By JACK HOPKINS
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

While residents point with pride to their history and their waterfront area, they are less vocal about the section that borders on Pacific Highway South.

Highway 99 comes with big downsides. Prostitution, drug-dealing and other crimes have given the roadway a bad name, even in sections where that reputation isn't deserved.

"The council wants to take a look at some of the land uses up there," city manager Bob Olander says. "Some of the older businesses are leaving, and it seems to be underdeveloped in places. There are some good opportunities for business development, high-rises, condos and retail."

The city has concentrated most of its apartment development along Highway 99, distinguishing it from the waterfront, where single-family homes predominate.

It is, of course, the Highway 99 area that gives city police a high percentage of their problems.

"There is more crime along the highway in some of the apartments in that area," Olander says. "There is just no doubt about it."

Des Moines officials have shown their willingness to fight sleaze creatively in the past. For example, they shut down a porn theater in the downtown area several years ago and avoided the long, costly court fight that other communities have had to wage.

"It was a big community issue for a long time," says Olander, who credits former city attorney Jim Gorham with hammering out a solution to the problem.

Rather than slug it out in court, city officials worked out an agreement that allowed the theater operator to keep the business going for a few years, recouping his investment, on the condition he would then close it down and move elsewhere. The deadline passed about three years ago. The porn theater shut down on schedule. The movie house was remodeled, and reopened a year ago with family-type films more suitable to the community.

Continued:

• City by the water has kept its traditions despite growth
• "Waterland" community is ready and willing to fight about it
• The debate over tourists: Love 'em or leave 'em?
• Historic growth from sawmill origins to a diverse suburban melange
• A lot of young outlooks in a city favored by retirees