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Des Moines' skywalk system was constructed not only to protect residents from inclement weather but also to ensure that downtown development occurred in concentrated area, according to former city officials.
"We didn't want downtown development to be a leapfrog development like Kansas City which basically has three downtown areas," former City Manager Richard Wilkey said. "As soon as the skywalk system was built, it reinforced our plan to build from the central part of downtown out, with a slow mushrooming effect on other areas."
Wilkey, now a consultant for Iowa Resources Inc., was city manager from March 1974 to February 1985, when key plans for downtown's skywalk system were developed.
"The negotiations at times with the business community were intense and took quite a bit of time," Wilkey recalled. "I remember the first meeting we had with the private business representatives.
"One businessman told me, `I think it would be a good idea if the city paid for it and we control it.' So I said, 'I think you should pay for it and we should control it.'"
Des Moines' skywalk system was first discussed by the city in 1971 and approved by the City Council in 1975. The system is often used as a model for other cities interested in skywalks. Last year the city received more than 22 inquiries about the system. Last week, for instance, representatives from the city government of Topeka, Kan., visited Des Moines to tour the system.
Wilkey noted that when the city and private sector began negotiations on the system, several businesses were interested, but, an agreement on the system took more than two years to reach.
"The result was what might be expected when two parties go after something," Wilkey said. "A compromise was reached, and the city paid for bridges over public rights of way and alleys and the private sector paid for the corridors."
FATHER OF SKYWALKS
Former Mayor Richard Olson, who has been called the father of the skywalk system, was the...