Des Moines, Iowa

is on the east side of downtown and connects the capital area to the river. It’s become a pretty vibrant mixed-use district over the last ten to fifteen years.” Anderson says that one of the things that sets Des Moines apart from its peer cities is its high level of both individual and corporate philanthropy. “When their leadership comes, and we show them everything downtown, they’ll often ask how we did it,” he recounts. “Usually, our answer is through a public/private partnership with somebody who had an idea and backed it either with monetary or in-kind donations. Generally, their response is, ‘That could never happen in my city.’ So, the Principal Riverwalk is named after the Principal Financial Group. They invested far more money than they intended to at the onset but got really caught up in it. When they made their investment, it was easier to attract other investment. The Brenton family donated money for an outdoor ice skating rink. The Western Gateway Park, with its world- class sculpture garden, was kicked off by donations from the Pappjohns’ private art collection. One of the largest outdoor skate parks in the country, that will break ground later this year, has a very large family donorship to it. So, these things happen organically with people stepping up and wanting to be part of a project.” Going forward, the city has some major initiatives on the front burner. “We’re a city that does a plan and doesn’t let it sit on the shelf,” Anderson exclaims. “We do a plan, we implement it, and then we start planning more. So, we’re kind of in that ‘planning more’ phase right now; looking around for what’s next. The next really big regional push is a water trails plan that will center around downtown to try to re-engage with the rivers. The rivers are an asset that we’ve kind of ignored for the last couple of generations and we see them as an asset that can be recapitalized both in terms of recreation but also from an environmental stewardship standpoint. We have two major rivers – the Raccoon and the Des Moines – that come through downtown, and we have three separate white water features that are in the early planning stages. We expect the budget to be in the pictured Gray’s Lake Park