February 2014 - Parks & Recreation - 23

year and how does this help the
City of Des Moines?
[Former Des Moines Mayor] John
Pat Dorrian started the ride [in the
late 1980s]. I'm an avid bike rider
and so is he. We've expanded the
ride to 25-30 miles around the city
to promote bike riding and advocate
for the use of our trails. Everybody
pays to participate, and the money
goes to the improvement of the trail
system in and around Des Moines.
Our downtown trail system is a hub
for the central Iowa regional trail system - you can connect, from downtown, to 300-plus miles of trails. It's
a great way to exercise, get back to
nature and experience our parks and
trail systems.
Where do conservation efforts and
initiatives related to parks and recreation fall on your agenda when
budgeting season comes along?
How do you ensure these programs
and municipal assets a place of importance when it comes time to allocate money or resources?
I think it's easier today, but there's
still pushback. You have to look at
how and where you spend your dollars and the benefit the city is getting.
In their ratings, Kiplinger, Forbes and
others name Des Moines as one of
the best places to raise a family. Quality of life concerns are important, and
I can make a case [for including those
types of initiatives] on that score.
We've been very effective in promoting healthy lifestyles, green living and access to great amenities
like pedestrian-friendly sidewalks.
We're adding more and more to
the downtown and surrounding
neighborhoods to make everything
walkable, bikeable, senior-friendly
and attractive to residents and employers. People are so surprised -

they say, " Holy smokes, you've got
everything here they've got in Chicago and more. " More immediate
access to nature, accessible communities, trail connections - this has
all been very helpful in promoting
quality-of-life aspects.

We even began a program that initiated green works at the corporate
level. The city looked at what we
do on sustainability, recycling, utilities, water usage, and how to manage campuses and green areas while
lowering costs of operation at the

We're looking at what we were, what we are, and
asking, what do we want to be 50 years from now?
If we lay a good foundation today, we can make our
future dreams a reality.
Des Moines was once a coal town.
Today, it is a member of the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) Local
Governments for Sustainability
USA and a signatory of the agency's " Tomorrow Plan, " focused on
sustainable development. What
does this mean to you as you develop future plans for the city?
As a member of ICLEI, we exchange ideas with other states and
cities, including sharing best practices to deal with floods, pollution
and other concerns. We participate
in the Star Communities program
and the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). Now we're one of
five capital cities in the country
participating in [a program called]
Greening of America's Capitals,
which looks at ways to use green
infrastructure rather than gray.
Most recently, USGBC, ICLEI and
a whole bunch of mayors kicked
off Resilient Communities for
America, and this group is working very hard to exchange best
practices with each other in dealing with a 21st-century climate that
is different than in the 20th century.

same time. We brought in 10 corporations, large and small, to look at
these issues, and in turn, they made
a plan to buy healthier, better products, from foodstuffs to sand and
gravel used in operations.
Wellmark [Blue Cross and Blue
Shield] built the world's largest single-corporation-owned building in
the world [in Des Moines], and it's
certified LEED Platinum. But, they
moved out of a million square feet
of old property, so we're also looking
at how to regreen, repurpose and reuse these 50-100-year-old buildings.
Some are old enough that they were
put together when Des Moines was a
coal town. We're looking at what we
were, what we are, and asking, what
do we want to be 50 years from now?
If we lay a good foundation today, we
can make our future dreams a reality.
We can't do it piecemeal; we have to
do it substantively, comprehensively
and using best practices that make a
significant difference.

- Interview by Samantha Bartram,
Associate Editor of Parks & Recreation
Magazine

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February 2014 - Parks & Recreation

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