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As we look towards improvement in the appearance of our city one of <br />the things that very quickly pops out is the downtown area and old <br />dilapidated buildings that are uninhabited. <br />As times goes on and as buildings remain empty, they will further go <br />into disrepair and eventually fall down, either injuring people or <br />requiring the City to eventually incur the cost of demolition if the <br />owner is not in a capacity to afford the costs. <br />Some of the challenges that our City faces is the fact that we are off the <br />main highways and there is not a large enough population to support <br />growth, nor does the City have enough funds to assist in rejuvenation <br />of the downtown area. <br />Unlike places such as McKinney, their downtown has been rejuvenated, <br />due to their location or the population growth, etc. In those areas it is <br />easy to follow all International, State and local laws regarding safety <br />and fire protection since the property prices are much higher and <br />return on investment is much greater. <br />If we were to follow the International Code completely as it was <br />adopted many years ago, people would have to spend more money to <br />renovate the buildings than the worth of the buildings, since our city is <br />challenged by the fact that downtown property prices are not high <br />enough. <br />Now the ideal here is not that we should negotiate on safety, since <br />health, safety and quality of life are the primary duties that this council <br />is entrusted with. As we talk about safety and the current conditions of <br />the buildings (I do not mean to imply that every building creates an <br />unsafe situation either), we as a city must be able to negotiate so that <br />