The City has yet another study on what should be done with the down-town and along the waterfront. Don't get us wrong; we are not pooh-poohing the study done for the city by RKG Associates and Fox & Fowl Architects.

In fact, we're saying just the opposite. There have been so many studies with so little done about them that it will be difficult for Economic Development Director Hal McGaughey and his people to unify all of the divergent opinions into a cohesive action plan.

But that is exactly what they must do if they are to resolve problems along the waterfront and the downtown and accomplish what the study challenges them to do: Reinvent the city.

It won't happen unless creative minds, backed by support from city and state officials, resolve some of the same roadblocks that have existed for years: from the elevated railroad tracks that divide the downtown and the isolation of the harbor from the downtown, to the strangulating brownfield and waterfront regulations that make progress so difficult. Difficult but not impossible, as other cities around the commonwealth have shown.

But for it to happen here, there have to be dramatic changes both in attitude and image. There also has a realistic plan of action put forward by the economic development team, both short-term and long-term.

And most importantly, the mayor and the City Council must provide the leadership and make sure a few demagogues do not stand in the way of progress, as they have so often in the past.