Later this month, ISU and city officials will submit a grant request for $39.7 million dollars for a transportation hub in Campustown. For the sake of future generations of Iowa State students and faculty, we hope they succeed.

Currently, Campustown is – to put it lightly – a little lacking.

It’s not that we don’t appreciate bars, food stands and tattoo parlors. We do. After a long week of putting out papers, nothing gets the Daily editorial board like a brew, a Superdog and a spontaneous “I heart journalism” tattoo.

But ISU deserves more.

We’ve got a beautiful campus – one of only three college campuses nationwide (along with Yale) designated as a “medallion site” by the American Society of Landscape Architects. Central campus is 20 acres of green grass and greener trees – perfect for a picnic or a game of frisbee.

Across Lincoln Way, though, things aren’t always so rosy. Campustown is dominated by concrete, boxy buildings, and more garbage than you can shake a discarded bottle of Michelob Golden at.

It’s true that great strides have been made. The GSB-funded renovation to the area southeast of Welch and Chamberlain appears to have been successful.

But more needs to be done. We need a Campustown that befits our beautiful campus. We need a Campustown that we can be proud to show off to parents, potential students and visiting friends from other, not-to-be-named Iowa universities.

After all, other college towns have successfully balanced a mix of students, residents and a variety of businesses in the areas surrounding their universities, so why not Ames?

The answer to why we haven’t succeeded in the past is complex. It involves the exodus of families from the neighborhood, a few inattentive property managers, and a loss of pedestrianism. Campustown used to have a grocery store, believe it or not, back before every kid had a car and was a mere five-minute drive from seven different big box stores.

Not all of these problems are easily solved, and if we had all the answers, we’d be making big bucks as city planners instead of writing editorials on Sunday nights.

But what we do know is that the proposed intermodal hub is a small step in the right direction.

If the grant is approved and the transit hub built, Campustown could become a center of activity, not just for students of questionable sobriety, but for Ames as a whole. More parking would give Campustown businesses room to grow, and would help bring additional businesses to the neighborhood.

Imagine how much more appealing our Campustown would be if it resembled Main Street: a guitar shop on one end, a women’s clothing boutique on the other; across the street a student art gallery, a bike shop and a restaurant and brewery; in between, plenty of green space for sitting, talking or studying.

With successful business comes money. With money comes renovation. With renovation comes more traffic.

It’s a self-reinforcing cycle. And the result is a better quality of life for those seeking to live, work or play in the Campustown neighborhood.

Although such a revitalization is a long way off, and we may not be here to reap the benefits, we’ll be cheering on the sidelines the whole time.

Here’s to hoping that the intermodal hub is the spark that lights the fire.

For more analysis on the current intermodal transportation hub proposal, check the Business section of this website.