More than 100 pedestrian and ride-on lawnmowers were removed from the front yard of a property in Lorain, Ohio last week, owned by Daniel Esterle, also known locally as “lawnmower man,” after he was cited by authorities with having having combustible vehicles improperly stored.


The mowers were pictured in local paper The Morning Journal

“It’s good that this is finally getting cleaned up,” Building, Housing and Planning Director Leon Mason told local paper The Chronicle. “It really shouldn’t get to this point, but he refused to comply with the ordinances and abate the issues, so we have to come in and remove these mowers.”

Several truckloads of items were taken to storage. Esterle has a limited amount of time to claim them before they will be scrapped.

Esterle said he kept the mowers as part of an ongoing argument with the city.

“My backyard and basement flood because of faulty work they did back in the late 1980s,” he told The Chronicle. “So I had these mowers in my backyard in complete accordance with any rules and then they got flooded real bad one time, so I moved them to the front yard and that was it.”

Esterle said an ordinance City Council passed in June made it so he couldn’t keep the mowers on his property anymore, but he didn’t see what was wrong with them.

“They’re not bothering anyone,” he said. “I drain them of all their fluids before I put them in the yard. There’s no way they could catch on fire or hurt anyone. This is my way of taking a stand against the city.”

Several of Esterle’s neighbors, who declined to be identified to the local paper, said they overlooked the mowers because of Esterle’s personality and willingness to help out people.

“He helps mow grass or rake leaves or anything you might need and doesn’t want to charge a penny for it,” one man is quoted. “So we have no problem overlooking things like his lawn mowers.”

Local Mayor, Chase Ritenauer, said removing the mowers was a good call for the whole community.

“This is definitely a positive for the city, and it shows that the legislation passed does make a difference when it comes to neighborhood issues. It took some time, but it’s taking an area and improving it,” he said.