Investing in Students, Teachers, and Schools
Students, teachers, and schools in Des Moines are facing a wide range of obstacles in addition to being expected to thrive academically during a pandemic. The buildings in which our students are expected to learn are falling apart. The teachers and staff are underpaid. The technology infrastructure to ensure our students can learn safely and remotely is struggling to be consistent. These are all funding issues. We must invest in the modernization of our schools if we want our children to succeed.
No student should have a "student lunch debt." Not only will eliminating this debt help the students focus on their classes and relieve financial anxiety that no child should have, it will also bring much needed financial relief to families trying to make ends meet. In fact, to help food insecure students and staff, we could invest in community gardens for our schools.
The Des Moines School Board recently voted to end the "resource officer" program, but I think we can go a step further. We should reallocate the money from the police budget that was set aside for resource officers to a program that would make therapists and social workers available and free to each and every Des Moines Public School student and employee. Our children, teachers, and school staff are living in an unprecedented time. We need to take care of their mental health as much as their physical health.
No student should have a "student lunch debt." Not only will eliminating this debt help the students focus on their classes and relieve financial anxiety that no child should have, it will also bring much needed financial relief to families trying to make ends meet. In fact, to help food insecure students and staff, we could invest in community gardens for our schools.
The Des Moines School Board recently voted to end the "resource officer" program, but I think we can go a step further. We should reallocate the money from the police budget that was set aside for resource officers to a program that would make therapists and social workers available and free to each and every Des Moines Public School student and employee. Our children, teachers, and school staff are living in an unprecedented time. We need to take care of their mental health as much as their physical health.
People Without Housing
This Winter, during a dangerously cold snow storm, our houseless residents were declining to leave their tents, camps, and make-shift houses to seek out heating centers that had been set up around Des Moines, resulting in grave consequences. They didn't want to leave their only home and possessions in the world behind for fear that their site would be raided or belongings taken or destroyed. This is a community of people who are the most vulnerable among us, and the city has worsened the situation to the point that these citizens will not seek help or shelter, even in the face of death. We can start repairing this relationship by simply prohibiting raids on these encampments.
We need to be helping these people, our neighbors, out of a cycle that only around 40% will successfully break themselves. Our city has virtually NO PLAN for them beyond shelters, and those shelters have been under funded and over capacity for years. Taxpayers in Polk County pay tens of thousands of dollars per homeless person per year. One way or the other we are paying into this cycle.
The pandemic has shown us that many jobs that were once done in person can now be done just as efficiently online, it has also shown us the need for safe housing. With this in mind, I think our city needs to re-evaluate the amount of government buildings and city owned properties we have and the amount we genuinely need. By allowing certain jobs to be done remotely, we can downsize the amount of buildings we use and can then repurpose those buildings into housing for residents who need stable housing. Another option is to turn abandoned properties around the city in to houseless housing.
It will be far more beneficial and fiscally responsible to invest in homeless housing, addiction services, and physical and mental health services for these people than to continue to ignore the solutions. I experienced homelessness as a child. More recently, I had a homeless parent. I watched and tried my best to help as my dad struggled in the streets of Des Moines after having to leave his job due to an illness that landed him in the ICU. This can happen to anyone, and if it does, I want that person to have the help they need to break the cycle.
We need to be helping these people, our neighbors, out of a cycle that only around 40% will successfully break themselves. Our city has virtually NO PLAN for them beyond shelters, and those shelters have been under funded and over capacity for years. Taxpayers in Polk County pay tens of thousands of dollars per homeless person per year. One way or the other we are paying into this cycle.
The pandemic has shown us that many jobs that were once done in person can now be done just as efficiently online, it has also shown us the need for safe housing. With this in mind, I think our city needs to re-evaluate the amount of government buildings and city owned properties we have and the amount we genuinely need. By allowing certain jobs to be done remotely, we can downsize the amount of buildings we use and can then repurpose those buildings into housing for residents who need stable housing. Another option is to turn abandoned properties around the city in to houseless housing.
It will be far more beneficial and fiscally responsible to invest in homeless housing, addiction services, and physical and mental health services for these people than to continue to ignore the solutions. I experienced homelessness as a child. More recently, I had a homeless parent. I watched and tried my best to help as my dad struggled in the streets of Des Moines after having to leave his job due to an illness that landed him in the ICU. This can happen to anyone, and if it does, I want that person to have the help they need to break the cycle.
