you, the Sins just WON'T LEAVE ME ALONE!!  Still, Des Moines, Polk County and Iowa have a goodly subset of their own, have no doubt.  The rankings continue down the road to non-existence, when I get through with them.  Today's fun time ranking is?

#1 Best City For Young Professionals. - Forbes Magazine.

Man these guys are WORKIN' ME!!  OK Forbes, let's go.

The biggest question I always have after reading a nice, plump and juicy biased ranking such as this is, what about the rest?  What is this city doing for the old professionals, I wonder?  And how about those who are just now growing into where they could possibly be young professionals sometime soon?  What about them?

Well, according to the U.S. Census, fortunately, a whole quarter of our population currently is under the age of 18!  Let's hope that most don't end up moving away, like they did in my generation.  Anyway, back to the facts and figures.

According to the latest figures...according to none other than the same site that posts our rankings for our fair city....again, found HERE:

https://www.desmoinesmetro.com/en/dsm_metro_info/rankings/

There has been a HUGE departure of none other than the age group just above the young professional age range; I'm guessing that's 20-34.  35-44 yr. olds?  A whopping 15% drop in our population.  You wanna know why?  Because this town caters to and brags up the young professional thing so much, Not only do the people over 35 feel like they should probably find another city that caters to the older professional; Hell, their professional careers are as good as over, obviously, once they hit 35.  Then they aren't so much young professionals anymore, and, since the town caters to the younger professional, well, I'm sure, after getting smart to the game, realize they could do better elsewhere...I mean what else could it be?  I will gladly attest to the fact that it got significantly harder for me to find a job here once I hit 40.  I was 42 when I took DMACC and IWFD up on their offer to get free job training in a field more in demand, and, as I remember, I hadn 't been able to find a job for quite a while.  I really can't prove age discrimination in interviews...and if you read my post entitled "Going to work....if you're lucky" in this blog, you'll see that's pretty much impossible.  But I think I'm about 2 inches away from swearing that there's an awful lot of age discrimination in this town, and I think the 15% drop more than speaks for itself where that's concerned.

Here's what really kills me though.  They're predicting, that the same percentage (5.8%) of "Young Professionals" that went up from 2000-2008?  Will subsequently go down the same percentage from 2013-2018.  'Magine that.

So, once again, here's my opinion on this ranking.....BULLS***.  Thanks again Forbes...but I gotta go with the theory that, since the prediction shows a projected 5.8% drop in "young professionals" in the coming five years, that maybe, at the moment, Des Moines ISN'T a #1 best city for young professionals...after all...but that, if we say that it is, the number quite possibly won't go down.  That ranking, just like so many others I've discussed in this blog, is OUTTTTTTTA THERE!!!

Please, if you will Iowa, tune in again, soon, where I plan to rip, into itty bitty bits, every ranking on this very biased and very stupid list...:D

Des Moines, Iowa - Rankings Intermission: Pawn Shops

Hey Des Moines!!!  Today we're gonna discuss the kings and princes of Rip-Off-Dom, Pawn shops!  And yes, DES MOINES' OWN pawn shops even.

Now, please, if you will, remember:  I do indeed have a couple of favorites here in our fair city.  More than once, these people saved my life, and what's more, they even held my stuff almost FOREVER until things improved.  They didn't, and the pawn store ended up having to sell my things...but by God they were awful swell about it.

There are two above reproach, in my opinion.  SOLAR LOAN - Ingersoll Avenue, just short of 35th Street as you head west from downtown, and POLK COUNTY PAWN, out Hubbell avenue, just outside of the city limits, as you head towards your Altoona Wally World.  I love these guys, they are princes among men, by all standards, do business with no one else, if you can.

Running a close 3rd, there is the EZ Pawn Chain, both on N.E. 14th and S.E. 14th; formerly of Mr. Money fame.  These people are fairly honest, and are, really, the best place to get...say a used computer or flat panel TV.  With the computers, they have neat deal, that when you pay 10% of the price of the PC you buy first, you can get a kind of insurance that allows you to upgrade your PC within 6 months by only paying the difference btwn. the first one you buy; and the 2nd one.  Quite a bargain.

There are, though, those I rate....not so highly.  The Pawn Store, on 30th and Douglas, has kind of a not so great owner, though his main employee, a quiet fair guy does present himself well, and is someone I like to deal with on occasion.  Should you have to deal with it's owner, however, be prepared to be low-balled.

