So we know what we are talking about, here are the definitions of "slum" and "blighted area" from Chapter 163
(7) “Slum area” means an area having physical or economic conditions conducive to disease, infant mortality, juvenile delinquency, poverty, or crime because there is a predominance of buildings or improvements, whether residential or nonresidential, which are impaired by reason of dilapidation, deterioration, age, or obsolescence, and exhibiting one or more of the following factors:
(a) Inadequate provision for ventilation, light, air, sanitation, or open spaces;
(b) High density of population, compared to the population density of adjacent areas within the county or municipality; and overcrowding, as indicated by government-maintained statistics or other studies and the requirements of the Florida Building Code; or
(c) The existence of conditions that endanger life or property by fire or other causes.
( 8 ) “Blighted area” means an area in which there are a substantial number of deteriorated, or deteriorating structures, in which conditions, as indicated by government-maintained statistics or other studies, are leading to economic distress or endanger life or property, and in which two or more of the following factors are present:
(a) Predominance of defective or inadequate street layout, parking facilities, roadways, bridges, or public transportation facilities;
(b) Aggregate assessed values of real property in the area for ad valorem tax purposes have failed to show any appreciable increase over the 5 years prior to the finding of such conditions;
(c) Faulty lot layout in relation to size, adequacy, accessibility, or usefulness;
(d) Unsanitary or unsafe conditions;
(e) Deterioration of site or other improvements;
(f) Inadequate and outdated building density patterns;
(g) Falling lease rates per square foot of office, commercial, or industrial space compared to the remainder of the county or municipality;
(h) Tax or special assessment delinquency exceeding the fair value of the land;
(i) Residential and commercial vacancy rates higher in the area than in the remainder of the county or municipality;
(j) Incidence of crime in the area higher than in the remainder of the county or municipality;
(k) Fire and emergency medical service calls to the area proportionately higher than in the remainder of the county or municipality;
(l) A greater number of violations of the Florida Building Code in the area than the number of violations recorded in the remainder of the county or municipality;
(m) Diversity of ownership or defective or unusual conditions of title which prevent the free alienability of land within the deteriorated or hazardous area; or
(n) Governmentally owned property with adverse environmental conditions caused by a public or private entity.
It seems downtown might meet some of the criteria for "blighted"
Going back to Raleigh, one of my biggest turnoffs (and to Charlotte as well) is that they are too clean and new. I like old and gritty so long as that doesn't mean "blighted" in the traditional sense.
For instance, if it were up to me, my creative spirit would incorporate plants growing out of the sides/brick facades of the Laura Trio in an homage to its current "blighted" conditions, but I would massage that design element to appear to have the right mixture of spontaneity and control/organization so that it sets the right atmospheric blend of funky cool and old/gritty.
I hate what they did to Laura St...looks like a new, clean, sterile, boring suburban street with a faux suburban cobblestone turnaround. Leave some of the old shit and just rehab the buildings to be habitable and desirable to a mix of uses! How hard is it? Clearly too.
My favorite block is the one that contains the FL Theater. It's one of the only cool blocks left in the entire city. If they go the purely "new" and clean route, the city is lost and dead. It can't make new and clean desirable like Charlotte can...it doesn't have the other ingredients that Charlotte has that make that acceptable. It needs to keep its old and its charm and go the Nashville/Milwaukee route. People are over complicating this.
