Is this hurting our cities growth?

I have dedicated this Blog to featuring aspects of Des Moines that are not boring, and I feel I have made a pretty strong case towards that end. I will continue to feature those aspects in the future because I know there are still people out there that consider Des Moines boring. But, for today I am going to take the opportunity to touch on a topic I cannot get out of my mind as I was unfortunately impacted by ‘said’ topic first hand this morning. I was not ‘witness’ to the Bus/pedestrian incident this morning, which was outside my office building (this is the third or fourth incident on this city block in last year and a half), but I was definitely affected by the incident as I did see the aftermath of yet another bus/pedestrian accident outside my office window.

As I stood by my co-workers this morning while looking down on the accident, as we have done before, I couldn’t fail to digest their negative comments – I am going to walk in the skywalks cause they are so much safer than the streets – I can’t believe this is happening again – Why is it so hard to look both ways before turning left? –

Those comments really got me thinking…This issue is going to hurt the future of the city. I am not trying to imply that people will choose to not move to DSM because of these incidents. More so I am taking a larger perspective and considering DART’s impact on the future of this city.

Are the Federal Government or private investors going to invest in the expansion of our infrastructure with all of the legal implications placed on DART due to these negligent circumstances?

I have to imagine the negative attention geared towards DART is severely hindering the expansion of projects like the downtown tram, etc. I think it is fair to jump to this conclusion because the incidents are not necessarily isolated or few-and-far-between. If people are scared to cross the streets downtown it is going to be very hard to improve and expand the city. Now, I make that last comment with a grain of salt as I know those same people who make the comments are crossing the streets every day without any concern for a city bus. But, with the impact of Social Media and the opportunity to spread the ‘word’ in a matter of nano-seconds…is it outside the realm to consider these instances’ a big time concern for our city?

Or, is my perspective too large scale and out of place?
I think it is fair to say the bus/pedestrian accidents of the past year and half have drastic implications on the future of the city. If that is a fact, then it stands to reason these issues have hindered the efforts placed by so many to grow the city into a vibrant, progressive city. Hopefully, the planned Transit Hub will provide a different avenue for busses downtown and alleviate these issues going forward. I just hope that can happen sooner, rather than later, to ensure a lesser long-term affect on the city.