Tuesday, February 9th, 2010

Gothamist reports that Verdi Square (the triangle bordered by Broadway, Amsterdam, and 73rd) has become so infested with rats that the Parks Department is calling for backup.  The department claims to be sending an additional staff person to the square for cleaning twice a day, upping the cleaning frequency to as much as three times a day.  In addition, a crew lays down rat poison routinely, upping the dosage two weeks ago, and rat-proof garbage bags are being used as a precaution.  Outbreaks of rats have plagued the area for decades, including an anti-rat crusade in 1987, when the area was commonly referred to as “Needle Park” for its abundance of drug dealers.  While it is difficult to point to only one cause of the latest rat problem, some blame goes to a subway renovation in 2000, bringing a slew of rats to the surface (if you ask us, it doesn’t help that pigeon-feeding is abundant in the area, and it is not uncommon to see a homeless person leave something, how shall we put it, unhygienic in Verdi Square).  Regardless of the cause, residents attest to the abundance of the rats, saying that rats scurry out of the bushes at night if you clap your hands.  City Councilwoman Gale Brewer is fuming about the rat problem in Verdi Square, filing a complaint with the Parks Department and making known her distaste for the cleanliness, calling the area “dirty as ever.”  [Additional source: DNAinfo]

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