National rat summit coming to New York City in the fall. Here’s what it hopes to accomplish
By Jeff Capellini
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NEW YORK (WCBS) — In a continuing effort to tackle New York City’s rat problem, Mayor Eric Adams announced Wednesday the inaugural national Urban Rat Summit will be held this fall.
The summit, which will take place on Sept. 18 and 19, will bring together a wide range of experts and leaders from across the country to better understand urban rats and how to lower their populations.
“New Yorkers may not know this about me, but I hate rats, and I’m confident most of our city’s residents do as well,” Adams said. “With rat sightings down nearly 14% in our city’s Rat Mitigation Zones year over year, we continue to make progress, but we’re not stopping there. The best way to defeat our enemy is to know our enemy. That’s why we’re holding this inaugural summit.”
“The Urban Rat Summit is an opportunity to share best practices as the ‘Trash Revolution’ marches forward,” Department of Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch added.
NYC’s rat mitigation strategies
Wednesday’s announcement came as New York City continues to make progress in pest management and removing conditions that allow rats to thrive.
Tisch said rat sightings have been down in 12 of the 13 months since the city began the arduous task of removing all 44 million daily pounds of trash off the streets.
Among its many initiatives, the city is currently containerizing all 14 billion pounds of trash that the five boroughs produce every year. It also developed an automated, side-loading garbage truck that will allow the city to containerize trash from high-density buildings.
There has also been legislation proposed that, if enacted, would sterilize rats. Back in April, City Councilmember Shaun Abreu introduced the first bill of three, which together are known as “Flaco’s Laws,” which advocate using rat contraception instead of poison to get control of the city’s rat population.
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