Des Moines just approved an $8.4 million first phase for a $54 million park overhaul. The bid came in over estimate, and there's no maintenance plan in sight — meanwhile the city was cutting services 9% across the board just last year. Norm Van Eeden Petersman talks with parks consultant Jamie Sabbach, author of the new book The Bison Principle, and writer Michel Durand-Wood about what cities consistently leave out of these decisions. Construction is only about 20% of what a public asset costs over its lifetime, and most cities aren't planning for the rest. The conversation gets into maintenance backlogs, why capital and operating budgets are really the same money, and what a city would actually decide if the 50-year cost were part of the conversation from the start.

ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES

• "Birdland Park's $54M Overhaul Moves into Construction Phase" by Jason Clayworth, Axios.com (April 2026)
• Norm Van Eeden Petersman (LinkedIn)
• Jamie Sabbach (LinkedIn), The Bison Principle (Book)
• Dear Winnipeg (Site), You'll Pay For This! (Book)

• Articles Mentioned and Downzone:

  • In Praise of Background Buildings by Gracen Johnson
  • Places and Non-Places by Andrew Price
  • Field of Schemes
  • Fizzy Fuzzy Big & Buzzy - Album by The Refreshments
  • Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin
  • The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York by Robert Caro
  • The 99% Invisible Breakdown of The Power Broker
• Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom.

 

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