re: BR abandoned buildings that should be torn down

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I hear ya. I just know of several small businesses that could not go through with their plans in that area because of the UDC and some antiquated zoning regulations that were cost-prohibitive for them to pursue.

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This is a far bigger issue than most people realize. In order to open up shop in one of these delapidated structures, you have to remodel them. However, those that are damaged to the point that enough money is spent to consider it a "major renovation" (which I believe is somewhere around 10-20% of the assessed value (which is often way below the market value)). If the renovation qualifies as a major one, the building must be completely brought up to code, which often includes creating far more parking spaces than the lot has room for, completely overhauling the electrical system, completely overhauling the fire protection system, ect. These improvements are simply to expensive to be worth the investment in many blighted structures when just fixing them up and opening a business would be feasible. Instead, those buildings sit unused, tax receipts dwindle, and neighborhoods continue to decline as those aging retail centers continue to deteriorate.