Public Safety
Public Safety is of utmost importance to any community member, and I am no different. Our policing resources should be focused primarily on violent crimes and sex crimes such as trafficking, assault, domestic violence, child abuse, and animal cruelty, that are taking place within our community every day. It should be required that all rape kits be processed within 24 hours of being administered, to ensure swift action can be taken to catch the offender.
Decriminalizing cannabis and prohibiting drug raids on domestic residences will take unnecessary responsibilities off of the back of police. Low level drug offenses should not be a priority of our police department. This wastes money and resources that could go toward more meaningful public safety efforts, such as human trafficking. Due to Des Moines' location on 80/35 our city is a vulnerable spot for human trafficking. The most common targets of trafficking are women, often women of color, and children with unstable housing.
We need to be allocating resources from the police department to set up a program - outside of DMPD - that puts professionals who are equipped to handle sensitive situations in charge of responding to certain calls. For example, mental health calls, addiction services, and other situations of this nature would be entrusted to social workers, EMTs, and other appropriately trained professionals.
Des Moines would also benefit from another department outside of the DMPD that does traffic monitoring and enforcement. Their professional responsibility would be limited to stopping vehicles for traffic law violations and issuing tickets. They would not have the authority to search, arrest or detain and would not have the ability to run criminal background checks. Traffic monitors would not be equipped with weapons of any kind. Instead, they would be trained in verbal de-escalation, violence avoidance, and self defense. It is possible to hold everyone accountable for traffic violations while also protecting our BIPOC neighbors.
Yearly mental health training, including evaluations, and regular robust de-escalation training should be provided to all DMPD officers from an agency outside of the DMPD, so we can better equip our police with the appropriate tools and skills to truly serve our community. A zero tolerance policy regarding racial profiling, excessive force, and other violent offenses by police officers or other city officials should be adopted by the city of Des Moines and the Des Moines Police Department. Equally important, we need to get militarized machinery and weaponry out of the hands of the police department.
Decriminalizing cannabis and prohibiting drug raids on domestic residences will take unnecessary responsibilities off of the back of police. Low level drug offenses should not be a priority of our police department. This wastes money and resources that could go toward more meaningful public safety efforts, such as human trafficking. Due to Des Moines' location on 80/35 our city is a vulnerable spot for human trafficking. The most common targets of trafficking are women, often women of color, and children with unstable housing.
We need to be allocating resources from the police department to set up a program - outside of DMPD - that puts professionals who are equipped to handle sensitive situations in charge of responding to certain calls. For example, mental health calls, addiction services, and other situations of this nature would be entrusted to social workers, EMTs, and other appropriately trained professionals.
Des Moines would also benefit from another department outside of the DMPD that does traffic monitoring and enforcement. Their professional responsibility would be limited to stopping vehicles for traffic law violations and issuing tickets. They would not have the authority to search, arrest or detain and would not have the ability to run criminal background checks. Traffic monitors would not be equipped with weapons of any kind. Instead, they would be trained in verbal de-escalation, violence avoidance, and self defense. It is possible to hold everyone accountable for traffic violations while also protecting our BIPOC neighbors.
Yearly mental health training, including evaluations, and regular robust de-escalation training should be provided to all DMPD officers from an agency outside of the DMPD, so we can better equip our police with the appropriate tools and skills to truly serve our community. A zero tolerance policy regarding racial profiling, excessive force, and other violent offenses by police officers or other city officials should be adopted by the city of Des Moines and the Des Moines Police Department. Equally important, we need to get militarized machinery and weaponry out of the hands of the police department.
Prioritizing Sustainability
Des Moines does have a sustainability program in place, but I don't think it goes far enough in making impactful change in a timely manner, especially considering the rate at which our planet is warming. The current goal is to be 100% sustainable by 2035. We need to take bigger and bolder steps to reduce our city's emissions, but we can do it in accessible ways.
Our city buildings provide wonderful opportunities to produce as much power as they are consuming if we simply prioritize environmentally conscience updates such as solar roofing. By doing this, we could significantly reduce our carbon emissions and take a huge step towards our 100% carbon-free future. We could go even further by retrofitting our street lights, park lights, traffic lights, bus stops, and benches with solar panelling. By investing in solar options, we invest in the future of not only our city, but our planet. We could further the positive environmental impact of our city buildings and spaces by adapting the very accessible green practices of having "living walls" on the buildings and community gardens on the grounds - for example community gardens at the public libraries. A living wall is an outside wall of a building that has a large number of plants growing along it and helps to purify the air, regulates the temperature and promotes biodiversity in the city.
