I live in Meadow Ridge, but own not rent. We've seen a huge increase in leased homes in the past year. I can tell you for a fact that a few years ago, this neighborhood looked a lot better. Seems to just be the nature of the leasing business. I don't have any helpful info, but you could do a search on Google for advise on how to get landlords to get repairs done.
(slick propaganda, huh?)