New York City targets rat population at 10 most-infested NYCHA complexes
UPPER WEST SIDE, Manhattan (WABC) -- Mayor Bill de Blasio on Tuesday announced an new extermination plan at the 10 most infested rat developments at NYCHA public housing complexes.
The developments will receive dry-ice abatement treatments, full-time exterminators, trash bins for residents and new concrete floors.
The effort is a part of the mayor's $32 million effort to reduce the rat population by as much as 70 percent in the city's most infested neighborhoods.
The targeted pest management approach will attack rats' food sources and burrows with methods have proven effective at reducing rat reproduction and populations.
The city will employ environmentally friendly rodenticide to reduce burrow counts, provide residents with smaller garbage bins are compatible with the dimensions of NYCHA trash chutes to reduce trash from collecting elsewhere on NYCHA grounds and seal off dirt basements with concrete to keep rats out of buildings.
"We want to make the greatest city on earth the worst place in the world to be a rat," de Blasio said. "We are launching an all-out offensive to dramatically reduce the rat population at these developments and improve the quality of life for residents."
The 10 developments are: Bushwick, Webster, Marcy, Butler, Morris I, Morris II, Riis I, Riis II, Morrissania and Hylan.
The city will implement the following measures to reduce available habitats and food sources for rats, which will help to diminish the rodent population:
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