River Bend Neighborhood

The next River Bend Social gathering will be later this month. Details are as follows:

Wednesday, June 30
6:00 PM
Something Good Restaurant
1610 6th Avenue
515 280 1998

Please RSVP to organizer Diana Rezac 515 243-3639 dkrezac at  msn dot com by Monday, June 28.

The River Bend Neighborhood Association has announced its officers and board members for the year 2010:

Lee Barber, President
asaman53@aol.com

Mike Hildebrand, Vice President
hildebrand_m@msn.com

Laura Hansen, Secretary
hansen.laura.a@gmail.com

Brian Douglas, Treasurer
bjdouglas@me.com

Izaah Knox
izaahjbknox@gmail.com

Janelle Mueller
mueller_blonde1@yahoo.com

Roger Thompson
rthompsk@msn.com

Angela Thorne
urbantaekwondo@mchsi.com

Aaron Todd
aatodd@gmail.com

This information can also be found on this page: Board Members and Officers.

The 6th Avenue Corridor Board of Directors has named Alecia Kates the executive director of the newly-formed organization.

The 6th Avenue Corridor encompasses the area from Interstate 235 north to the Des Moines River along 6th Avenue in Des Moines. The corridor was one of the first designated an “Urban Neighborhood Main Street District” in Iowa by the Iowa Department of Economic Development, in May 2009.

Kates, the newly appointed Executive Director for the organization, will lead efforts to revitalize the area.

Kates has worked and volunteered over the past 11 years in the neighborhoods surrounding the 6th Avenue Corridor, working towards community and economic development goals, including projects with the King-Irving Neighborhood Association and Habitat for Humanity.

Aaron Todd, the 6th Avenue Corridor’s board chair said about the decision, “We’re extremely pleased to have Alecia on board, she brings a new perspective to the organization that will help to move us forward and has already taken the reigns and made progress on several projects.”

The Board and volunteers serving on committees have drafted objectives and action plans for 2010.  Kates says her first goal is to begin “implementing plans that have an immediate impact on 6th Avenue, setting the stage for growth.”

“This is a prime opportunity to apply smart growth concepts and improve the quality of life for the residents of the neighborhood as well as the City of Des Moines. What is good for 6th Avenue Corridor is good for all of Des Moines,” she said.

River Bend Neighborhood

Event Committee Minutes
March 17, 2010

The Event Committee is a group of River Bend residents who plan and execute events though out the year to benefit the neighborhood association and its residents.  Benefits range from fund raising for various projects, raising public awareness of positive changes in the neighborhood, to neighborhood gatherings to celebrate our diversity and our commonalities.  The event committee meets every 3rd Wednesday of the month from 6 – 7 p.m.  If you are interested in becoming part of the Event Committee contact committee chair Mike Hildebrand at hildebrand [underscore] m [at] msn [dot] com

Attendees: Mike Hildebrand, Janelle Mueller, Aaron Steil, Lee, Laura Hansen, Carolyn Jenison

The committee discussed which events and the level of official participation at each.  The following is a list of events that the Event Committee determined we would like to have a presence or host.  Events to be hosted by the Event committee are noted by chair persons assigned.

June 25th (Friday) – Rededication of Bates Park/Public Servant appreciation/neighborhood celebration.
This will be an event to thank the City of Des Moines for the dedication in providing the River Bend neighborhood updated park and playground facilities.  It will also give the residents of River Bend a chance to get together and celebrate the new park facility and to thank our public officials that made it possible.  We will also combine our annual public official appreciation cook out at the same time and show our appreciation to all public service officials who serve our community.  Janelle mueller [underscore] blonde1 [at] yahoo [dot] com and Laura hansen [dot] laura [dot] a [at] gmail [dot] com will co-chair this event.

Month of June – Rendezvous at River View – Last year’s event – http://highlandparkbusinessclub.com/Rendevous%20on%20Riverview.4.htm
We are going to contact the Committee of this event and inquire about having a booth at this function.  We will offer up our neighborhood to provide volunteers to help host the event.  The booth we put together will hopefully be used through numerous summer/fall events.  We will need non – event committee volunteers to help staff this booth.  We will want to promote the Jazz in July event. We also want to have tickets for the Historic Home Tour for sale.

July 18th (Sunday) – Jazz in July – Last year’s calendar of events – http://metroarts.org/aspx/news/NewsDetails.aspx?nid=57
River Bend association will contact the 6th Ave organization to inquire about having a booth at this event promoting and selling Historic Home Tour tickets.  We will need non – event committee volunteers to help staff this booth.

August 3rd (Tuesday) – National Night Out – http://www.nationalnightout.org/nno/about.html
Janelle and Laura will co-chair this event. Preliminary discussions placed the celebration back at Moulton this year.  There will more emphasis on entertainment for the kids and focusing on crime and drug prevention this year.  The committee agreed that there is no action required at the present time.

September 11th, 12th (Saturday, Sunday) – 14th Annual Historic Home Tour.
Mike hildebrand [underscore] m [at] msn [dot] com and Carolyn cjenison [at] mchsi [dot] com will co-chair this event.
Theme: The Oakland’s historic district

September 25th – Des Moines Regatta – http://www.desmoinesrowing.org/hotdm/
We are going to contact the Committee of this event and request to have a booth at this function.  We will offer up our neighborhood to provide volunteers to help host the event.  We will want to promote the Holiday Home tour and have tickets for sale.

