To Whom it May Concern

Brownsville is a thirty minute (or less) from South Padre Island.
In 2000 we had a population of 139,722.
Brownsville is also the biggest city in the Rio Grande Valley, and has some of the best nightclubs there, too.
So what's the problem?
The problem is, we need a North Gate. We need a 6th Street.
"B-b-b-but those are College Towns! BLA BLA!"
I don't care, and neither should you.
We seem to have an inferiority complex when we talk about other universities. We really need to stop that, because, hey, it kills our morale because we feel we "need" these fancy things.
Truth is, the absence of these fancy things should not be a reason to be depressed ... or careless, rather, they should make us want to exceed more in our lives, and then come back to Brownsville and get all these things that will make our campus grow exponentially.

As for the nightlife, the problem is that the bars and nightclubs are so far apart from each other that it doesn't afford us the opportunity to have a say...6th Street or Northgate. The college has 3 main streets where an ideal "6th street" would be. And I don't mean the actual 6th street we have right now:

International Boulevard: You could ideally turn most of the businesses that have spots on the streets close by campus that empty out on International (Tyler, Van Buren, Harrison, Jackson) into nightclubs/bars. High traffic + college age people = fun. Though people might take an issue that the Brownsville Police Department, the State District Court, AND the Federal Courthouse are within walking distance.

Elizabeth Street: Is this street historical? Yes. Has it outlived its usefulness as 'el centro' ? Probably. And it probably won't ever change, owing to the high amounts of traffic flowing in from Matamoros during holiday season that benefits the local economy. That boost is also rumored to benefit Seoul, S.K., but that's another story.

University Boulevard: I know that whenever visitors are brought in to campus, they are taken down university boulevard and into the entrance at EDBC. Wouldn't it be cool if during one of those trips, the guide could point out, "oh, and to your left, you'll see Lincoln Park, formerly a quiet area that no one visited, and now the center of nightlife for campus". Downside to this, of course, is the nightlife would have the river to their backs. Heh. Heh.

So that leaves two streets:

F.M 802 and Central Boulevard.
Both have nightclubs and decent restaurants. Now if only we could do more to make those streets a little more bohemian. That's it. Little by little. Rome wasn't built in a day, after all.

So all of you business majors in EDBC, join forces with the local real estate people and add a couple of visionaries to your crew and I bet you that we will make the Jewel of South Texas shine even brighter.