Friday, June 1, 2007
Mayor Kip Holden says he doesn’t like litter. Neither do we, but long grass and weeds in medians are just as unsightly and embarrassing, and we believe the city-parish is not being diligent enough about this very public, often embarrassing aspect of Baton Rouge.
When the mayor didn’t want an ugly, incomplete building across the street from the Hilton Capitol Center during the recent Black Mayors Conference, he asked the owners to cover it with cloth. It simply made for a better impression.
Yet one of the city’s hottest commercial corridors, Corporate Boulevard, home to everything from Whole Foods Market and high-end jewelry stores to hotels and restaurants, is also besmirched with shabby, weedy-covered medians in desperate need of mowing. (Find photo evidence in this month’s Ugly Award, page 24).
Fidelity Homestead just spent big money on a brand new building and landscaping, yet out front in the median is an eyesore the city is responsible for.
Management from some of those businesses on Corporate has pleaded with city-parish officials to clean up the embarrassing mess, but to no avail.
Cost shouldn’t be an excuse: the city-parish has a surplus. And, when you consider the property and sales tax collections along Corporate alone (Lamar Corp. headquarters, Esplanade Mall, CitiPlace and Towne Center), then it seems even more foolish to let public space there look so decrepit.
If Pete Newkirk and the Department of Public Works can’t take care of it, then privatize the job—there are plenty of experienced landscaping companies who do a great job for their private clients.
Baton Rouge is the state’s most populous city, so we have to be able to solve simple problems like cutting the grass. Mayor Holden, we urge you to demand some answers from DPW, or better yet, some action that results in the sweet scent of freshly mown grass—regularly.
Comments
Posted by cestlavie on June 13, 2007 at 1:55 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I am wondering if consideration has been given to a Corporate Blvd. landscape plan that would convert grassy medians into sleeker, more attractive beds.
It seems to me that the use of drought-tolerant ornamental grasses and some interesting smaller trees (i.e. not crape myrtles) in mulched beds would offer a sophisticated look and lower maintenance end result for that corridor (and others). And the city-parish would be setting a model for less lawnmowing to help address federal ozone requirements.
My expertise in this area is limited to my own yard, so I was just wondering if it's a feasible alternative.
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