My biggest complaint, however, lies with A to Z Pawn.  My suggestion, these days, as well as many other days, is avoid this one like your life depends on it.  Especially since it usually does.  This guy will take you to the cleaners and back again, and makes claims he has no intention of backing up...like giving the best price for gold in the city.  You'll be lucky to get half of that.  He also will never back up anything he sells to you, even if you just bought it an hour ago.

I remember this shop as being the ONLY shop I would go to.  Once, however, we had a crap load of real gold items, that were of the 24 and 18 karat variety, and a lot of it to boot.  On a whim, I took this stuff to Mr. Money, and received nearly $3000 for it on a pawn.  Wow.  I took it there often, and rarely received any less, even when the prices rose and fell.  Once, I mentioned the gold to the owner of A to Z, a guy named Ty (who still owns it).  He said "Why do you take it there?  NOBODY gives more for gold than I do!"  After discussing it a few times, he suggested I bring it to him for an appraisal of the amount he would give me for it.  Because we had gotten to be a bit chummy, I agreed to it once.

I took it to him and left it with him.  He came up with a figure of $1800 for me.  I looked him dead in the face and said "But they give me $3000."  He scoffed, and said "You're crazy.  There's no way"; and reiterated that NOBODY gave more for gold.

I then took it to Mr. Money, and called him.  Ty answered the phone, and I said "Here's a clerk at Mr. Money"...I handed him the phone and said "Tell him the amount you're about to give me, willya?"  He said $3000, and I heard him yell a bit, then the clerk said "He hung up".  I wasn't the least bit surprised, to be honest.

It would be a long time before I graced his door again...not until I got the idea to buy used computers instead of new ones.

I bought 4 laptops from him this last year, nearly 3 years after the "Gold Fiasco".  I even brought a friend of mine to buy another.  Then I bought one that had a bad battery.  The redheaded guy, who had been with Ty nearly 4 years, was nice enough to let me pick out another one.  I left the bad one, and had an issue with the new one and brought it back too, and left it there to be checked out by a friend of the redheaded clerk.  When I came back and picked it up, Ty came from the back room and said "You brought back an Acer and said it had a bad battery.  There's nothing wrong with that PC, I looked at it myself."  Shaun, the clerk, had even looked at it and said the same thing as I had, and had allowed me to change it out, since I had just bought it the day before.  "You can never come back into this store again, asshole", he said, and walked back to his office.  The clerk who had been nice to me was fired the same day.  Wow.  All because I called him out on his gold prices some 3 years prior.

When you decide on a pawn store in this town, just remember this:  Whatever your item is worth, you'll get approximately a quarter of its worth.  Whatever they give you for it, they intend to sell it at twice the price they gave you, about half of its worth.  If they want to give you less for it, pawn it to a friend or a relative instead, or just hold onto the damn thing.  Trust me, at 30% interest (25% at Solar Loan, by the way...and Steve, the owner, is the coolest pawn shop owner this side of the Mississip) a month, you're better off anyway.

As for buying anything at one, well, I've pretty much told you where to go.  Take my advice, and my ratings, the only ones worth going to are the ones I've told you about.  :D

Des Moines, Iowa - Part VI: The Rankings Continued

Wha?  Oh yeah....Now I remember this blog!!!!  Yeah, I'm really sorry.  I've been a bad boy.  I've been screwing around with my other blog, America's Deadly Sins again.  I don't know what I was thinking.  I'm an ass, of this there is no doubt.  It means NOTHING TO ME, I swear it!!!

But look, I just GOTTA get back to this stupid rankings list...for reallies.  Let's get back to it, shallllllll we???

#1 For Up and Coming Downtown. - Forbes Magazine.

For those of you totally lost as to the rankings I'm referring to here, these are the ones posted here on the Des Moines Partnership page, here:

https://www.desmoinesmetro.com/en/dsm_metro_info/rankings/

OMG, I believe I'm going to be kinda sick.  Of every single city in this great nation of ours, how can this possibly BE??  I mean, look, you've already heard me bitch about the homeless thing, the public transportation thing, the tech hubs (under the radar), the functions thing, then of course, there's the fire that was set ON PURPOSE to the Younker's bldg., which has been here since the beginning of time, and never caught on fire even ONCE during that time...until it was scheduled to be torn down...then it became a towering inferno, screwing up the place where my wife's been working for 13 years in the process, in order to get it down quicker, but it has, because of that fire screwed more things up in the process, as well as completely screwed up traffic on one of the biggest streets in the downtown area; as far as getting from north to south.  No one, however, is even talking about that.  What better way to get it down quickly so they can be even more "up and coming" with our new and wonderful downtown.  Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesh.

