Prospect Heights Hopes For Rat Help From New Council Member

PROSPECT HEIGHTS, BROOKYLN — It’s not secret that rats are a major problem in this otherwise bucolic neighborhood. And finally, after years of community meetings — and dodging rats on the streets — residents say a meeting with their new council member left them with a sense of change.

At the start of the meeting on Monday Sept. 26, residents were not quite seeing the light. Some told Patch that they felt frustrated by presentations on how 311 works and the basics of the Department of Health Rat Academy lessons.

The people of Prospect Heights are seasoned experts in the art of rat warfare — they’re way past calling 311.

“There was a lot of back and forth,” said Naomi Weinstock, 38, “of people saying: ‘I did that and, you know, sure, you know, it doesn't seem like anything's happening.’”

Weinstock, a resident for about seven years in the neighborhood, said that the residents were all pretty well-versed in how the city rat-related departments work — or don’t work. So that meant there were a lot of focused, detailed critiques.

Council member Crystal Hudson’s office did not find time to talk with Patch prior to publication.

One well-known neighborhood rat expert, Carol Morrison, was present. She also felt that some folks at the meeting were frustrated by being told to do what they’ve been doing for years.

“Some of them were enraged,” Morrison said, “like, this is the ABCs, you're giving us and we've already made hundreds of calls to 311”

A common complaint, which was raised years ago when then-council member Laurie Cumbo held similar meetings, was that the way city fines are structured for people whose buildings are attracting rats.

“There was a fair amount of frustration expressed about the fines,” Weinstock said, “that they aren’t actually large enough to be meaningful against landlords who are delinquent and not taking care of their properties.”

The meeting continued and started covering issues that residents felt spoke more to their battle in the trenches with the rats, including who is responsible for city-owned tree pit rat infestations, abandoned cars infested with rats, the need for enclosed litter baskets on the street, how to advocate for a city-wide rat plan (with a mention of former sanitation head and mayor hopeful Kathryn Garcia) and how to land a meeting with Mayor Adams.

By the end of the meeting, residents felt assured that their new council member and her office was listening.

“I feel like she took it seriously,” Weinstock, told Patch.

A staffer from Hudson’s office sent out a plan to establish a monthly meeting for the rat task force, which Weinstock took to mean “ok, this is not just a one off to let angry residents feel heard,” she said, “it felt like: Nope, there's actually like, follow through happening here.”

Morrison was impressed by a post-meeting follow-up survey on what Hudson’s office should focus most on when it comes to the rats.

“It was clear from some of these items that they did their homework,” Morrison said, “I don't think that they would have known about [these ideas] unless they did a little bit of research.”

While both Weinstock and Morrison left the meeting with their rat-weary spirits lifted, Morrison, who has been through years of organizing and interagency city meetings with the former council member, still pondered the ultimate question:

“What is Crystal Hudson going to be able to do?”