NYC’s rat complaints down over month-and-a-half span, Mayor Adams says

NEW YORK — Rat complaints to New York City’s 311 line are down 20% over the last month and a half, Mayor Eric Adams and his cadre of anti-rat crusaders revealed Tuesday.

The reduction in calls to the helpline is being measured by comparing rat complaints from this May to mid-July with calls within the same timeframe last year.

Adams, Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch and Citywide Rodent Mitigation Director Kathleen Corradi, who’s also known as the rat czar, also announced Tuesday that calls on rat sightings to 311 from the city’s four so-called rat mitigation zones dipped by more than 45% on average within the same timeframe.

Adams loves to tell reporters — and anyone else within earshot — how much he hates rats. Tuesday was no different.

“It’s still early, but these numbers show what we’re doing is working and that we are moving in the right direction,” the mayor said in a written statement Tuesday. “Every food scrap that we keep out of the trash and every black bag that we keep off the street is a meal that we’re taking out of a hungry rodent’s stomach.”

Since becoming mayor last year, Adams has unveiled several policies aimed at fighting rats. In October, he and Tisch rolled out a new set of garbage collection rules aimed at curbing the rodent population’s food options. And in May and June, he announced that all food-related establishments and many chain businesses would be required to put their trash in secure containers under new rules.

But Adams has weathered his own personal travails to when it comes to the cheese-eaters. In December, he was ticketed for a rat infestation at his Brooklyn townhouse, and in January, he was slapped with fines again.

Two months later, he paid off a $300 ticket for failing to adequately address the infestation.

But the 20% reduction in complaints citywide appears to indicate a broader victory against his four-legged foes of choice.

Adams and his municipal rat killers also plan to step up their efforts next month.

Currently, there are four rat mitigation zones citywide: on the Bronx’s Grand Concourse, in Harlem, in Bedford-Stuyvesant and Bushwick, and in the East Village and Chinatown.

Adams also announced on Tuesday that in August the city will host its “first Anti-Rat Community Day of Action” in the Harlem zone “to share best practices and take action on street tree care.”