One of the guidelines of the program was that a certain percentage of the structures had to have major structural deficiencies. You put yourself in a corner. Although the survey taken to judge the condition of the buildings within the renewal area is missing from project records, a careful reading of the real estate appraisals done for each piece of property in the project shows that for the most part the structures were far from the slum buildings that were described on the renewal application. Additionally, the photographs attached to each appraisal picture buildings that in most cases would today be good candidates for rehabilitation. If you stringently interpret the state's building and fire codes, you can justify ripping down any building that was built more than five years ago.
People can use that to justify anything.
They use administrative regulations to get their own way. We didn't realize what we had. People from out of the area always thought we had a quaint town. You only realize what you have when you see what others have. What we have now is nothing.