Des Moines Voter Guide: Meet the candidates for Ward 2

• The next councilperson will help lead redevelopment projects in places like Highland Park and Capitol Park.

📛 The candidates

• Chelsea Lepley, 41, is a manager at Hatchlings, a local mobile games development company. She has worked on multiple metro boards to promote housing, neighborhoods and community service groups.
• Linda Westergaard, 71, is the Ward 1 incumbent, serving since 2016. She is Re/MAX realtor and has worked on multiple city and county boards to promote housing and neighborhoods.

👍👎 Speed round:

🤰 Would you support or oppose a city ordinance to make DSM an abortion sanctuary city?

• Lepley: 👍 Assuming we can do it in a way that complies with state law.
• Westergaard: 👎 I do, however, support women's rights.

🧨 Would you support allocating a special annual police force to patrol and write illegal fireworks citations?

• Lepley: 👍 Assuming the police department also likes the idea.
• Westergaard: 👍

🚗 Would you support more (👍) or fewer (👎) DSM street diets?

• Lepley: 👍 Assuming they're planned and implemented well (no more sharp unpainted curbs like on Euclid).
• Westergaard: 👍

❌ Should the city set an attendance policy for council members and the mayor?

• Lepley: 👍
• Westergaard: 👍

⛔️ Would you support banning soliciting from streets, regardless of median widths?

• Lepley: 👎 Unless I see more data to demonstrate genuine safety risks. This is a shallow response to a deep problem – let's focus on making it hard to get poor, not hard to be poor.
• Westergaard: 👍 Yes, but we must follow the law.

🔎 Going deeper

🧐 What do you think is the biggest problem facing DSM?

• Lepley: Des Moines isn't ready for the problems it will face in the next 50 years. We need to be a city where people want to live, not feel stuck. We also need to re-envision public safety to include more aspects of security and well-being than law enforcement and first responders.
• Westergaard: Public safety, neighborhoods and housing. Residents want to feel safe in their neighborhood. We need more of all types of housing for residents.

🤹‍♂️ How should the city help downtown enhance its vibrancy?

• Lepley: Alternative question: how should we help other neighborhoods enhance their vibrancy? A lot of areas would benefit from investment in public spaces, pedestrian safety, mixed-use development and workforce housing. Residents all over the city want amenities and access to common space, cultural programming and recreational events.

• Westergaard: Work to make the businesses, residents and visitors feel safe all the time. Downtown should be a destination that is welcoming and walkable for people of all ages.

😎 What's 1 fun thing voters don't know about you?

• Lepley: I was a Girl Scout, and my troop started a curbside recycling program for seniors before the city did curbside collection.
• Westergaard: I love to bake cookies with my grandchildren.

✍️ Summarize the city in five words or less.

• Lepley: Getting ready for the future.

Westergaard: Something for everyone.

Review where candidates for mayor and Ward 1 stand on the issues.