I took the walk you described. Here is a map of where I walked, just in case I got it wrong:
Walk in Founder's Park
I noticed three houses that I thought weren't up to the HOA standards, including the one you mentioned on the corner of Lumina and Bluerock.
What I also noticed, however, is that for every house that isn't PERFECT, there were at least FIVE homes that were absolutely lovely. I think it is very disrespectful to the owners of the majority of the homes in that area to call it a ghetto or slum.
Ironically, Mike and I considered that house on the corner of Lumina and Bluerock before we chose our current place (it used to have a sign, but doesn't now). We decided against it because the house was too big for us. The lack of landscaping barely came into our decision to pass it by. In fact, the idea of being able to choose the landscaping ourselves was appealing to me.
Not once did a panhandler ask me for money, which is something that I couldn't escape when I took a walk in my neighborhood in Sugarhouse.
If that's the ghetto, then call me ghetto-fabulous, 'cause I luv it, baby!