The mow-down is coming. On Sept. 14, volunteers, city officials and lawn professionals will mow properties that have become urban jungles.

The effort is a great step in addressing the weed problems at vacant or abandoned properties. It should generate shear excitement.

Also coming: the teardown, we hope.

Anderson has about 250 unsafe houses that need to be torn down, a project that would require $1.5 million to complete. There’s only $180,000 in the city budget to remove unsafe structures. There’s another $150,000 in the city’s Community Development budget that could, and should, be applied for a total of $330,000.

For almost two months, The Herald Bulletin’s Joe Lanane has been writing “Eyes on Eyesores,” a news feature that focuses on troublesome, unkempt properties in the city.

Readers have followed the series eagerly, with many calling in their own neighborhood eyesores. The situation clearly is bad for residents and just as unappealing to the city’s sense of community. Some residents correctly noted that abandoned properties can turn away potential investors and businesses from coming to our town.

The ugliness of one yard prompted one neighborhood group in Greenbriar to clean up troubled lawns. Neighbors spent their Labor Day working on someone else’s rundown property that had become an eyesore.

For the first time, Anderson University freshmen took on community projects as part of their orientation. Some beautified the city by planting flowers or hauling away trash.

Volunteer efforts spring up more and more.

As the “Eyesores” series has shown, there isn’t always someone at hand to blame. Many properties have been victims of foreclosures or bankruptcies. In other cases, elderly or the ill cannot keep up their yards.

That’s why there are interesting stories, some tragic and some irritating, behind each front yard, backyard and overgrown sidewalk.

The most recent “Eyesores” explored an overgrown vacant lot in the 1800 block of Sheridan Street. The property owner had been cited seven times through the year 2000. Weeds had become excessive.

Frustrated with the owner’s negligence, the city has made the property a priority for a Sept. 14 mow-down. The effort is volunteer-driven, as a dozen crews head out with professional equipment to get rid of excessive vegetation.

These individual efforts are to be commended and encouraged. The city should promote them while seeking funds to show it can be supportive, too. Mow-downs or teardowns, we need them all.