Blight and Urban Decay: This Is Not What Duluth Should Look Like

This spring a friend asked me if I had heard of the Broken Windows Theory. When I looked into it I felt prompted to see the condition of a section of First Street, which is one block off Duluth's main downtown thoroughfare, Superior Street. I wrote the following at that time but never posted it.

The official definition of blight is described by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development as a blighted structure when a structure “exhibits objectively determined signs of deterioration sufficient to constitute a threat to human health, safety and public welfare.”  Most people define blight as an area of a city, often a large urban city, in which most buildings are abandoned or in severe disrepair.  Urban decay (also known as urban rot and urban blight) is the process by which a previously functioning city, or part of a city, falls into disrepair and decrepitude.   

See: Broken Windows Theory

The removal of blight is critical to the health, safety and welfare of a community.  Blight removal can significantly reduce crime, boost property values and even aid residents’ health.

Related Story: In plain sight (Homelessness in Duluth)

https://www.theblightauthority.com/story/what-is-urban-blight/