Baker brings different background to city council

By Nick Swedberg

Senior Reporter

Dave Baker spent 25 years working for a copying service before trying his hand at politics and becoming an alderman.

“I was one of the typists,” Baker said. He helped start Copy Service, located at 1005 W. Lincoln Highway, and has been a manager there for 25 years.

The business originally began as a essay re-writing service, Baker said. At the time, there was only one service of the sort available in DeKalb. The business had seven locations, including two in the downtown area.

Since then, the industry has changed, Baker said.

“Usually, the first couple of weeks of the semester are the busiest,” Baker said. Business dips during NIU’s break periods.

The only experience that he had with politics came from helping out with flyers and literature that came through his business, Baker said.

Baker said the timing was right for him to become an alderman because he has more free time to give to the community. He also said it “helps to have diverse backgrounds” on the council and that he has a different background than other aldermen.

He has been an alderman for 3 years.

In addition to having worked at Copy Service, Baker also published and sold advertisements for a newspaper called The Planet, a weekly DeKalb newspaper that existed in the mid-’80s.

“We just had a lot of fun for years,” Baker said of the experience.

Baker said he wants to continue to keep a “close eye” on the city and make sure his fellow aldermen don’t “lose the forest through the trees.”

A current issue that Baker and the council are looking at is the liquor license clarifications. Baker said the issue has been discussed for months.

Baker said that the ideal situation for a class E or restaurant liquor license is similar to what Rosita’s Mexican Restaurant, 642 E Lincoln Highway, has set up. The alcohol is meant to be complementary to the food.

“That was what the class E establishment was meant to be,” Baker said.