vivid demonstration of how residents and governments can come together in worthy causes.

The area has long been a symbol of the despair which characterises the poorer parts of Bermuda and which manifests itself in different ways, including, most recently, the anger against non-Bermudians which arose in the Green Paper meetings on long term residents.

But areas like St. Monica's Mission can be brought back to life when the residents, with the support of Government and private enterprise, take charge and demand change.

As a first step -- and this has been shown in cities with far greater problems than Bermuda has -- it is amazing what a coat of paint and a bit of care can do, both to drive out drug dealers and to give other residents hope.

This is what seems to be happening in St. Monica's.

The next stage is to help legitimate enterprises operate in the area and to provide meaningful work which demonstrates that the future is not so bleak.

It is also refreshing to see community leaders like Ottiwell Simmons talk realistically about the problems facing the area -- and their refusal to make excuses for the people who are causing them.

It would be easy to blame the problems of St. Monica's on Bermuda's history of segregation, the education system, people's upbringings, the lack of male role models and the myriad excuses for failure that have been trotted out over the years.

And it may be that neglected areas like St. Monica's can blame all of the above for part of their problems. But to do so and then to do nothing is not good enough.

Mr. Simmons and his colleagues deserve credit for stating that the young men who sell drugs in the area, or just hang around, have to take responsibility for their lives as well and should not blame anyone else.

Only when community leaders are prepared to urge people to be responsible, to take advantage of opportunities and to get things going from the ground up will the problems facing the Island be solved.

In an area like St. Monica's the impetus must come from the ground up.

Government on its own is doomed to fail.

Where Government can help is in ensuring that when the residents face obstacles or become discouraged (and they will) that they have the support they need to overcome the problems and to move forward.

Revitalising one area will not solve all of Bermuda's problems. And there is good reason to believe that drug dealers, if they are forced out of St.

Monica's, will simply go somewhere else and make the lives of another neighbourhood's residents a misery.

But if St. Monica's can go from being 42nd Street to Bermuda's First Street, then the same thing can be achieved elsewhere, and slowly and surely all of Bermuda's streets can become symbols of safety and places of pride.