Principal took another step in their march toward better things for Des Moines' riverfront today with a $4 million commitment from Vision Iowa. And construction is still set to begin in the spring... Another reason for winter to go away right now.

I'm especially hopeful the private sector will fill the space around this project with goodies. And we've got to bust the dams out of the river.

Otherwise, we'll simply have more concrete downtown. And I don't think that is the attraction everyone is hoping to visit...

I occasionally dig into Census data at work, and I just discovered that, despite Iowa's moaning about brain drain, Americans fled DC, New York and Illinois at a much higher rate than our state. Even Wyoming and the Dakotas saw greater flight than Iowa.

Of course, it's not how many people you have; it's who they are and what they do that makes the difference...

While it's been quiet at deadmoines.com lately, Des Moines has, itself, been quite rowdy -- as in unproductively active...

Since September, we've witnessed, among other things:

• national politics in our fields, hotels and just about everywhere in between, but I still don't know which Democrat I will support on January 19.
• a fascinating mayoral race (that I could not vote in now that I live in the suburbs) which seems, at this point, to have had few positive outcomes.
• continued hand-wringing over metro and state budgets
• and a blanket of cold darkness that brings on the Seasonal Affective Disorder in ways no gym membership or vacation can cure.

Obviously, there is much more to discuss (the comment link is there for your additions), but I may just put it all on a shelf and focus on future local developments. The Democratic nomination, pandemic fiscal crises and seasonal weather patterns are mostly out of our control anyway...