ST. LOUIS – With city crews still overwhelmed following the May 16 tornado, many vacant lots on the north side have become overgrown eyesores. One man is being praised for taking matters into his own hands.

“Michael said, ‘Enough is enough.’ He bought the dog-gone riding mower like he promised,” Cynthia McCrea said. “And he is out there cutting that grass. He is cutting that grass!”

Vandeventer resident Michael von Gebel got tired of looking at what's become a common site on the north side: overgrown grass.

“If you love your neighborhood, you should be willing to invest in it,” he said.

Von Gebel, president of the Vandeventer Community Development Corporation, said the neighborhood has welcomed him with open arms. Now, he wants to give back.

“I'm a working president. I don't believe in dictating to other people. You know, you lead by example,” he said.

His neighbors have taken notice.

“He said he was going to cut the grass; he was going to buy himself a riding lawnmower, and he did it,” McCrea said.

McCrea’s video of von Gebel mowing has received a lot of attention online. McCrea, a longtime Vandeventer resident and military veteran, helped bring a community garden to life across the street.

“That's what we love to see in the community,” she said. “When we say we're going to do something, even if no one else joins us, we actually get to work and we do it.”

Medina Brown, who has lived down the street her enter life, said Michael is like family to her.

“The way it looked before he cut it, it seemed like nobody cared. And it looked so neglected,” she said. “We need more people like him. It don't matter what you look like; if you can make a difference in the neighborhood, that's what's important to me.”

While these longtime residents and one new one work to clean-up this corner of St. Louis, they hope others will follow von Gebel’s lead and take action. Because that’s what being a good neighbor is all about.

“We're all in this together. It's a partnership. It's not taxpayer versus city department. We're all one St. Louis, and we need to act like we are,” von Gebel said.