Rodents Rampage, Wash Heights Pol Vows To Ratify Remedy

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS, NY — An uptown elected official is trying to put an end to the rat race.

Council Member Shaun Abreu introduced two pieces of legislation on Thursday to combat a "dramatic increase of rats citywide."

“Rats are a huge quality of life issue, and they pose a real threat to public health in the numbers that we’ve been seeing," Abreu said in a statement. "My office has gotten calls about rats burrowing into apartments, climbing through walls, even burrowing under a school playground, where they’ve become so bold as to run around during the day, scaring young students during recess."

Abreu's first piece of legislation, which he introduced along with Council Member Eric Bottcher and Council Member Sandy Nurse, would require trash receptacles (coverings) in buildings identified with repeated rodent infestations to be made of a material or design meant to deter rats.

The second piece of legislation would allow for the creation of rat mitigation zones by the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and mandate that a building with nine or more units located within the zone could put trash out for collection earlier than other buildings.

Complaints of rat sightings in 2021 were up more than two-thirds compared to the same period in 2019, according to a Gothamist report this week.

Abreu specified that the rats in his uptown District 7 have "reached a boiling point."

The new council member called it a "dire situation."

The bill from Abreu would go into effect 180 days after it became law.