KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) -
Don Cronin is proud to show people the inside of his house, where last week one couldn't even see the carpet. The transformation is thanks to a couple of friends and a neighbor.
But the battle is far from over.
Neighbor Patti Sapp says she had threatened to call the Codes Department because it was so bad, but it was someone else who finally did.
"It's hard to live next door to something like that really," Patti Sapp said. "It looks like a new neighborhood. It really does."
That transformation is due to a neighbor who didn't want to be recognized, but it may be no coincidence that she has angel wings tattooed on her back.
"She's marvelous," Don Cronin said.
Cronin is no angel himself. His first brush with the Codes Department came when he started using a vacant house to sell all the stuff he collects.
"My mother told me there is people stealing it, robbing it and sleeping in it. Only way I'm going to keep them out is to take it over," Cronin said.
And his mother pretty much ran the show until she died.
"I am kind of worried about him. Like I said, he's like a kid at times," Sapp said.
Cronin said he does feel better, not because of the new look, but the sentiment behind it.
"That's the people that care about me, what made me feel better. I wasn't all alone in the world... I thought I was."
The city says an inspector will be back Tuesday. Last week, when Cronin's other house across the street was not up to par, the city hired someone to clear it and billed him.
For that, he is pretty sure he will lose both houses eventually because he lives hand to mouth, just scrapping here and there.
But at least he doesn't feel alone anymore.
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