By: Jared Evan
The Upper West Side has a rat problem. While the rodents have never been a foreign site in the big apple, the situation appears to be getting worse.
The Department of Sanitation is responsible for both street cleaning and garbage collection.
Spokesman Joshua Goodman told The NY Post that DSNY is committed to keeping the city clean and reducing the rat population.
“Only when residents, businesses, and the City work together can we address a problem that is as old and as persistent as the City of New York itself,” Goodman said
A local from the area, Amanda Levine, spoke to the NY Post about why she believes in the drastic uptick in the gross rodents.
The Post reported: Levine ticks off four reasons why she thinks rats have invaded the UWS: outdoor dining, more homeless New Yorkers, shoddy street cleaning and the biggest — trash not being picked up often enough, both from the cans on sidewalk corners and the stacks of bags hauled to the curb by building supers.
Levine is correct, there have indeed been drastic cuts to the NY Sanitation Department.
In July it was announced, that the new city budget slashes $106 million from the Sanitation Department’s operating budget.
“There will be a significant reduction in service, and these were just really difficult choices,” former Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia told NY1 at the time.
Certain cuts included: the litter baskets on many street corners will not be emptied as often. Garcia explained that the baskets will no longer be emptied on Sundays — and fewer trucks will make pickups on weekdays and holidays, and street cleanings have been drastically reduced.
The quality of life is starting to be affected by these cuts evidently.
NY ranks as the 3rd most rat-infested city in America according to an Orkin survey
The Big Apple comes in at number 3 yet again on the company’s recently released rankings for America’s “Rattiest Cities.”
Chicago took the top spot for the sixth consecutive time, followed by Los Angeles.
Orkin rated cities according to the number of new rodent treatments performed over the last year. The ranking includes both residential and commercial treatments.
“As reported in the spring, the pandemic-driven closure of restaurants forced rodents to find new food sources. Without food waste to consume, these pests were seen scavenging new areas and exhibiting unusual or aggressive behavior,” the company said in a press release earlier this week.