By Josiris Ure–a

Last year I completed an internship with a member of the New York State Assembly. The district office is in the Bronx. One day as part of my list of tasks I was asked to summarize the Bronx Borough President's Proposed Capital Plan. As I read page after page I noticed a pattern, a pattern that struck me with some glee, but mostly apprehension. Was it possible, could we really see a Manhattan-like, tourist- friendly Bronx in two, even three years?

The plan was an outline on how to make our schools safer and how to improve the curriculum. It also proposed many changes in housing along with two major capital projects: the Waterfront Project and the Yankee Stadium Proposal. The pattern I noticed was that of a plan set out to make the Bronx more or less attractive to the rest of the city.

Recent events in the media would have you believe that the Bronx is a dangerous place to live and that our residents are not only in constant fear of violence but also fearful of progress. Just looking at the Lillo Brancato Jr., case, an actor who's claim to fame was none other than the movie "A Bronx Tale" as well as all the controversy surrounding the Bronx Terminal Market as well as the Yankee Stadium proposal, would have residents of the other boroughs thinking that the Bronx is full of dangerous people who resent change. We like to live with violence and filth, is what the media would like you to believe. And yet there I was reading page after wonderful page of how to "clean up" the Bronx just in time for the new Yankee Stadium.

We've all seen the teen movies with the high school girl who is ignored by the jock she likes until one day she dolls herself up in order to get his attention only to find out that he wasn't worth the make-up on her face. The feminist in us wants to yell at her and tell her to work on the inside first and then everything will fall into place. So what's it going to be? Are we going to dress up the Bronx for the Iowa townies? Are we going to clean up the subways along the Concourse for the tourists? Are we going to do massive asbestos abatements for the little children from Middle America coming to see A-Rod beat his RBI record?

There was an article in the New York Times recently about all the improvements scheduled to take place along the Grand Concourse and inevitably I was hit with a unique form of resentment that you could only understand if you grew up in the area "scheduled for improvement." Sure we can clean up the streets so that in 2008 tourists will make it beyond the confines of the Bronx Zoo. I'm all for it, but it just seems that in this city of rapid gentrification it just begs the question, "Who are we really trying to fix up the Bronx for?"