Warren man enjoys helping his downtown neighborhood look nice

Staff report

WARREN

Mike Packman is a 67-year-old retired Navy veteran of the Vietnam War who enjoys being able to help people.

He doesn’t drive a car anymore, but he has something to drive in his downtown neighborhood few others have – a riding mower.

Packman, who moved from Southington to downtown Warren 15 years ago after his wife died of cancer, uses the mower to help the sometimes “raggedy” area just north of downtown stay in good shape.

Packman has found that a number of his neighbors are disabled or elderly, and others have trouble keeping their yards mowed for other reasons.

He doesn’t worry about why, and just goes ahead and cuts yards because it gives him something to do and because he enjoys making his neighborhood better.

“There’s a lot of elderly people who need help,” he said. “They have a lot of pride in their places, but they just can’t get out and do it,” he said.

“It’s more fun for me than making money,” he said.

Sometimes, he just sees an area that’s “a little raggedy” and just cuts it.

“I’ve never had anyone complain for cutting it,” he said. “Plus it gets me out.”

His home is not far from a number of downtown office buildings, so dressed-up government employees walk past his house every weekday on their way to work, and he doesn’t want them to have to walk through overgrown grass near the sidewalk either.

So he also trims beside the sidewalks to keep them nice.

“I just do it,” he said.