To anyone who might be thinking that Altoona’s new blighted-property rehabilitation program is but a threat upon which the city would not follow up with substantive action, the best advice now must be “think again.”

The city Redevelopment Authority’s already initiated steps against a dilapidated house in the 1800 block of Fifth Avenue is indicative of a solid commitment by the city and its agencies to make good on the program’s availability, legal options and overall promise.

No matter how and when that effort ultimately concludes regarding the Fifth Avenue property, the proverbial stage has been set for more work of that kind to be launched and move toward a successful outcome — hopefully, without many impediments and/or setbacks along the way.

Because the city’s program is rooted in the state’s Urban Redevelopment Law, the local effort has a solid foundation upon which to base its decisions and how to actually implement them on behalf of the community’s best interests.

The program, then, must not be deemed a threat but, instead, a pathway for transforming a community liability into a genuine asset.

The Redevelopment Authority intends to abide fully by the legal powers, guidelines and protections established under the state program for the purpose of making possible a speedy, albeit reasonably constructed, means to a sought-after result.

While it is unfortunate that the authority needs to resort to an eminent-domain taking of the Fifth Avenue property rather than a lesser demonstration of power, not having the eminent-domain option available now and in the future could doom the local program to impotency.

Such impotency could result in the “birth” of additional, uncontrolled blight and eyesores capable of undermining progress, even as broadly as citywide.

What has been particularly troubling for the city is that the Fifth Avenue house apparently is part of a property management firm’s large portfolio and the firm had, up to the present, chosen not to partner with the city on behalf of resolving the property’s blighted condition.

Meanwhile, according to an article in the Mirror’s Dec. 20-21 edition, the brick house, which has been vacant for several years, “seems to be in decent shape, on the exterior at least.” Therefore, city officials had judged the property to be fit for rehabilitation, rather than having the structure razed.

While the management firm “cared enough to keep the property from judicial sale, to maintain it in the portfolio, it didn’t care enough to otherwise ‘do anything with it,'” was the way a consultant described it.

Beyond that, the property’s owner was reported to have received numerous notices about the property’s issues.

It is reasonable to believe that the situation surrounding the Fifth Avenue property is being watched from numerous vantage points because that property is not the only one within the city’s borders in need of the kind of stance that the Fifth Avenue house has produced.

It is important that the Redevelopment Authority — and City Hall in general — remains committed to rehabilitation while acknowledging that some properties will not be suitable to saving.

Fortunately, all of that seems to be cemented in what is underway.

Perhaps the most important thing now, though, is recognition that the new program is not something that is here now but soon will be forgotten.

Certainly, it will take a lot of effort to make the program achieve its full potential.

However, it is refreshing to note that current officials don’t believe that that’s something out of reach.