"It's a very needy neighborhood," Ms. Kugelman said.

Through a complex formula, cities could create patchworks of tax havens in their needy neighborhoods.

"We know where the very needy neighborhoods are," Ms. Hernandez said.

And summer programs, the obvious next step in needy neighborhoods, are even more complex and expensive.

He became a basketball star at Georgetown University, then a seminarian, then a priest in one of the city's neediest neighborhoods.

His most important creations are human -the neighborhood needy to whom he teaches the ancient stonecutting skills that can add up to a ticket to a better life.

Dr. Wood helped create the Model Cities Program, which focused federal revenues on needy neighborhoods.

"Public Prep seeks to serve thousands of students in New York City's neediest neighborhoods."

Mr. Gunn said the ordinance would hinder development in needy neighborhoods on the South and West Sides.

Helping the neediest New Yorkers often means recognizing the peril of the city's neediest neighborhoods.