This is what it takes, not just rehabilitating a theater:<P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Where the Ballet Is a Rare Flower<P>JENNIFER DUNNING, NY Times<P>... It has been 15 years since the woman, Melanie Rodriguez, persuaded city agencies to clean out and demolish the squatter-ridden, rat-infested building...<P>As soon as she and others from the neighborhood had cleared the plot, Ms. Rodriguez began buying — or accepting donations of — fruit trees, a weeping willow and other green things. ... Then she began to bring in music groups and, last summer, a small classical dance company called MorganScott Ballet. The company conducted a one-day lecture-demonstration and workshop with neighborhood children, who used the garden fence as a ballet barre.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><a href=http://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/19/arts/dance/19DUNN.html target=_blank>More</a>

A somewhat related story with a couple of truisms:<P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>The Downtowning of Harlem<P>DEBORAH SOLOMON, NY Times<P>As it so happens, Harlem has been undergoing an art-world invasion in the past few years. The arrival of artists and their ilk might seem to be a purely positive development, although Hammons, who moved here in the 70's, sees it like this: ''Harlem is under attack. White folks want it back.''<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><a href=http://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/19/magazine/19HARLEM.html?searchpv=nytToday target=_blank>More</a>