To the editor:

Quick and to the point. As a very close neighbor to the Oread, I have from the beginning liked the idea of a hotel next to campus. It has been over 40 years past due.

Now then, the chancellor wants to address campus and underage drinking. During game days, the city police stop people going to the game and make them pour out their beer cans and plastic cups with beer before going onto the campus. Now, the Oread Inn wants to sell alcohol almost on the university property and more so on a public street. The hotel if built correctly should be able to provide any and all services inside. If not, then it’s time to remodel the place.

Of course, since the fancy street lights on Oread Avenue have never been on since the hotel opened, one will never know if alcohol sales are taking place at night. The entire intersection is dark.

What the hotel should be doing is encouraging sooner than later the improvement of all of the streets around the hotel and leading to it, instead of wanting them closed. Thirteenth, 12th, 11th and 14th streets from Tennessee are a disgrace to the entrance of the university and the hotel. Every alley in the area needs to be upgraded and overlaid, even those north of the stadium.

The city commissioners need to address the infrastructure of the area around the hotel and forget about the closing of any and all streets.