FYI: The Bronx Council on the Arts has launched an effort to bring culture seekers to the south Bronx. Every first Wednesday through May an old-style trolley car–dubbed the Bronx Culture Trolley–will shuttle visitors free of charge between hotspots in the south Bronx arts and culture scene, ranging from the Bronx Museum of the Arts to the G-Bar, a popular spot for dinner and live music. Norwood News, a northwest Bronx community paper, describes the effort, funded with a combo of city, state and federal arts dollars, as a drive to create a downtown corridor in the borough–or, as the paper quotes Borough President Adolfo Carrion describing it, bring Williamsburg and SoHo to the Bronx, without the dislocation of residents, of course. For a look at how the city as a whole has fared in using arts and culture to spur economic development, check out the Center for an Urban Future’s November report, The Creative Engine. [1/21/03]