"When people come to visit, they're like, ‘What's with the house on the end of the block?’” said Jason Johnson.

It's not the best way to welcome people to the neighborhood but Johnson has dealt with one home's lack of grooming for weeks. Johnson’s manicured lawn is down the block.

"It's been going downhill for a long time. It's gotten to the point where you try to ignore it and hope it eventually went away,” he said.

The worst of it finally is. The abandoned house is the latest on the city’s growing list of spots to mow, thanks to 1,022 complaints this year.

One reason is water.

"With the proliferation of rain that we've had, it's causing heavy weed growth,” said Jim Fry, environmental health coordinator at the health department.

Other reasons are location and money. Some problem homes have “out-of-state owners, those that have been foreclosed,” said Fry.

If your complaint hasn't fixed the home on your block, don't worry - it's a slow process.

"The investigator will go out and verify that it's a valid complaint, that they're 12 inches in height, then we try to find an owner through courthouse records,” said Fry.

The property owner gets 10 days to mow but, if the weeds last, tenants could be summoned and banks are billed. And the city gets to work.

"I think it's great. I'm glad to see that they're doing something with it,” said Johnson, as crews worked on the problem home near him. "You wonder what's taking up residence, living over there!"

Like anything else, the resources and manpower to mow more homes is adding up. Many of the banks or property owners that are billed don't often pay the city back in a hurry.