Letters: Let’s keep home clean for visitors
Our City is blessed with the beautiful and mighty Mississippi River. This riverfront should be a viable focal point for tourists. It appears if there is not a major project involved with millions of construction dollars, the city is not interested in maintaining what it has. With the exception of the impeccable area surrounding the USS Kidd, the riverfront and downtown are deplorable. Kudos to the mayor-president, Council Woman-District 10 Tara Wicker, Visit Baton Rouge, Paul Arrigio and DDD’s Davis Rhorer for inviting thousands of visitors to our downtown area for such events as the U.S. Bowling Congress and the more recent riverboat cruises. While I commend them for bringing these visitors to our city, I will at the same time shame them for the lack of preparation by our city in catering to these same visitors. They only have one opportunity to make a good impression, and I can reassure you, those walking around the levee and downtown, are not leaving with a good impression. “Downtown is the Living Room to our City” is a popular slogan for downtown stakeholders; well, your living room is filthy. The mayor and his departments have had over a year’s notice of the upcoming events, yet nothing was done other than the managed chaos of cutting grass on occasion and picking up trash if it is in your path. Concerns and requests were made to William Daniel and David Guillory of DPW and the Mayor’s Office to have extra efforts made to maintain the areas mentioned. Blame lies with budget cuts and reduction of staff for the lack of action. Four-foot-tall weeds in planters on the levee plaza, scum in the water fountain areas, trash strewn all over, broken lighting, etc. are only a few of the major complaints. Simple routine housekeeping could keep our living room tidy and maintained. Shame on all of those inviting guests to their home and not properly preparing as any good host would do.
Janet Rhodus
real estate broker
Baton Rouge