BATON ROUGE mdash; Residents in the Old South Baton Rouge neighborhood say the city has abandoned their community, leaving behind overgrown lots, buckled pavement and blighted properties.The neighborhood sits south of Interstate 10 but north of LSU. From the interstate, many would struggle to notic e there's a neighborhood nearby.Longtime resident Charles Jones drove through the area, pointing out what he says has been ignored for years."Everybody wants to act like this is normal, like it's okay, but it's not okay," Jones said. "Somebody needs to say something."Jones and fellow resident Judy Bethly both grew up in the neighborhood and say it looks nothing like it once did."You had children outside playing, and the streets weren't torn up like this," Bethly said. "The high grass and overgrowth of trees, you know, it's chaotic back here now."Jones said his mother, who is 84 years old, lives in the neighborhood surrounded by abandoned lots."At 84 years old, she doesn't plan on moving anywhere else," he said. "It's a safety issue. You don't know who's hiding behind these bushes."Jones has tried to maintain the area himself but says it's too much for one person."I cut it, but I can't do this alone," he said. "We need help down here."Another resident said she mows her grass every two weeks but feels it's pointless because the neighboring lots aren't maintained."Nobody comes down here," Jones said. "The mayor doesn't come down here. I'm telling you, the councilwoman mdash; I'm not trying to blacken her name or anything mdash; but they don't come down here. As you can see, this area has been abandoned. Why?"City officials report a backlog of 135 structures waiting to be condemned, with an average teardown cost of $14,200 each. Clearing the backlog would total around $2.1 million, which the city currently lacks.There are about four dozen cleanup requests on the list for junk removal, each costing approximately $1,200.East Baton Rouge City Parish blight officials say they address the oldest maintenance requests first. With more than 600 lots needing attention across the jurisdiction, they say some Old South Baton Rouge properties are among the next 100 to be addressed.Rachel Lambert, development director, said limited budgets and heavy rain have made the situation harder to manage."With our budget decreases that we've had over the past two years, the resources that we can allocate to grass cutting are very limited at this point," Lambert said.Lambert said the rain has driven grass growth into overdrive and that most of these lots require two or three passes with equipment, which drives up costs. The city pays, on average, $250 to $300 per lot for cuts."We did just award the cutting of 150 properties earlier this week," Lambert said. "So hopefully some of those are included in those awards."Residents with grass complaints can report them through 311. Lambert said complaints are typically investigated within a day or two of being reported. The city's blight office can also be reached at 389-8680 or by email atnbsp;[email protected]| Comments ...read more read less