It was one more blow to the city, those senseless fights that broke out over the weekend at the Section V basketball tournament.

If you haven't been to a Section V game, you've missed one of the region's finest experiences. Intense, exhilarating, deliciously community-building, the tournament is one of the few events in this area that draws city and suburban families together --- and in particular, black and white families together.

And so.... And so.... On Saturday, a bunch of hoodlums who can't control their temper put the reputation of the tournament and the reputation of their city on the line.

Police arrested 12 people, most of them on charges of disorderly conduct. They range in age from 16 to 40.

Nobody, according to media accounts, was seriously hurt. But unfortunately, the damage to the city, and to downtown, is done. Here are some comments from the Democrat and Chronicle's website:

"Wonder why no one wants to go downtown to do ANYTHING... even watch a high school basketball game? But let's keep making excuses for bad behavior and at some point no where will be safe."

"I am so glad I left rochester 3 years [ago] to raise my family."

"Save the cops time and trouble - hold the games at the Monroe County jail."

"What this does is just confirm to just about every suburbanite what they already think and feel about being downtown, or somewhere within the city limits, for that matter."

Many of us who live in the city, including a large number of people who live downtown, can put the Section V fights in perspective. We're not afraid, and we don't feel threatened. Not downtown. Not anywhere.

And yet we are not the majority. And as long as the majority feels afraid of downtown, the city is fighting against tough odds. Perception is bigger than reality.

We can build Ren Square, stage festivals, and hold concerts and plays.... And in one evening, a dozen or so bozos start swinging, and the efforts of the city, the county, high-priced architects, arts organizations, and neighborhood associations fade into the background. And the fears of suburban residents come to the front.

If you did not live in this city and know it well, why, after news like this, would you drive your children to downtown Rochester and drop them off in front of Blue Cross Arena, trusting that they could walk inside, watch their team play, and have a great, safe time?

Section V officials did the logical thing: they announced they were looking for someplace else to hold the rest of the tournament. But by Monday afternoon, Mayor Bob Duffy, Police Chief David Moore, and other city officials had rescued the tournament, promising to provide more security. And it's a credit both to them and to the Section V officials that the tournament leaders have faith in that promise.

There is no excuse for those fights, anymore than there is an excuse for the drug dealing and gunshots that are oppressing Rochester's poorest neighborhoods.

Saying there's no excuse, though, does not grant permission to ignore the need for change. And that change won't come about by turning our backs on the needs of the inner city. The kind of violence that is afflicting the inner city, and that spilled out into the Section V tournament last weekend, does not occur in isolation.

The city's security plan for the remainder of the tournament points in an important direction. Staffing the tournament will be not only police officers but also Pathways to Peace and city recreation staff. And some of the police officers will be those who are stationed in city high schools. The reason, officials said, is that they're likely to recognize troublemakers.

That's exactly the right approach. But it's just the beginning.

If we want to reduce the violence that is afflicting Rochester's inner city, we'll have to do more than keep it from popping out at popular public events. Rochester School Board member Van White is pushing for a stronger truancy program. City Councilmember Adam McFadden wants a broader city curfew effort. Both would be focused not on punitive measures but on identifying students who need help --- and on getting that help for them.

Superintendent Manny Rivera's hopes for a Children's Zone --- the focus of this week's cover story --- would do all that and more. It would address unemployment, child care, parenting skills, health care --- all of the challenges of inner-city Rochester.

To do that right will take a lot of money. It will take the commitment of a huge number of people and organizations.

And it will take patience. The Children's Zone won't reduce violence overnight. It won't lift families out of poverty overnight. But as far as I can tell, it's the best hope we have.

The statistics that help define the Children's Zone neighborhood --- basically, the 14621 area of northeast Rochester --- are troubling. But one stands out: 68 percent of the households are headed by women. The citywide average is 16 percent.

And yet, as City's Tim Louis Macaluso writes this week, residents of that neighborhood are convinced that they can change things --- change the lives of the children in their community, as several of them put it.

Those residents don't think the situation is hopeless. But they worry that many of the neighborhood's young people do.

Neighborhood residents and other Children's Zone leaders will be starting to ask for money and services soon, to get the massive program going. The Greater Rochester community can not let them down.