BATON ROUGE - Overgrown and unkempt, the medians on Government Street have become a nuisance to residents and business owners along the heavily-traveled corridor. 

"As you can tell, these flowerbeds are in great need of a little TLC," said Von Raybon, who owns Pit N Peel, a seafood restaurant on Government Street. 

Raybon's home also faces one of the medians. From his front door, he sees litter and unruly weeds that are upwards of five feet tall. 

"They did a wonderful job once the diet was complete for Government Street as far as the asphalt and the pavement. Now we have something worse. We have an eyesore that really needs to be focused on," said Raybon. 

Maintaining miles of flowerbeds is not an easy task. Raybon would know; his entire yard is landscaped to perfection.

However, he says if the city and state can spend millions of dollars to build these medians, they should be able to cough up the change it takes to maintain them. 

"This is not a reflection of what I want in front of my home or my business," he said. 

In April, the Department of Transportation and Development told WBRZ that ownership of Government Street had not been transferred to the city because of an issue with the landscaping contract. Responsibility of the state-owned street was supposed to be transferred to the City-Parish when the Road Diet project was completed in 2021. 

While negotiations between the two agencies persist, the grass grows higher and higher in the medians.

"Maybe open it up to a small contract for someone to maintain it if DOTD doesn't want to maintain it and the city is not in the position to take the responsibility," said Raybon.

According to a spokesperson for DOTD, a meeting is scheduled for next week with the City-Parish government to discuss the ongoing issues, but they did not specify when.