(The Center Square) — New York City Mayor Eric Adams, whose administration has been waging a protracted war against rats, has been fined once again for a rodent infestation at one of his properties.
Adams was cited for rat droppings and a burrow found by city health inspectors on May 16 alongside a staircase on a property he owns in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood, according to the New York Daily News, which first reported the alleged violations.
The citation is Adams’ fifth rodent violation since he took over the mayor’s office in January 2022, according to the newspaper. He has challenged previous tickets, including one issued in December for alleged rat issues at a Brooklyn townhouse he owns. A judge fined Adams $300 for the violations.
“The mayor prides himself on keeping his property clean,” Adams spokeswoman Liz Garcia said in a statement to reporters. “He will review the summons and follow all standard procedures.”
Adams, who frequently says he “hates” rats, has declared war on the rodents, devoting millions of dollars to the city’s campaign to reduce infestations in subways, public parks and homes across the city.
In 2021, Adams signed legislation creating rat mitigation zones, requiring rodent-proof trash bins in highly infested areas, and requiring quarterly reports on progress in the rat wars. The plan devoted more than $3.5 million to the effort, initially focusing on Upper Manhattan’s Harlem neighborhood.
Last year, he tapped Kathleen Corradi as the city’s “rat czar” and tasked her with exterminating legions of rodents that have taken over subway stations, vacant lots and residential buildings across the city. She’s being paid a salary of $155,000 a year with benefits, according to Adam’s office.
A key plank of the city’s war on rats focuses on changes in trash collection set-out times and a schedule that minimizes the time garbage sits on the curb and increases the use of containers citywide, the Adams administration said.
“Every food scrap that we keep out of the trash and every black bag that we keep off the street is a meal that we’re taking out of a hungry rodent’s stomach,” Adams said in recent remarks. “It takes all of us to win the war on rats.”