Believe what you wanna, but I gotta tell you kids, that whole chasing the homeless thing outta the downtown area and away from the bridges is gonna do nothing but cause you more grief in the long run.  I also noticed that slick secretive move where Hubbell realty bought up the Jefferson, the bldg. next to it, and the Elliot.  I don't believe Hubbell Realty buys anything in this town unless the plan is to tear it down and build something new and shiny, displacing ALL affordable housing in the downtown area.

Now don't get me wrong....I had ZERO love for Jim Nahaus, the man was a slum lord from hell...no one could be happier about getting him out of downtown that I am.  BUT, here's what's gonna happen now kiddies, now that the last bastion of pseudo-affordable housing is now gone forever:  Rent prices will SKYROCKET.  You like living downtown in our nice "up-and-coming" downtown?  Enjoy it while it lasts.  I'm shocked as hell that the Randolph hasn't been taken out to the woods, shot and left for dead, but I'm sure it's coming; then you might as well start looking for a nice place that you can afford on 6th Avenue, just North of downtown, because that'll be the only place you'll ever see the kind of housing prices you're enjoying now, again.  Thank GOD for the up and comingness of downtown Des Moines, though,  Who gives a flying rat's behind about the rest of it, as long as the downtown area is the s***, right?  Man, oh man.  Someday soon, mark my words, we're gonna rank as the #1 ghost town.

Homelessness In Des Moines, Iowa...and Around the World

http://www.exposingtruth.com/utahs-plan-eradicate-homelessness-actually-working

Hey Kids....sorry I blew ya off, been a b-b-b-b-bizzay boy yannow.

So let's get ourselves back to the subject of homelessness.  You folks that are paying attention, might just notice that I posted an exact duplicate of this post in my bigger blog, found here:

http://themightyswordamericas26deadlysins.blogspot.com

Just blow it off.  I decided this would be good for both blogs, and is pretty much the same, maybe with a tweak er two.

Now, it was said...more than likely in the first post on this subject, the fact that there is 5 times as many empty places as there are homeless people.  For those of you reading that fact for the first time, I'll give you a minute to let that sink in...

(Time has ticked away)....So how did you like that one, huh?  Nice.  Well, here's some things I believe that are even nicer.

Every day, more and more apartments are going up in my hometown.  Lofts, mostly.  Meant to be attractive to white collar young folks just looking at Des Moines for the first time.  Now, if you go back and forth between the Des Moines blog and this one, you'll note that the focus of this town, which is pretending to be massively bigger than it really is, is to attract people to the city itself, as well as rejuvenate the downtown area.  The problem is, as they do this, there are things that they're doing at the same time that absolutely make me ill.  I'm pretty much certain that they're doing this in every metro area over 100,000 folks, or my name isn't...uh...isn't....oh, never mind.

The only really efficient homeless shelter in this city is right smack downtown...has been for ages.  CISS (Central Iowa Shelter and Services) started out here in the old Trailways bus station.  I remember driving by it in the 80's wondering why it was that 50 or so people were asleep on mats on the floor.  They then relocated a little bit south and west of downtown, to a much bigger building.  Later on, that one would be deserted due to bedbugs, and the obviously growing homeless problem, forcing them to build up a new shelter, one that wouldn't take any more females, but would house 2x the male population.  It didn't do a lot of good.  Why, is obvious.

1.  There are 3x as many people that are homeless in this country than there was 10 years ago.  I'm afraid you're gonna have to get a much bigger shelter.

2.  The people that were homeless to begin with...are still homeless.  I used to work at this shelter back in the day...and because I've been homeless a few times since then, I've had to utilize this place's services for myself a few various eras in my life.  The thing I loved about is was, the same damn people that had been there 10 years prior to that were still coming there to stay!!!  The same men, women and vets are still utilizing the system.  That's really helping.

3.  In an attempt to attract more professionals to the city, you're just going to attract the attention of the more undesirable types as well.  The homeless, allowed to reside indefinitely at CISS, call their homeless friends and homeless relatives.  "Come on down you guys!!  This city'll take care of you!"  Then when the days they're allowed to stay (90 days, but longer with special circumstances) run out, well, guess where they're gonna camp?  As close to downtown as they can, til they're allowed back in, 90 days later.  This is, of course, where all the free meals are served too.

