DeKalb Mayor Frank Van Buer gave the first State of the City Address Thursday.

He thanked people who normally don’t receive thanks and talked about a multitude of issues. That’s the good news.

The speech lasted seven minutes. That’s the bad news.

The Northern Star is all for Van Buer doing whatever he can to let DeKalb residents know what is going on in their town. Having a State of the City Address is a good idea and one Van Buer and his staff should be commended for thinking of and executing it. That is not to be disputed.

However, there seems to be more than seven minutes worth of issues to talk about. After all, DeKalb and NIU are constantly expanding.

Pretty soon DeKalb will be a Chicago suburb and its cornfields will be a distant memory, replaced by bland, too-similar houses and condos.

Now, DeKalb obviously is not a booming metropolis nor is it likely to ever be one, but seven minutes seems a little short.

The first State of the City Address was an example of a good idea becoming a not-as-good reality. Perhaps Van Buer can go into a little more detail next year.

Van Buer did bring up a number of important issues, including the revitalization of East Lincoln Highway and new residential guidelines and impact fees that are being developed.

With that said, Van Buer did not go into enough detail on the issues.

Even if Van Buer talked as fast as the old Micro Machine man from the commercials, he couldn’t have squeezed enough detail into the seven short minutes the speech lasted.

Despite all we’ve just said, we’re willing to give Van Buer and company a free pass on this one.

The first incarnation of any event or speech is likely to be rough around the edges. Like we said earlier, the idea of having the address is a great idea and this will hopefully be the beginning of new tradition in DeKalb politics.

That said, it is going to take a little more than seven minutes a year to get it there. Let’s just hope Van Buer gives us more next time.

Agree? Disagree? Contact us at

www.northernstar.info.