The OTTA established a six-point program to better the neighborhood.  The program included improving traffic control, obtaining better trash receptacles and pest control programs, encouraging private lending for individual residency improvements, receiving aid for recreational, juvenile and crime control projects, and strictly enforcing zoning laws.

     In October of 1949, after the U.S. Housing Act was passed, the OTTA met with City Council members to discuss a plan for slum clearance in the Old Town area.  Five years later, a second Housing Act was passed that allowed for urban renewal.  The OTTA joined forces with other Lincoln Park neighborhood associations, and together they formed the Lincoln Park Conservation Association (LPCA).  The purpose of this new organization was to help improve living, working and educational conditions as well as to develop a neighborhood rehabilitation plan.  The main objective of the LPCA was to improve the neighborhood and to preserve its diverse ethnic and socioeconomic population.

     Two years after its formation in 1954, the LPCA succeeded in getting Lincoln Park named a designated conservation area.  This meant that the neighborhood would receive federal funds to fix up Lincoln Park.  By 1961 the city’s Urban Renewal Council had drawn up a General Neighborhood Renewal Plan (GNRP), and presented it to the OTTA and LPCA.  The first phase of the GNRP – Project I – entailed the renewal of the Old Town Triangle area and its neighbors, Mid North and Lincoln Central.  The OTTA and LPCA almost immediately approved the GNRP proposal, and in January of 1964, after numerous discussions between the neighborhood associations and the Department of Urban Renewal (DUR), a detailed plan for Project I was completed.

     Project I focused on issues such as traffic control, walkways, parks, commercial facilities, demolition, public housing, rehabilitation and relocation.  First on the agenda was the closing of Ogden Avenue, a six-lane highway that marked the western boundary of the Old Town Triangle.  A major shopping area was planned for the intersection of North Avenue and Larrabee, but this could not be completed until Ogden was shut down.  North Avenue would also be widened after stores and residents were relocated.  The closing of Ogden would also provide space for the construction of the Midwest Buddhist Temple, a new complex for the Church of the Three Crosses, and the expansion of St. Michael’s Church.  Lincoln Avenue was also designated to be closed between Armitage and Dickens and from Belden to Fullerton.  This would have to wait, however, until after Halsted and Fullerton were widened to accommodate the extra traffic flow.  Sidewalk, curb and street repairs were planned.  A four-square block community park with a full range of facilities was designed for the area adjacent to Waller High School, and two playgrounds were planned for smaller areas within Old Town.

     Project I also called for the demolition of 630 buildings.  Property owners were to be notified and given the opportunity to rehabilitate their residences.  Federal grants were made available to residents earning below poverty level for the purpose of rehabilitating their properties.  Owners, especially those whose houses were located on a street that was to be closed, were also given the option of having their building moved from a demolition area to a new site.  Project I estimated that 900 families, 650 individuals and 270 commercial businesses would be forced to relocate.  Project I also planned to construct 406 units of low to moderate-income housing in the area.