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Congratulations to City Manager Rick Clark and everyone involved with producing Des Moines’ 2007 Performance Report. The information is easy to read, and the publication is a delight to look at, too.

Here are a few details that stand out in the first read-through.

The public survey results caught our eye, even though they represent the opinions of only about 750 respondents. The most surprising thing about them is that so many opinions settled on “neutral.”

Three of the city’s four wards were neutral when asked whether Des Moines is encouraging a diversified economy and increasing the number of good jobs. Only Ward 3, which covers the west half of the city south of University Avenue – including downtown – provided a “satisfied” response.

It’s clear the city officials were frustrated by that. Next to the results, the text calls those results “interesting given that the Des Moines Metropolitan Statistical Area enjoys a growing number of jobs that pay more than the state as a whole.”

When asked whether neighborhoods are experiencing expanded and enhanced commercial activity and retail businesses, the whole west half of the city – Wards 1 and 3 – shows up as satisfied. The whole east side is neutral.

The city’s comments: “… some retail centers are dated and in need of additional maintenance. Streetscape projects are under way to improve this situation.”

For some reason, Ward 1 in the northwest corner of town is dissatisfied about the overall fairness of city taxes and fees, while everyone else is neutral. The city points out that this subject scored lowest in the survey.

Fifty-five percent of respondents ranked the fairness of taxes and fees as the area needing the most attention from city leaders.

Overall, the community gets relatively little criticism. But as long as so many citizens aren’t willing to give a more enthusiastic response than neutral, there’s more work to be done.