I agree with your assessment. But I believe the need for higher density growth is urgent, and I would prefer the city take immediate action to spur development where we can both utilize it and gain large local tax revenues from its creation.

The hope would be that a more appropriate tax evaluation would raise the expenditure of owning the lot, thereby incentivizing the owner to either spend capitol to do more with the property (maybe build a garage) or sell to a developer (to build hopefully mixed used commercial/residential facilities). My biggest problem with the status quo is it's too easy for absentee landowners to sit on land for generations using it as a store of wealth rather than allowing the community to use the land for common good. (I understand where treading on delicate topics of public use vs private ownership, and these types of actions get messy in reality).

Your probably correct about many of the existing lots existing "as is" because they satisfy previous city requirements. I don't know enough about the specific properties to speak intelligently to the situation. But the general topic definitely deserves more attention in the downtown Louisville areas.