our story today, the residents of the Mary Victoria Road and Alexandra Road neighbourhood had something special.

They could say that they lived in a good neighbourhood which was safe. It was a place where they could bring up their children, buy homes and set down their roots.

This has all changed, according to the residents, as an unusual series of events has seen the quiet streets of the neighbourhood change to an area where confrontations between Police and youths are common and householders are afraid to give their names to reporters for fear of reprisals.

Part of the reason that the area has changed is due to the fact that the large number of Police officers who lived around their Prospect headquarters have left and been replaced by new Housing Corporation tenants who have less respect for their neighbours and their surroundings.

"It is now a ghetto,'' says one resident. "Youths race around here on bikes all the time, without helmets, probably stolen and you never see a Police car any more.'' In many ways, what has happened here is a microcosm of what has happened to many of the Island's neighbourhoods.

Rising crime, the problem of children bringing up children and the aimlessness of youths who see no future for themselves in Bermuda all contribute to the collapse of an area's social fabric.

Doubtless, there are many new tenants in the area who want the same things that the old tenants do; safe streets, good schools and a chance to make it.

But a few are making it impossible for many.

There were hopes that the change of Government would help to change this spiral of social problems and it is quite possible that it still can. The euphoria of the new Bermuda brought with it the hope that the disenchanted and the dispossessed would get a fresh start.

But the reality is that social change does not happen overnight. It takes hard work and it takes effort from all people, not just politicians, although politicians have the means to speed change and "make it happen''.

But it cannot happen unless people are prepared to take responsibility for their actions and their lives. In the Alexandra and Mary Victoria Roads area, there is a chance for a neighbourhood which is seemingly headed downhill to change direction, but it will take the whole neighbourhood -- old and new tenants, the Housing Corporation and the political leaders in the area -- to do it.

One way to do this could be to bring the old and new residents together -- perhaps under the auspices of a group like Beyond Barriers -- to talk through their differences and go forward together.