Public Employee Press

Health Dept. hires 37 for the city's
Rat wars

BY DIANE S. WILLIAMS

After a scathing audit by the city Comptroller called New York's gigantic rat problem "a stomach-turning insult...unworthy of a world-class city," the Dept. of Health and Mental Hygiene added 37 new hires to its Rodent Reservoir program.

"Rats are running rampant just as we predicted after the layoff of 70 City Pest Control Aides under the Bloomberg administration," said Local 768 President Fitz Reid.

Reid credits Council member Cory Johnson, chair of the Health Committee, and two critical audits for the uptick in hires.

Reid expects the department to hire two Supervisors, 19 Public Health Sanitarians at Levels 1 and 2, 13 Exterminators represented by Local 768, and three City Research Scientists in Local 375, to track and analyze data on rodent infestations citywide.

"The new program differs from the previous one," Reid said. "The Health Department would order property owners to clean up and if they didn't, the city sent in Pest Control Aides to clear infested sites and billed the landlord."

DC 37 leaders said there are still significantly fewer workers than the 253 pest control employed in 2000 to combat the city's rat problem.

New York has 22 City Pest Control Aides for the five boroughs. Union records show in 2000 there were 177. The new hires raise staffing levels by 70 percent, to 94 pest control workers.

"The new employees survey and identify infestations, and they advise and instruct owners about cleanup. The department leaves the onus of cleanup on property owners," Reid explained.

The city issues a $300 to $1,000 violation and a court date to those who fail to clean up their property; fines are doubled for no-shows.

More funds, more workers needed

"The truth is property owners are not doing cleanup and extermination properly, if at all, so rodents have free run," Reid said. The problem is compounded in communities with limited resources.

Reid said the construction boom is rousing rats that live 40 to 50 a pack in soft-earth colonies, garbage heaps and train tunnels.

City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer's audit in May revealed that the Metropolitan Transit Authority "lets garbage pile up in stations and trash fester on tracks for months."

Bad for New Yorkers but a smorgasbord for rats and mice. The infamous "pizza rat" of the Lower East Side recorded in September scurrying down subway stairs with a cheesy slice in its razor-like teeth had over 5 million views on YouTube.com.

Although Transit spent $240 million to clean train stations, it cut track cleaning staff in half. The audit said 88 percent of subway stations are cleaned less than eight times a year, leaving "none of Transit's goals for cleaning fully met."

"We have not seen a meaningful reduction in rats and garbage," Stringer concluded.

His 2014 audit called the city Health Dept.'s response to the rat problem "weak and inadequate." The audit recommends increased funding and hiring more workers.

The Health Dept.'s new Rat Reservoir program targets hotspots overrun by rats - tunnels, parks, road medians and garbage piles. Fast breeders, rats can mate 20 times in six hours; from two months old, a female can birth 40 to 70 rats in a year.

Urban myth estimates New York City has one or even two rats for every man, woman, and child. But this claim was debunked by a prize-winning study of 311 calls, and estimates there are about 2 million rats.

Rat expert and author Robert Sullivan told Newsweek.com that rather than focus on the number of rats, New York City should deal with infestations with well-funded health and sanitation departments.

The DOHMH.gov interactive rat portal maps infestations based on 311 calls. The agency saw an 80 to 90 percent decrease in rat sightings after laying poison and rat contraceptives at targeted sites.