Get Rats Outta Our Roots, Says Prospect Heights Rodent Squad

PROSPECT HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN — Call this latest chapter in the Prospect Heights crusade against rats "Tree Pits: The Last Frontier."

Residents in the neighborhood say that city agencies have been deflecting responsibility when it comes to getting rats out of their neighborhood's city-owned tree pits.

Well, not up in the trees, but down in the roots where many rats find the soft soil is prime real estate for their expansive burrows.

Members of the Sterling Committee on Rat Awareness and Mitigation, or SCRAM, told Patch that while their mission of proselytizing the use of covered plastic trash bins to fight the rodent hordes has almost reached full buy-in from the block, many tree pits in the neighborhood remain filled to the brim with burrow holes.

Normally the city's Department of Health is responsible for rodent abatement, and even has a whole neighborhood pest division headed by a well-regarded research scientist.

But the trees are planted maintained by the city's Parks Department.

And that, residents say, can create a pass-the-buck situation where each agency passes the responsibility off to the other.

"Residents and businesses need clarity on the responsibility for rat infested tree pits, since we are getting conflicting messages from competing agencies (DOH, DSNY, DOB, Parks)," the Prospect Heights group said to Patch in a statement. "SCRAM wants the city to be a better partner in eliminating rats from our tree pits!"

When another group in the neighborhood, the Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council, planned a tree planting event a few weeks ago, SCRAM members asked to hold off on planting new trees in specific pits obviously overflowing with rodents. The group agreed, but that extensive "rooting out" might take a while.

Council Member Crystal Hudson told the group to refer any instances of rodent infestation to their office to get the DOH's attention, but SCRAM says these infestations would require touching the trees, which they say is the Parks Department territory.

So Patch asked both departments: whose rat problem is this?

An official from the Parks Department told Patch that the agency does not perform rodent abatement in tree pits that are not adjacent to Parks property.

The Parks official added that the longstanding city policy is that property owners are typically responsible for care and maintenance of areas near their property, "including sidewalks and other elements of the public right of way."

According to the Parks Department website, the agency has "jurisdiction over all trees growing in the public right-of-way, including trees along streets, parkways, and in city parks," with maintenance performed by Parks' Forestry Divisions.

The Health Department told Patch, too, that property owners are responsible for keeping tree pits free of garbage, but when pits are overrun by rodents, the department can "conduct emergency baiting."

"Unless the underlying conditions are addressed, however, rats are likely to return," a DOH official said.

Neighbor Mark Abbott said those underlying conditions are going unaddressed.

Abbott says the city should do a better job of abating rats from their easy living inside city-owned tree pits and agrees with the Health Department that baiting alone can't work.

He wants the city to get their hands dirty.

"I have never seen anyone from the city come and do maintenance on any tree pit," Abbot said in an email to Patch. "They have come to prune trees but I don’t see them turning over soil or checking to see about the rat tunnels or trying to seal them."

This sounds like a job for the yet-to-be-hired Rat Czar.

Related coverage from Prospect Heights Patch:

• Eric Adams Promised Us Hope Through Boozy Rat Death Traps
• Prospect Heights Ratsperts Say Rat Czar Needs 'Science, Not Swagger'
• Prospect Heights Psychotherapists Analyze Their Local Rats
• Prospect Heights Hopes For Rat Help From New Council Member
• 'Rat Pack' Will Combat NYC Rodent Problem With Passage Of New Bills