NYC to hold its first Anti-Rat Community Day of Action on August 12
NEW YORK (WABC) -- Set your alarms and mark your calendars: New York City will be holding its first Anti-Ray Community Day of Action next month.
Mayor Eric Adams marked August 12 as the big date.
Taking place in the Harlem Rat Mitigation Zone, the first Anti-Rat Community Day of Action aims to equip participants with the knowledge and resources they need to in order to keep communities rat-free.
"It takes all of us to win the war on rats," Mayor Adams said. "So, I encourage New Yorkers to keep composting, keep putting your trash in containers, and I hope to see you out there at one of our 'Anti-Rat Community Days of Action.'"
Activities on the day will include best practice tips on street tree care, waste/litter management, and rodent mitigation.
In the coming months, the city will also co-host additional days of action across all boroughs.
News of the anti-rat event comes as the city touts progress in its efforts to crackdown on rodents.
Kathleen Corradi doesn't mind the fodder that has come along with being the city's first rat czar. Her official title is director of rodent mitigation.
"We don't have a census of rats. It's their habitat plus they're nocturnal and there's no real way to put a dot on each one and count them," she said.
However, the city does have a way to calculate a decrease in the rat population.
According to officials, 311 calls on rat complaints have gone down 20% over the last two months, as compared to last year.
Additionally, rat sightings have decreased by an average of more than 45% in the city's four rat mitigation zones that include Bronx Grand Concourse, Harlem, Bedford-Stuyvesant/Bushwick, and East Village/Chinatown.
"It's still early, but these numbers show what we're doing is working and that we are moving in the right direction," Adams said. "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."
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