December – Annual Holiday Home Tour – Mike, Carolyn, and Lee asaman53 [at] aol [dot] com will tri-chair this event. [Date pending.]

There was additional discussion of events that we may want to investigate the feasibility of having a booth.  The list that we came up with consists of the following events that will be discussed further;
·         May 15th – Celebrasian, Asian Heritage festival
·         June 19th – Juneteenth Celebration
·         September 4th and 5th – Des Moines Latino festival

There are two additional “events” that we will promote and request neighborhood participation, they are;
·         April 22nd – Earth Day Neighborhood clean up.  We will work with the Membership committee to see if we want to hand out/place flyers in doors about our membership meetings during this clean up.  We will need neighborhood association participation.
·         August 21st – Des Moines River Clean up.  We will work with the Des Moines rowing club to assist in the river clean up.  We will need neighborhood association participation.

The River Bend Neighborhood’s monthly social get-together will be Tuesday, March 30, 6:00 pm, at the new La Paris Cafe.

La Paris is a Vietnamese restaurant, owned by Chris and Sue Low. France was the country which colonized the country then known as Indochina back in the nineteenth century, and the influence is evident in the variety of French pastries and coffee drinks on the menu.

La Paris serves breakfast, lunch and dinner [and dessert!] on one side of the business, and features pool tables and a sports bar for evenings on the other side.

La Paris is located at 1517 – 2nd Avenue, and the phone number there is 288-3800.

Call Diana Rezac before March 27 to RSVP your availability for the social this month:
515-243-3639 or
email to d k r e z a c [at] m s n [dot] c o m.

Diana says, “Come meet your neighbors in a relaxing atmosphere.”

Due to technical difficulties, tickets for this week’s River Bend Holiday Home Tour will *not* be available via IowaTix.com. Instead, attendees can purchase tickets for the festive three-home event at 1429 – 9th Street, one of the houses on this year’s tour.

The tour organizers apologize for any confusion this change may have caused.

The Holiday Tour will be this Thursday, December 3, from 6:00 to 9:00 pm, and features three lavishly decorated homes on Ninth Street in the River Bend Neighborhood. Gourmet hors d’oeuvres and holiday desserts will be served, and live musical entertainment wil accompany tour-goers.

Hope to see you there!

The Forest Avenue Library and book drop will be closed November 30 to December 13 due to replacement of the heating and cooling system.

The library will re-open Monday, December 14.

Items on hold will be available for pickup at the North Side Library. Please note that items checked out at Forest will have an extended due date.

Watch Des Moines Public Library’s website, www.dmpl.org, for further updates.

From the Des Moines Public Library:

Early Literacy Stations are now available at Forest Avenue Library. The special computers are set up specially to help kids and toddlers increase and improve their educational skills.

Each Early Literacy Station is a self-contained computer filled with programs specially designed for children ages 2-10, but are also available for older children wishing to improve on their literacy skills.

Each station features computer games that help kids learn as they play. Children are drawn into a variety of adventures with well-known mass media characters such as Sponge Bob Square Pants, Dr. Seuss, and Between the Lions.

The Early Literacy Station has been used at the Forest Avenue Library for over a year now and is funded by the David Kruidenier Funding. They have two stations available and are expecting two more within the next year.

The North Side Library also has two stations which were funded by the Gates Foundation. These two libraries are the only libraries in the Des Moines area that have the Early Literacy Stations. The North Side Library has a bilingual version and Forest Avenue Library will be getting a new bilingual version soon.

For more information about literacy stations stop by the Forest Avenue Library and the North Side Library.

Mark your calendars and plan to attend the upcoming River Bend Holiday Home Tour, Thursday, December 3 and Friday, December 4, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Houses include 1330, 1334, and 1429 9th Street; parking will be available at 9th and Forest.

Come enjoy the sights and sounds of the holidays in these warm and inviting houses, which were once home to some of Des Moines’ most prominent families in Des Moines around the turn of the last century.

Hors d’oeuvres provided at each house, along with live entertainment by local talent.

Tickets are available at $25.00 per person, or $40.00 per couple.

Tickets can be purchased at Dahl’s at 35th and Ingersoll, or at iowatix.com, or by sending a check or money order to RiverBend Neighborhood Association, P. O. Box 408, Des Moines, IA 50302.  Tickets ordered via mail will be available at Will Call at any of the homes on the evening of the tour.

From Michael Baldus, via River Bend neighbor Laura Hansen:

Wednesday, November 18, at 7 pm, the local radio program “The Fallon Forum,” discusses the proposed North-South Metro Parkway. This project was formerly known as the NW 26th St. Interchange/MLK Extension.

As currently laid out, the roadway plan proposes to extend Martin Luther King, Jr. [MLK] Parkway north from Euclid Avenue to the Interstate 80/35 interchange.

The prospective project would also involve major roadway changes to MLK from Euclid south to I-235 near downtown.

Baldus, who will be a guest on the Wednesday evening show, says:

“The north section [of the proposed North-South Metro Parkway] would be destructive environmentally to recreational areas, the south section destructive to neighborhoods and homes. The entire thing would be destructive to Des Moines tax base and quality of life…

I’m writing also to ask that you pass this on…. A broad and much-needed public discussion about this project is about to begin, and the [Wednesday radio show] is the place where it will start. Please call in during the show…, and encourage others to do so.”