Worse yet, they bring all of these events downtown to get in the way of everyone going everywhere in the city, and they put them up around the same area...as well as build the majority of the lofts there; and build a whopping block-long sculpture park just 3 or so blocks away from it...then call the police, hire security, and physically patrol all areas around it in an attempt to get them away from it all; all the while wondering why it is they have people passed out drunk in the sculpture park, hiding out in the parking garages close by, and camping under the bridge of MLK Pkway (East/West) and caught stealing things at the events.  Geeeeee........I wunder why??? errrrrrrrr........

What you don't seem to get, America, is that the problem is growing, and will continue to grow.  Not because you're not chasing them off well enough, but because MORE PEOPLE ARE GOING TO BE HOMELESS EVERY YEAR.  Because the problem isn't how we help people out, which by the way is a problem too, but because of a lot of different things that we didn't have before.

1.  A much higher population.

2.  The highest unemployment rate...well, EVER!!

3.  Affordable housing...

I really don't think I have to rehash every single reason again, do I???  Just See "Homelessness" in this blog, if you're really and truly lost.

One problem I did mention just a couple of paragraphs ago, and want to and didn''t cover in the first blog post, is not only our attitudes towards the homeless, but the most obvious problem of social disconnection we have today.  Gone forever, I'm sure, are the days when we helped each other in times of trouble.  You people are, quite simply, ASSHOLES when it comes to people who need your help.

Think I'm joking? Try a little experiment in your spare time.  Call all of your best friends.  Tell them you just lost your job, and it looks as though you might not make your next house payment.  Oh, you'll get all the sympathy you could ever want...but call them a week later, and tell them you lost your home, and you have nowhere for you, your wife/husband and two kids to stay...and watch how quickly they scatter.  You'll be amazed how little help you're offered or actually receive.

Selfish, immature, close-minded, and closed doored.  As long as everything is going swimmingly, you're my best friend, but when times are hard, and I really need your help?  You couldn't run far enough.  I'm lucky to get you on the phone, at least not until my troubles are fixed again.  I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't need friends like that in my life.  That's probably why I don't have but one or two anymore.  :D

P.S. - By the way, Utah has a plan to eradicate homelessness entirely....that's WORKING.  You guys might wanna check it out, HUH???

http://www.exposingtruth.com/utahs-plan-eradicate-homelessness-actually-working/

Des Moines, Iowa - Events and Transportation Part C

http://www.iowanazarene.org/2013/08/09/deep-fried-ministry/

Hey kids!!!  It's the first weekend of the state fair, and I'm PISSED!!

Not only is the entrance to the fair up $2 once again (it's $12 just to get past the friggin' gate now.  One full hour of my pay)....well, a couple of things have happened already this morning that have me fired up.

First, my phone is dead.  And I'm a public transport guy, as you well know.  So, a friend of mine wanted to go to the fair today, and per his wont, he parks at the park and ride of 7th Street, miles from the Central Dart Station.  He gets on the bus that comes by there (of which I saw at least 3 more headed there as I was headed away from there.  Why didn't I take the same bus he did?  And why did I have to go to Dart Central?  Well that would be because I have a bus pass that I pay monthly for....somewhere around $48.  Does someone wanna tell me why it is that I had to walk nearly a mile to get to bus central, because the state fair buses won't allow its dedicated riders to take the fair buses that go to the park and ride station?  I have to pay $2 to ride that bus, or wait 45 minutes and walk to Dart Central to get a bus out there, severely inconveniencing me, the guy who probably owns half of Dart Central by this time, considering I've been riding these stupid buses for nearly 37 years.

Now, why did I mention that my phone was dead you ask?  Well, this would probably be because, upon entering Dart Central and noticing that my phone was dead, I immediately began looking for an outlet...and found nary a one.  Upon thinking of Java Joe's, the coffee shop they had built to go along with DC?  They had....count 'em with me....40.  FORTY OUTLETS!!!!!  The deal with that though, is that I have to buy something at JJ's ridiculous prices to use them.

Dart Central was built just in the last year.  You would imagine, with ALL of the devices there are in the world today, that this place, that is SO much in bad need of ridership would be just a little accommodating to their clientele.  Oh sure, they have wi-fi...but if you have to pay the coffee shop to charge your devices, then why bother with their wi-fi?  Dart, you are SO WRONG FOR THAT.  Makes me want to continue using your service more everyday.  Unbelievable.  Oh yeah.  The Iowa State Fair.  Nothing compares.  Nothing compares to the bullcrappy way Des Moines' own citizens are treated maybe.