Residents say successes like the youth centerdo not occur often enough.

"If you present an issue and it's going to hitthem in their pocketbook or in their lives, intheir housing, they're going to mobilize," saysMaragioglio, who is the president of the PisaniCenter Tenants Council, the tenants group ofNewtowne Court and Washington Elms.

Simmons, who serves on the school Committee, isthe only elected city official who lives in AreaFour. Some residents believe this lack of directrepresentation makes it easy for officials toignore neighborhood needs.

"Area Four is ignored by city councillors,"says Maragioglio. "It is most evident because alot of public-housing tenants don't go out tovote." Maragioglio says the city has done littleto rehabilitate the vacant buildings on Worcesterand Washington streets.

Working with the Cambridge branch of theNational Association for the Advancement ofColored People and the Neighborhood Coalition, theTenants Council is planning a voter-registrationdrive for the fall city elections, and hopes toeducate public-housing residents about thestructure of city government.

"If there was a serious voter-educationcampaign, the city would certainly become moreresponsible," Foxx says.

Carroll says residents need to reinvigorate theaggressive "grass-roots organizing" of past AreaFour activism.

"I remember times when we would get out with abull horn and work through streets in WashingtonElms and Newtowne Court" to get out the vote, sherecalls.

Inaccessible polling sites and culturalbarriers may bar some of the tenants, especiallyimmigrants, from political participation.

"Some of the community people don't want topick up the phone and call the city," Sayers says.

Where individual residents do not demand actionfrom city officials, community groups may help tofill the gap.

The Crime Task Force, founded by City ManagerRobert W. Healy in 1989, has demanded betterstreet lighting and drug-free school zones andoffers safety walks and self-defense classes. Itsannual Drug-free Fair draws over 600 people,Sayers says.

The Neighborhood Coalition campaigned againstQuestion 9, the state referendum that abolishedrent control, and has held workshops to encouragetenants to buy homes.

Government Assistance

Area Four is one of a handful of Cambridgeneighborhoods recognized by the government aslow-and moderate-income.