Saunders: Everyone at last week’s neighborhood association meeting agreed that the row of abandoned and vandalized houses on Carlton Street posed a threat to the safety of our neighborhood.
Saunders' Position
Saunders's conclusion: demolishing the abandoned Carlton Street houses was the right choice; the opponents who wanted to rehabilitate them were wrong. Evidence: demolition succeeded in eliminating the safety threat.
Opposing Position
Opponents argued the buildings were "basically sound" and a city fund existed to help people buy and rehabilitate such houses. They wanted rehabilitation rather than demolition.
Question Stem (special)
This stem is unusual — it asks for a principle that determines the right answer one way OR the other. The right answer must, when applied to the facts, definitively pick demolition or rehabilitation.
Evaluate
The key structural difference between the two options: demolition is irreversible (you cannot rehab a demolished house). Rehab is reversible (if rehab fails, you can still demolish). So a principle that says would clearly pick rehabilitation here.
Goal
Find a principle that, applied to these facts, locks in either demolition or rehabilitation as the correct call.