I’ve been wondering why so many NIU students go home on the weekends or make plans outside of town.

It is completely understandable why so many students make this decision; there is not a lot to do DeKalb.

Of course, you can always find some fun time with your good friends, Mr. Jack Daniels and Mr. Leinenkugel, but if you plan on doing something that might be constructive with your time, your options may be limited.

DeKalb’s lack of clothing stores, upscale restaurants, hotels and entertainment options gives the city a bad name.

I decided to speak with Mayor Kris Povlsen to hear his take on things. He mentioned that there actually are restaurants, movie theaters, art galleries, plays at NIU and downtown entertainment. But not everyone will be interested in these things. Who is it to say someone will like a band being played downtown or like bands at all, or if the movie a person wants to see will come to the theater or like its choice of restaurants?

There are some places people can go in town, but the city lacks the diversity of different ideas. The majority of the fast food restaurants here in DeKalb offer the same sorts of food: pizza, burgers, Chinese and tacos. What about more healthy choices of restaurants? I’m sure people will get tired of going to Potbelly and Subway just to get a sandwich, salad or soup.

DeKalb’s shopping options aren’t quite up to par either, with most stores being department stores. I should not be able to name all the retail stores on both hands.

Most students have to go out of town or order online to shop for clothes and shoes.

DeKalb loses potential business because of this. The lack of high-end stores such as Hollister, Abercrombie & Fitch, Aldo, Forever 21 and Ralph Lauren have students going to Chicago, Naperville and Geneva to shop.

There is also a bigger variety of restaurants than retail stores, so why not put money towards retail instead of restaurants?

For more stores, restaurants and entertainment to come to DeKalb, Povlsen said the city council looks into potential factors that may benefit the city.

“The amount of people living in the area, economy and demand play a part in business developing,” Povlsen said.

If there were a variety of things to do in DeKalb, there would be more tourists, less students going home on the weekends and more student recruitment opportunities for NIU. This could benefit DeKalb greatly.

Jerry Wright, director of NIU’s Student Support Services and DeKalb resident, said, “It would make us more of a holistic city to have more shopping venues and more entertainment, such as Broadway plays.” Wright added he would like to see more upscale restaurants like Morton’s The Steakhouse and The Cheesecake Factory, as well as more men’s stores.

DeKalb is in the middle of improvements, so I do think there is some hope.

“The city is looking forward to a development of…a new apartment building in town with a courtyard and restaurants located on the first floor of the building,” Povlsen said. He also said he would like to see higher-end retail stores and a hotel that would have a banquet center.

If DeKalb continues in this direction, this could bring more jobs to the area, future DeKalb residents, more NIU recruitment and less students going home on the weekends.