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[h1]Washington Heights unofficially crowned New York's rat capital by city Health Department [/h1]
BY Heidi Evans
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Thursday, April 7th 2011, 4:00 AM
Lombard for News
ManhattanBorough President Scott Stringer speaks at a press conference inWashington Heights to discuss the neighborhood's rodent problem.
[h3]Related News[/h3]
Washington Heights has won bragging rights for a distinction that would make any neighborhood cringe: Rat capital of Manhattan.
Awhopping 20% - or 606 of the 3,045 properties inspected by the cityHealth Department in 2010, had signs of rat infestation in CommunityDistrict 12, which also includes Inwood.
West Harlem ranked third - after the Lower East Side - with 14.9% of the 2,831 properties located there, Health Department records show.
"This is a horrific, daily insult to the quality of life in New York," Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer said this week, condemning the city's budget decision to terminate 63 pest control workers.
"Any New Yorker who has ever seen rats scurrying down sidewalks andstreets, in parks and plazas and across street medians knows that'sjust the tip of the iceberg."
Uptown residents report the problem appears to be getting worse.
Stephanie Araujo,who still lives on W. 190th St. and St. Nicholas Ave., where she grewup, said she shouts "All right, I'm coming!" to scare the rats awaywhen she takes the trash out behind her building.
She said her neighbors sometimes leave the top off the trash bins which make it easy for the rodents to get inside.
"The rats have really been in my face the last two to three years,"said Araujo, 28, a City College student. "My sister is terribly afraidof them, so I am the one who does this household chore. There aredefinitely more of them and they are bigger."
Health Department officials told the Daily News yesterday the cityhas implemented a more effective surveillance program in Manhattan lastyear, similar to one begun in the Bronx three years ago.
Instead of waiting for complaints to be lodged, inspectors surveyevery property in the two boroughs and attempt to hold property ownersaccountable.
"This new approach finds more properties with rats, and orders more properties to abate conditions," said Dan Kass, the city's deputy commissioner for environmental health.
Community Districts throughout Manhattan ranged from a low of 3.8% in Midtown to the high of 19.9% in Washington Heights.
Washington Heights also fared worse than any neighborhood in the Bronx, where Norwood and University Heights had the highest number of rats with 14%, Health officials said.
Officials said several factors contribute to the high number ofrodents in Washington Heights, including the dense parks for breeding,old buildings in disrepair and people who throw their trash out thewindow.
"I have been dealing with this for the last two years," said Washington Heights-Inwood District Manager Ebenezer Smith."The Health Department does a good job, but with budget cuts chancesare services will be reduced, which is not good for this area."
Kass said he hopes to expand the pro-active inspections to all the boroughs eventually, but the resources aren't there to do it.
Stringeris pressing the mayor and the City Council to restore $1.5 million incuts for pest control workers in the upcoming budget talks.
"This should be a priority," said Stringer, who urged the mayor to come to Washington Heights and Harlem to see the situation for himself. "The rats are running rampant; the Health Department needs more resources, not less."
[h1]Washington Heights unofficially crowned New York's rat capital by city Health Department [/h1]
BY Heidi Evans
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Thursday, April 7th 2011, 4:00 AM
Lombard for News
ManhattanBorough President Scott Stringer speaks at a press conference inWashington Heights to discuss the neighborhood's rodent problem.
[h3]Related News[/h3]
Washington Heights has won bragging rights for a distinction that would make any neighborhood cringe: Rat capital of Manhattan.
Awhopping 20% - or 606 of the 3,045 properties inspected by the cityHealth Department in 2010, had signs of rat infestation in CommunityDistrict 12, which also includes Inwood.
West Harlem ranked third - after the Lower East Side - with 14.9% of the 2,831 properties located there, Health Department records show.
"This is a horrific, daily insult to the quality of life in New York," Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer said this week, condemning the city's budget decision to terminate 63 pest control workers.
"Any New Yorker who has ever seen rats scurrying down sidewalks andstreets, in parks and plazas and across street medians knows that'sjust the tip of the iceberg."
Uptown residents report the problem appears to be getting worse.
Stephanie Araujo,who still lives on W. 190th St. and St. Nicholas Ave., where she grewup, said she shouts "All right, I'm coming!" to scare the rats awaywhen she takes the trash out behind her building.
She said her neighbors sometimes leave the top off the trash bins which make it easy for the rodents to get inside.
"The rats have really been in my face the last two to three years,"said Araujo, 28, a City College student. "My sister is terribly afraidof them, so I am the one who does this household chore. There aredefinitely more of them and they are bigger."
Health Department officials told the Daily News yesterday the cityhas implemented a more effective surveillance program in Manhattan lastyear, similar to one begun in the Bronx three years ago.
Instead of waiting for complaints to be lodged, inspectors surveyevery property in the two boroughs and attempt to hold property ownersaccountable.
"This new approach finds more properties with rats, and orders more properties to abate conditions," said Dan Kass, the city's deputy commissioner for environmental health.
Community Districts throughout Manhattan ranged from a low of 3.8% in Midtown to the high of 19.9% in Washington Heights.
Washington Heights also fared worse than any neighborhood in the Bronx, where Norwood and University Heights had the highest number of rats with 14%, Health officials said.
Officials said several factors contribute to the high number ofrodents in Washington Heights, including the dense parks for breeding,old buildings in disrepair and people who throw their trash out thewindow.
"I have been dealing with this for the last two years," said Washington Heights-Inwood District Manager Ebenezer Smith."The Health Department does a good job, but with budget cuts chancesare services will be reduced, which is not good for this area."
Kass said he hopes to expand the pro-active inspections to all the boroughs eventually, but the resources aren't there to do it.
Stringeris pressing the mayor and the City Council to restore $1.5 million incuts for pest control workers in the upcoming budget talks.
"This should be a priority," said Stringer, who urged the mayor to come to Washington Heights and Harlem to see the situation for himself. "The rats are running rampant; the Health Department needs more resources, not less."
