Don’t expect to hear hammers whacking away on a new civic center any time soon. The Illinois Department of Commerce and Community Affairs shot down DeKalb’s request for funds.

DeKalb might be better off without one. Poplar Creek Music Theatre, the Rockford Metro Center and the Rosemont Horizon are within a 50-mile radius of DeKalb. Could the county really support a 10,000 seat facility?

But DCCA did not reject DeKalb’s request for more than $12 million because they saw a lack of support in the community. Instead DCCA disapproved of NIU’s involvement in the project.

Officially DeKalb’s proposal “did not meet legislative intent for the money because it is for public not private use,” said DCCA press office chief Lynn Morford.

Hell’s bells. When did NIU go private?

Morford said the funding was marked for projects designed to hold public expositions, entertainment and conventions.

Civic center supporters have been jumping through dozens of hoops since the idea’s inception, but the proposal fell apart because of something that should have been fairly obvious from the beginning—NIU’s involvement. If this isn’t just a contrived reason for bailing out, everyone should have been informed a long time ago.