LETTERS: Relays coverage was unjustified

To the Editor: That article lead me to expect that I would find the streets not only unsafe, but littered with "empty 40-ounce beer and malt liquor bottles." I found the tone of this article offensive. Penn Relays is one of the only major events for which the surrounding community uses the University. The community should be welcomed, not subject to thinly veiled rascist comments in the DP. Your Relays coverage seems particularly uncouth considering its proximity to Spring Fling. The "trash and noise" of Spring Fling didn't seem to make people feel unsafe. And though you gave us the crime stats for last year's Relays, you neglected to compare them to an average week, giving the impression that these crimes happen only during Relays. If 33rd Street during Relays looked like "a third-world country," what did the Quad look like the Sunday before? Was it trash that bothered the quoted mother (and your anxious article) or was it the vestiges of a black presence on campus during Relays? Please exercise a little editorial restraint, especially when dealing with sensitive issues such as Penn's troubled relationship with the rest of the city. When attitudes such as those reflected by the April 24 issue are given voice by the students' official newspaper, one can hardly wonder why community relations are so strained. Andrew Zitcer College junior