City officials look ahead to the 1990s as a decade of progress.

DeKalb Mayor Greg Sparrow said he feels the new decade is full of promise. “I see 1990, hopefully, a strong year barring economic clash.”

The industrial, residential and commercial growth of DeKalb is expected to be full of opportunities resulting in a “very challenging decade,” Sparrow said.

One city project is to repair Lucinda Avenue and the intersection of Lucinda Avenue and Annie Glidden Road, Sparrow said.

The walkways at the intersection of Normal Road and Lucinda Avenue might be raised and the roadway lowered to allow traffic to flow underneath them and increase pedestrian safety, he said, adding the project is a long-term goal for the city.

The proposed civic center, another future project, would need NIU as an “anchor tenant,” but its uses are “not just one dimensional,” Sparrow said. NIU might use the center for basketball games or concerts, but would share its uses with agricultural shows.

“DeKalb County has a symbolic tie-in with agriculture,” Sparrow said.

The DeKalb Police department hopes to help “bring drug abuse in the country under control,” DeKalb Police Chief Don Berke said. The community needs to “work together to fight the problem.”

The police intend to work with the community and target the “grass roots-back into the minds of every individual” to solve community problems, Berke said.

The North Central Narcotics Task Force, which includes members of the DeKalb police, state police and DeKalb County police departments, is the “enforcement part of (police) efforts,” Berke said.

The next decade will include improvements in the identification of criminals to “prove or disprove guilt or innocence,” he said. The future of “technology in law enforcement is an exciting area of the job.”

The police department would like to begin a program to aid senior citizens because the senior citizen population is expected to rise about another 9 percent in the 90s, Berke said. “Contact (with senior citizens) has to be a positive contact.”

DeKalb Fire Chief Jeff Long said DeKalb in the 90s will show “a community that’s going to continue to grow regardless of the population.”

Long said some of the fire department’s projects include another fire station along Annie Glidden Road, a warehouse and a firefighter skills test emphasizing less on strength and more on the “cognitive process.”