On it goes. For nearly a decade now we have dealt with the supposedly imminent installation of an IKEA store at the slowly developing Assembly Square site. Another delay was thrown into the picture a week or so ago as the city’s Planning Board went along with the company’s request for a one-year extension to its special permit, citing a wish to relocate its proposed building site just a little over and down to the left a bit, thereby forestalling a real start to the project for at least another year.

Are we surprised by this? Should we be?

Perhaps the most surprising thing is how giving and trusting we can be in our negotiations with this international mega-corporation. One is reminded of the classic Peanuts comic strip depiction of good old Charlie Brown repeatedly being taken in by Lucy’s insistence that he kick the football she is holding for him, only to yank it away at the last moment. Again and again.

We have so much invested in this now, we may feel as though there is no other viable option available to us. But the mounting frustration felt by some of us can make us wish that we, for once, could have an opportunity to yank that ball away ourselves. Just to even the score a bit.

But no. We have made promises, and promises should be kept. Right?