MAYOR DE BLASIO TARGETS RATS FOR EXTERMINATION AT 10 NYCHA DEVELOPMENTS

NYCHA’s ten most infested developments will receive dry-ice abatement treatments, full-time exterminators, new trash bins for residents as part of Mayor’s Neighborhood Rat Reduction Plan

  Mayor Bill de Blasio today launched an aggressive, new extermination plan at the ten most infested rat developments at NYCHA. These developments will receive dry-ice abatement treatments, full-time exterminators, trash bins for residents and new concrete floors. This effort is a part of the Mayor’s $32 million effort to reduce the rat population by as much as 70% in the City’s most infested neighborhoods: the Grand Concourse area, Chinatown/East Village/Lower East Side and Bushwick/Bedford-Stuyvesant.

This targeted pest management approach will attack rats’ food sources and burrows. These 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,” said Mayor de Blasio. “We are launching an all-out offensive to dramatically reduce the rat population at these developments and improve the quality of life for residents.”

“Through partnership with our colleagues at DOHMH and DSNY and working with our residents, we hope to finally take control of the rat problem at NYCHA,” said NYCHA General Manager Vito Mustaciuolo. “For too long, residents have had to accept rats as a regular presence but through the Mayor’s Rat Reduction Program, we have the resources and support to reduce infestations.”

The City aims to reduce the rat population at these ten developments where approximately 23,000 residents live:

·         Bushwick 

·         Webster 

·         Marcy

·         Butler 

·         Morris I

·         Morris II

·         Riis  I

·         Riis II

·         Morrissania

·         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:

·         Dry-Ice Abatement: The City will start using dry ice to plug rat burrows at these developments. This humane, EPA-certified treatment will begin this week and continue until the end of June. Dry ice can be effective after one application, or depending on the location and severity of the infestation, after several subsequent applications.

·       Full-Time Exterminators: NYCHA will designate a full-time exterminator at each of these ten developments to respond to maintenance request and support dry ice treatments. NYCHA exterminators are currently assigned to a borough and rotate between developments.

·         New Waste Containers: The City will provide residents at these targeted developments with new trash bins this summer. These smaller bins are more compatible with the size of NYCHA’s trash chutes, which will prevent chutes from clogging and reduce trash from being deposited elsewhere on NYCHA grounds.

·       Replace dirt floors with concrete at 42 NYCHA buildings. All ‘rat slabs’ have been designed. The first half will be completed in 2018, the other half will be completed in 2019.

In July 2017, the Mayor launched the $32 million Neighborhood Rat Reduction plan to reduce the rat population in the three most infested neighborhoods in NYC.  The de Blasio Administration has made an unprecedented commitment to preserve and strengthen public housing. Since 2014, the City has invested $1.3 billion to fix nearly 1,000 roofs and $555 million to repair deteriorating exterior brickwork at more 400 buildings. The Mayor also waived both NYCHA’s annual PILOT payment and NYPD payment, relieving NYCHA of nearly $300 million in operating expenses since 2014.

EDITOR'S NOTE:

Dry Ice is used in transportation of ice cream and frozen foods when there is no freezer available. 
Dry Ice gives off fumes that can render a person unconscious, and the area needs to be ventilated.
Dry Ice also burns when it comes in contact with human flesh, brcause is basically solid nitrogen. 

Is it Mayor de Blasio's attempt to freeze or gas the rats in the selected NYCHA houses? The mayor needs to know that the vapors from the Dry Ice will rise up to apartments above where it is placed.