What's another month in an almost 15-year debate about the Urban Village?

And why should you care about what is happening across Atherton Street near west campus, a place not often traveled for most people, students and townsfolk alike?

Unless, of course, there's a hopping house party on the weekend, that is.

But partying aside, if you're a freshman, and the Urban Village revitalization plan gets off the ground January 2007 as scheduled, you might have additional living abodes from which to choose.

More importantly, if you're a senior who wants attend Penn State for graduate school, you too might have the option of living in the Urban Village, especially since the overall goal thus far has been to appeal to a slightly older, perhaps family-oriented demographic.

But given the plan's stop-and-start history, and the debates within the community and council about what exactly the area should become, it's anyone's guess if this target date will be met. And what a one-month delay really means in the grand scheme of things, which stems from Ferguson Township pulling out of the revitalization plan, according to State College officials.

A situation such as this makes it that much easier for a bureaucracy, such as that of municipal government, to get hung up in the quagmire of finger pointing.

That's why it's so important that State College officials refrain from doing so and instead, roll with the punches.

Shouldn't one less layer of bureaucracy, i.e. Ferguson Township, at least in theory, make the pie-in-the-sky project that much more tangible?

Though, it must be said that constructing more graduate student- or family-style housing, which would presumably make the area more lucrative and attractive for prospective tenants, businesses and investors, might not be as feasible without the township's participation and tracts of land.

But if anything, Borough Manager Tom Fountaine said, in fact, that the scope of the project will now be even more manageable, citing January 2007 as realistic goal to complete the planning process.

But we just have to assume that those who work in municipal government are mature enough to realize that a one-month delay is nothing to get into a tizzy about.