There used to be a McDonalds on Welch Avenue. Seriously. Right where Welch Crown Center stands. Hordes of students commuting to and from Towers stopped in for $1 fries and milkshakes on a daily basis.

Headliners used to be called Peoples, the seedy staircase underneath used to lead to the best dive bar in town, Lumpy’s, and Es Tas used to be one-fourth the size and twice the fun.

Things have changed a lot since the Towers came down. Upperclassmen migrated to Schlitter Village or Frederickson Court, and Campustown lost foot traffic. A ton of foot traffic. McDonalds closed almost immediately thereafter, along with the Blimpie’s that once existed where Battle’s BBQ now stands. The Varsity theatre is gone, the space adjacent to Jeff’s Pizza has been a book store, skate store and purse store within the span of five years, and even the shoe store between Copyworks and Mickey’s went out of business.

We’re skeptical about the actual effects the LANE4 proposal will have on Campustown. We question the need for a hotel, especially at the expense of the accommodations in the Memorial Union. We’re all about a Buffalo Wild Wings or Olive Garden — not driving to Des Moines for UFC fights or unlimited breadsticks sounds pretty awesome — but at the same time, we’d rather see that cash flow to the folks that run Planet Sub or Thai Kitchen.

One of our board members asked President Geoffroy about the plans for the remaining towers complex, and we weren’t exactly thrilled. As it turns out, the university has no plans for building student housing at that location, and when asked whether there where plans to lease or sell the lot to developers, the answer was a firm “no.”

We understand that abundant housing exists on and around campus. At the same time, we’d like to think that keeping Campustown economically viable should be a major concern for the university, and the Ames community.

Some would like to believe that campus is an island unto itself, and that all student needs can be found within its borders. We can’t help but wonder if these people have spent an extended amount of time on campus, or any other college town for that matter. We most certainly need affordable food within walking distance, and until the capitalists at ISU Dining decide $1.75 is a ridiculous price for a bottle of soda, we’re all about a grocery store.

But, we think the better solution would be to increase the foot traffic in the area. The Intermodal Transportation Facility definitely isn’t going to cut it, and we miss seeing a thriving economy on Welch Ave. If you’ve never been there at 1:00 p.m. on a weekend, you’d swear it was an entirely different place. It’s almost a ghost town now — it’s almost as bad as main street.

We’re not sure why the university has taken the stance it has. Freddy Court has to be close to breaking even, and the remaining towers are going to meet the same fate as the old ones some time in the near future. It’s a shame, too — when they weren’t dingy, they were pretty cool.

We really hope there are minds to be changed on this subject, and we don’t think we’re alone. Campustown definitely needs a boost, and the university could do just as much, if not more, than what LANE4 has proposed. Especially on the other end of Welch.