We should ensure our city vehicles are not adding to the problem by updating them to 100% electric vehicles, focusing first on the vehicles that do the most driving - police cars and buses for example. City policy should be in place to ensure new buildings being constructed must use environmentally conscious practices, materials, and, if possible, be a source of renewable energy for the city - regardless of the size of the building. Des Moines needs to put a Green Purchasing Policy in place that mandates our city buildings and offices use environmentally conscious products or practices such as: going paperless where it is possible to do so and alternatively using only recycled paper items, using water or soy-based ink, adopting green lighting practices, and avoiding single use plastic.
By offering incentives to encourage sustainability on a more individual level, we can encourage our city residents to take an active role in the future of our city and planet. Examples of individual opportunities could include planting pollinator gardens, planting clover lawns, composting, recycling, and making environmentally conscious updates on your property, such as solar panelling. Most of the current incentives target property owners, but I think we should be providing all different kinds of incentives for property owners and renters alike.
Our city buildings provide wonderful opportunities to produce as much power as they are consuming if we simply prioritize environmentally conscience updates such as solar roofing. By doing this, we could significantly reduce our carbon emissions and take a huge step towards our 100% carbon-free future. We could go even further by retrofitting our street lights, park lights, traffic lights, bus stops, and benches with solar panelling. By investing in solar options, we invest in the future of not only our city, but our planet. We could further the positive environmental impact of our city buildings and spaces by adapting the very accessible green practices of having "living walls" on the buildings and community gardens on the grounds - for example community gardens at the public libraries. A living wall is an outside wall of a building that has a large number of plants growing along it and helps to purify the air, regulates the temperature and promotes biodiversity in the city.
We should ensure our city vehicles are not adding to the problem by updating them to 100% electric vehicles, focusing first on the vehicles that do the most driving - police cars and buses for example. City policy should be in place to ensure new buildings being constructed must use environmentally conscious practices, materials, and, if possible, be a source of renewable energy for the city - regardless of the size of the building. Des Moines needs to put a Green Purchasing Policy in place that mandates our city buildings and offices use environmentally conscious products or practices such as: going paperless where it is possible to do so and alternatively using only recycled paper items, using water or soy-based ink, adopting green lighting practices, and avoiding single use plastic.
By offering incentives to encourage sustainability on a more individual level, we can encourage our city residents to take an active role in the future of our city and planet. Examples of individual opportunities could include planting pollinator gardens, planting clover lawns, composting, recycling, and making environmentally conscious updates on your property, such as solar panelling. Most of the current incentives target property owners, but I think we should be providing all different kinds of incentives for property owners and renters alike.
Uplifting and Empowering Marginalized Communities
Discrimination is a problem across the world, and it is the responsibility of each and every city, community, and individual to actively fight against it. In order to do this, we need accountability, regardless of what position the offender holds in our society.
Discrimination can present itself in many scenarios including but not limited to housing, infrastructure inaccessibility, hiring practices, distribution of community resources, governmental policies, and policing. If we don't hold those in our community and government who discriminate against BIPOC or LGBTQ individuals then we can not claim to be protecting those communities. By allocating more resources and responsibility to programs like The Des Moines Civil and Human Rights Commission, who identify and fight against instances of discrimination in our city, we can ensure we are holding each offender accountable.
One of the most vulnerable communities among us are those who don't have U.S. citizenship. These residents are often targeted because of their general unwillingness to come forward to report a crime due to governmental repercussions. For example, women and children will stay trapped in an unsafe situation for fear of reporting their abuser and being deported. Our city needs to have a social worker led program in place that allows these individuals protection and support so they feel comfortable coming forward. We have social programs that could help these residents thrive, but if they don't trust that they are safe and truly a part of our community, they aren't going to utilize those programs. Let's make Des Moines a more inclusive and progressive city and show the country that our community cares about everyone - whether they be citizens or immigrants.
Discrimination can present itself in many scenarios including but not limited to housing, infrastructure inaccessibility, hiring practices, distribution of community resources, governmental policies, and policing. If we don't hold those in our community and government who discriminate against BIPOC or LGBTQ individuals then we can not claim to be protecting those communities. By allocating more resources and responsibility to programs like The Des Moines Civil and Human Rights Commission, who identify and fight against instances of discrimination in our city, we can ensure we are holding each offender accountable.
