[Via Chicago]

Yeah downtown is a poor comparison. Also, you can still make the comparison with more middle class areas as opposed to wealthy....go to a middle class area on the south side and you could cut yourself with how razor sharp the lawns and bushes are. Its not professionals, it's just people who have a little more time and money to dedicate to that. Also, some blame has to go to landlords as well given the high degree of rentals in some areas. Absolutely no effort to go above the bare minimum in terms of landscaping (compare that with the north side which have private gardens and lush trees, even in rentals)...and you can't tell me all these out of neighborhood investors can't afford it.

That said, the city does have control over more commerical streets/areas. Its an embarrassment for example modern day Ogden through Lawndale looks the way it does, and thats absolutely an instance where the city has control to beautify, or simply fix busted sidewalks and plant some shade. Given how many people drive that strip, it can immediately form perceptions about the community with the broader public, and the community has literally no control over it. Its completely shameful, and there are plenty of other examples. You'd never see a stretch of road like that on the north side.