NYC neighborhoods have the most rodent complaints and they are a lot bigger than you probably realize, and possess the uncanny ability to drag a slice of pizza onto the subway. Rat Complaints and sightings are soaring in Manhattan, including neighborhoods like Chinatown and the Lower East Side.
Needless to say, we have a bit of a rat obsession problem. But how bad is it? There are some very interesting rat stats from the year 2010 to 2016: There are two reports to this effect: The first is, as thus:
Brooklyn has the most rat sightings, particularly in Bushwick.
Staten Island has the least, whereas Queens has far fewer than expected.
29,174 rats were discovered in three-plus family apartment buildings across New York in the past five years.
More rat sightings were documented on a particular Monday over the last five years, with a whopping number of 12,940.
Here is the second report:
New Yorkers have made 8,335 rodent complaints to the city’s 311 hot line so far, this year, 2016, up 18 percent from the same period in 2015, when there were 7,076 complaints, and 39 percent over the same period in 2014, records show.
Brooklyn leads the rat pack with 2,542 complaints this year. Manhattan was second with 2,269, followed by The Bronx (1,917), Queens (1,291) and Staten Island (316).
Perhaps unsurprisingly, 3+ Family apartment buildings are the most common places where rat sightings are reported. A large portion of housing, especially in Brooklyn is of this type. Fortunately, schools are among the least frequently reported and restaurants aren’t on the list as well, which is probably better. We need not know which restaurants had rats reported there.
A record 29,329 rat complaints were made in 2015, records show. At the current pace, that record will be eclipsed this year.
This year’s top three rat hot spots are:
335 148th St., a multifamily dwelling in Mott Haven, Bronx (173 calls).
2172 Second Ave., a four-story building in East Harlem, Manhattan (127).
2300 Kings Highway, an apartment building in Midwood, Brooklyn (106).
Susan Stetzer, district manager for Community Board 3, acknowledged the citywide rat problem. She said rats in her district, which covers Alphabet City, the East Village, the Lower East Side and Chinatown, feast on garbage from eateries and scraps left in Tompkins Square and Seward parks.
“There are more mountains of garbage on the street waiting to be picked up. Our increased development does not have the infrastructure to support it,” she said. “The worst locations are city-owned properties. The Department of Health cannot issue summonses and clean up and charge back to the property owner if necessary.”
Mayor de Blasio launched a rat attack last May, spending $3 million on an extermination plan — but it appears the vermin are winning the war. Timothy Wong, an exterminator in Chinatown, cited the rising number of homeless digging in trash.
“There is so much food out there on the street,” said Wong. “The rats are getting bigger and bolder. We’re seeing them in the parks an hour before sunset. Some folks are seeing them in the afternoon.” Scary, isn’t it?
Sure, there may likely be some irregularities in these reports, but at least now you know?