One of the most vulnerable communities among us are those who don't have U.S. citizenship. These residents are often targeted because of their general unwillingness to come forward to report a crime due to governmental repercussions. For example, women and children will stay trapped in an unsafe situation for fear of reporting their abuser and being deported. Our city needs to have a social worker led program in place that allows these individuals protection and support so they feel comfortable coming forward. We have social programs that could help these residents thrive, but if they don't trust that they are safe and truly a part of our community, they aren't going to utilize those programs. Let's make Des Moines a more inclusive and progressive city and show the country that our community cares about everyone - whether they be citizens or immigrants.
City Council Procedure and Ethics Code Reform
The job of our City Council is to listen to and meet the needs of the residents of Des Moines yet the current procedures being used are hindering the vital role of community input. The City Council should not be limiting, interrupting, insulting, or muting community members as they speak, so long as there is not a threat of violence or verbal abuse.
We need to reconsider our official City Council Rules of Procedure to include elements that preserve the rights of our community members to speak and be heard. For instance, providing residents with the right to address the council at the beginning of council meetings on any issue, including items not on the agenda. To ensure we are protecting our community members, we should not be requiring people to publicly announce their address. This is dangerous for many reasons, and has been proven to deter people from participating for fear of their safety. Additionally, adopting an inclusive, transparent budgeting process where the residents of Des Moines directly determine a portion of the city's annual budget would encourage a more collaborative and open relationship.
Transparency and accessibility are two things the Des Moines City Council is sorely lacking. This can be easily fixed, assuming the council members want to be more transparent and accessible to their constituents. By requiring weekly office hours where the public can schedule meetings, bi-monthly town halls, and regular Neighborhood Association roundtables we can ensure that our community gets ample opportunity to be involved. Being accessible is not a difficult thing to do, and can often have simple solutions. For instance, allowing Zoom access to those who want to participate in city council meetings but aren't able to attend in person. By not allowing this remote option, we are disproportionally silencing the Disabled community.
Our council members should be held to a strict Code of Ethics. Rules to prevent council members or family of council members from benefitting financially from city dealings, as well as rules prohibiting council members from voting on issues where they have any slight conflict of interest would be a great first step to repairing community trust. To encourage complete transparency, it should be required of council members to make all communications with parties for or against council issues public within 48 hours.
The Rules of Procedure and Code of Ethics should be written in clear, easily understandable wording and easily accessible to the public to ensure they know their rights when addressing the council.
We need to reconsider our official City Council Rules of Procedure to include elements that preserve the rights of our community members to speak and be heard. For instance, providing residents with the right to address the council at the beginning of council meetings on any issue, including items not on the agenda. To ensure we are protecting our community members, we should not be requiring people to publicly announce their address. This is dangerous for many reasons, and has been proven to deter people from participating for fear of their safety. Additionally, adopting an inclusive, transparent budgeting process where the residents of Des Moines directly determine a portion of the city's annual budget would encourage a more collaborative and open relationship.
Transparency and accessibility are two things the Des Moines City Council is sorely lacking. This can be easily fixed, assuming the council members want to be more transparent and accessible to their constituents. By requiring weekly office hours where the public can schedule meetings, bi-monthly town halls, and regular Neighborhood Association roundtables we can ensure that our community gets ample opportunity to be involved. Being accessible is not a difficult thing to do, and can often have simple solutions. For instance, allowing Zoom access to those who want to participate in city council meetings but aren't able to attend in person. By not allowing this remote option, we are disproportionally silencing the Disabled community.
Our council members should be held to a strict Code of Ethics. Rules to prevent council members or family of council members from benefitting financially from city dealings, as well as rules prohibiting council members from voting on issues where they have any slight conflict of interest would be a great first step to repairing community trust. To encourage complete transparency, it should be required of council members to make all communications with parties for or against council issues public within 48 hours.
The Rules of Procedure and Code of Ethics should be written in clear, easily understandable wording and easily accessible to the public to ensure they know their rights when addressing the council.
City Budget Reform
Our high ranking officials are making more than double the national average for persons in their given position, while our sanitation workers, librarians, and other city workers are making well below. We need to go through our city budget line by line and reprioritize. The Des Moines City Council should be diligent in ensuring that our city resources are being used effectively and efficiently to fill the needs of our community. The first step in making Des Moines a city that works for everyone is by having a city budget that mirrors the needs of everyone.
More to Come
I am always reaching out to community members of Ward 3 and the city of Des Moines as a whole because I believe we can't fix the problems of the community if we don't understand the members of the community and their perspectives and concerns. I plan to update this page as I listen, learn, and think of modern, innovative solutions to make Des Moines a community that works for everyone. If you have an issue or cause that you are passionate about, I would love to hear your perspective.
