NorthernStar
Thursday April 14, 2016
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Volume 116 Issue 54
Photo Courtesy Christine Wang
NIU students who travelled to Springfield on Wednesday pose for a photo. The participants lobbied at an event that addressed the state budget impasse and funding of Monetary Award Program grants. Nick Smith | Northern Star File Photo
Aaron Gorny checks ID’s on Jan. 23, 2015, at Rosy’s Roadhouse, 930 Pappas Drive. Rosy’s Roadhouse closed in spring 2015 and will be replaced by Rosati’s Pizza. Construction for the sports-pub pizzeria will begin within the next 30 days.
Pizza pub to take over Rosy’s Roadhouse plot Liquor license OKs Rosati’s Pizza pub Alexander Chettiath News Editor
DeKalb | The lot formerly occupied by Rosy’s Roadhouse, 930 Pappas Drive, will become Rosati’s Pizza, a sports-pub pizzeria, once construction begins within the next 30 days. Rosati’s Pizza, established in 1964, has more than 150 locations nationwide with 20 pending to open by the end of 2016. It is the secondlargest local restaurant chain in the Chicago area after Portillo’s. Rosati’s Pizza was approved for a restaurant liquor license at a City Council meeting Monday. The establishment has passed background checks and normal pre-license review by staff and the Illinois Liquor Control Commission, according to Monday’s City Council agenda. The lease for Unit A of the building, which is about 5,500 square feet, was contingent on the approval of a liquor license, said Mike Carpenter, managing broker of RVG Commercial Real Estate Services. “It’s a brand new concept that they are rolling out, a pizzeria and sports pub,” Carpenter said. Carpenter said the plan is to have a full service bar and many TVs with dine in or delivery options. The concept of a Rosati’s Pizza sports pub may also have a live band, trivia, karaoke and the ability to host events, according to a Rosati’s Pizza news release.
Photo Courtesy Monday City Council agenda
Rosati’s Pizza, established in 1964, has more than 150 locations nationwide with 20 pending to open by the end of 2016. It is the second-largest local restaurant chain in the Chicago area after Portillo’s.
The resolution for the license was passed unanimously without any discussion or public comment. The license is for full-service liquor but requires liquor to only be served with corresponding “real food” purchases, according to the City Council agenda. Rosati’s Pizza is eligible to apply for a separate bar area but at this point has not applied. DeKalb will receive an initial issuance fee of $5,088 and renewal fees of $3,358 every year from Rosati’s Pizza, according to the City Council agenda. There is no confirmed date for the opening of the location, said Brittany Burzawa, director of marketing communications at Rosati’s Franchising Inc. The former Rosy’s Roadhouse moved into the property formerly occupied by Starbusters on May 1, 2013. Rosy’s Roadhouse closed at the end of spring 2015. Max Schelkopf, former bouncer at
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Rosati’s Pizza Rosati’s Pizza sports pub may offer the following activities: • Live bands • Trivia • Karaoke • Event hosting Rosy’s Roadhouse from 2013-15, said initially the bar could reach capacity on Saturdays. Schelkopf said some nights they had more than 1,000 people come through the bar but by 2015, about 100 people would be in the bar at one time. “I think the biggest problem was that it was too big of a venue for [DeKalb],” Schelkopf said. “Once they transitioned from a live band to [electronic dance music] it was hard to find a niche... even if you had 100 people in there it didn’t look like a lot of people.”
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Students lobby for higher ed funding Madison Kacer Staff writer
DeKalb | Thirteen NIU students travelled to Springfield on Wednesday to participate in a lobbying event that addressed the state budget impasse and funding of Monetary Award Program grants. The event was organized by the Student Association in response to the state budget impasse, which has resulted from state lawmakers’ lack of agreement with Gov. Bruce Rauner on a budget for Fiscal Year 2016. Without a finalized Christine Wang budget, funds SA Senate for higher edu- speaker-elect cation and MAP cannot be appropriated. Illinois is the only state without a budget. Students focused on pushing Senate Bill 2046, which would give NIU more than 90 percent of its state appropriations and fully fund MAP. House Bill 4521 was also pushed, which would give the governor the ability to establish emergency reserves of previously appropriated funds and to transfer balances between special funds in the state treasury and the general revenue fund, said Christine Wang, SA Senate speaker-elect. During Wednesday’s event, which was sponsored by the SA, students interacted with 17 Republican and seven Democratic state lawmakers. “I don’t know if we changed any minds, but I know that we kept the issues in the forefront of
[legislators’] minds,” Wang said. Some of the solutions proposed by state lawmakers regarding the budget impasse included raising sales taxes, decriminalizing marijuana and reforming procurement, Wang said. After arriving in Springfield, students attended a rally at the University of Illinois at Springfield. They then headed to the Illinois State Capitol to begin lobbying legislators. Numerous recent SA lobbying events have been attended exclusively by SA members. But because seven non-SA students attended the event, some participants did not have lobbying experience.
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... We’re going to react if they use our education as a bargaining chip.” Alex Huber Senior political science and communication major
“[Participants] did a wonderful job of holding up under the heat,” Wang said. “I know some legislatures can get kind of intense and it can be really tiring walking from office to office, but they did really well.” SA members plan to attend more Springfield lobbying events before the semester ends, including one taking place next Wednesday, Wang said. “We kept pushing higher education and showing them that we have a voice,” said Alex Huber, senior political science and communication major. “We’re going to react if they use our education as a bargaining chip.”
TCF closure means more bank options Opinion: TCF Bank is closing its partnership with NIU, which may create a new space in the Holmes Student Center and give students a chance to explore banking options. Read more on Page 8.