BOGOTÁ, Colombia, Sept. 14 - Thirty-seven years of conflict
has left Colombia with two million displaced villagers. In
some cities, urban warfare rages between rebels and
right-wing militia members. Farms lie fallow. The economy
suffers.

But not in Bogotá, the fog-shrouded capital 8,000 feet atop
the Andes. In this city of seven million, many Bogotanos
agree, things have never been better.

A drop in crime has left the city not only statistically
safer than Caracas and Rio de Janeiro, but also more secure
than Washington and Baltimore. The economy, although
sluggish, is considered Colombia's sole reliable engine for
creating jobs. The city's credit rating by Duff & Phelps
rose, to AA+ last year from A in 1994.

More visibly, a three-year multibillion capital improvement
program has changed the landscape, refurbishing 877 parks,
paving 117 miles of roads, introducing sewage treatment to
415 neighborhoods and building 22 schools and 21 libraries.
The symbol of the city's transformation has been its new
Transmilenio bus system, which uses specially constructed
bus lanes and subwaylike platforms.

``Incredible, but now this city has possibilities,'' Edgar
SaÃenz, 30, a designer, said, waiting for a bus. ``We can
walk downtown without fear, in a pleasant urban landscape.
I think the capital is an example for the whole country.''

In the early 1990's, Bogotá was a basket case. Traffic
made short trips grueling. Crime was increasing out of
control. Refugees were streaming in. Development was
hamstrung by corruption.

Then an unexpected renewal began. Much of the credit,
residents and experts on the city say, goes to Enrique
Peñalosa, a student of urban development who served as
mayor from 1998 until January. Many Bogotanos, used to the
city's ``despelote,'' Colombia's controlled chaos, called
the effort quixotic.

``This was a city people had spent years hating,'' Mr.
Peñalosa said this summer from New York, where he is on a
fellowship at New York University. ``They talked badly of
it and said it would never get better. But now there is a
big change. People feel proud of their city. They believe
it can get better.''

The transformation is being

watched by other Latin American cities suffering pollution,
congestion and crime.

Behind the changes lies a simple premise familiar to New
Yorkers. Can-do mayors take office proposing improvements
that residents of more livable cities take for granted:
that traffic can be controlled, that mass transit can work
and that crime can drop.

Mayor Antanus Mockus, a son of Lithuanian immigrants who
preceded and succeeded Mr. Peñalosa as mayor, began
changing the stubborn, me-first mentality here. A seat belt
law took effect. He unclogged roads, banned parking on
sidewalks and initiated antilitter campaigns.

Mr. Mockus, a former professor known for his zany antics
and Abe Lincoln beard, did away with the corrupt transit
police force and raised money by selling off the city's
once inefficient energy company.

The progress has not eliminated some serious problems. The
crime rate, although far lower than in the mid-90's,
remains a persistent threat. A housing shortage is becoming
more acute with the annual arrival of 160,000 new
inhabitants, many of them displaced by the grinding civil
conflict here.

Bogotanos, much like New Yorkers, know that the relative
calm can be shattered by terrorist attacks. Indeed, the
State Department continues to warn Americans against
traveling here, a designation that rankles local officials.

The quality of life here began to change with Mr. Mockus.
Cars were restricted in peak hours, to cut down on
pollution and traffic. Bars were closed at 1 a.m., to keep
drunken drivers off roads. Gun control became a mission.

Then came Mr. Peñalosa with his big projects. About 70
miles of bicycle routes were built through parks and along
sidewalks. Then came the bus system intended to replace the
wheezing, aging clunkers that made driving a nightmare.

The national police force also modernized its operations.
Homicides dropped to 2,238 last year from 4,396 in 1993,
leaving Bogotá with 35 homicides per 100,0000 people, a
rate lower than that of some American cities, but still far
higher than New York's, which is a larger city but recorded
673 killings in 2000.

Mr. Peñalosa, on the other hand, focused much of his
attention on the poorer neighborhoods, having schools built
and water and sewer lines installed.

``Peñalosa understood that modern cities need to make up
for the precarious situation in some areas, to make
available access to public services of high quality,'' said
Juan Carlos del Castillo, a professor of urbanism at the
National University here. ``What this means is that Bogotá
has advanced, while the rest of the cities have not.''

Through the changes, Bogotá has maintained its charms, the
whispers of its tumultuous past evident in neighborhoods
like the colonial Candelaria and in the tightly packed
downtown, with its worn but elegant buildings. It sits in a
haunting, startling setting, on top of an emerald savannah
and flanked by dark, craggy mountains.

It is a city with neighborhoods of stately brick Tudor
houses, odd to outsiders, but apt for residents who know
the climate here is more like London's than Miami's.

Yet on a summer walk through neighborhoods in the
marginalized southern part of the city, residents said the
investment had improved their lives.

Heberto Acero, 58, a security guard, said his neighborhood
was electrified and had telephone service and drinkable
water. ``When I came here,'' he said, ``we had to buy our
water from tanker trucks that came through every four
days."

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/15/international/asia/
15BOGO.html?ex=1004276410&ei=1&en=b6e36f0a4b308afb

HOW TO ADVERTISE
---------------------------------
For information on advertising in e-mail newsletters
or other creative advertising opportunities with The
New York Times on the Web, please contact Alyson
Racer at alyson@nytimes.com or visit our online media
kit at http://www.nytimes.com/adinfo

For general information about NYTimes.com, write to
help@nytimes.com.

Copyright 2001 The New York Times Company