"The Rats are Real"

Gothamist loves our readers. Check out this email we received, subject titled "The Rats are Real," in response to our post yesterday about the Upper West Side rat situation:

Dear Gothamist,

If you haven't walked down 108th street between Broadway and Amsterdam after nightfall, then you can't understand how bad the Rat situation really is. I am a statistics masters student at Columbia, and over the past 4 months I have seen a mean 10.2 and median 8.0 rats per night when coming home along that block after 8pm. It is a total disaster. From what I hear, it is even worse on the west side north of 125th.

It's been a while since Gothamist has had a stats class, but even we know that a mean 10.2/median 8 rat is really really bad. Why isn't Columbia doing more about it? There are smart scientists there, can't they figure out how to make a deratification machine? We need The Columbia Spectator to bring some old fashioned, muckracking student journalism to this issue!

Photograph of rat smoking a posthumous cigarette from Jason Toney, editor of LAist

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in News on October 7, 2005 10:44 AM

Comments [rss]

bigsexy

I know exactly where he is talking about and he is right. They aren't just numerous, but they are HUGE!!! The first time i walked doan that block at night, i thought I was in the movie Food of the Gods!!!!!

Brightliner

Oh, come on, Jen. Do I have to explain it to you? A mean 10.2 rat is one you want to avoid, although it's hard to find the ones that aren't so mean. The median 8.0 rats like to hang out on the traffic islands on Broadway.

Don't look at this as a disgusting problem. Think of it as a business opportunity. Rodent control might be the next big career in the city, only slightly less important than mayor. Build a better rat-trap and the city will beat a path to your door. You can't tell me rich Upper West Siders wouldn't pay BIG bucks to kill the critters.

Al B.

I live on 105th between CPW and Manhattan Avenues. The rat problem in our area, which started with the 2001 excavation for the 455 CPW buildings, has gotten stedily worse. No smoking corpses, but plenty of flattened critters on the street, in addition to the still-partying ones.

Leslie

I doubt that the rats on the UWS are worse than the rats near Chinatown. I'd see around 50 rats a night on the corner of Orchard and Hester.

laura

Adam, I lived on that stretch of 108th for four years. Go outside at 5:30am and you'll see rats a plenty. Two elementary schools back up to the street, a haven of cafeteria waste for the rats.

timThompson

Cats are good for controlling mice, but rats? For rat control we need rat snakes. Rat snakes eat "birds, eggs, lizards, frogs, other snakes, chipmunks, squirrels, small rabbits, mice, rats, voles, shrews, and other small mammals."

And to take care of the snakes, we've rounded up a type of gorilla that thrives on snake meat. The great thing is the gorillas won't be a problem because when winter rolls around they simply freeze to death.

Can't believe I'm the first one to make that reference.

Fore

What we need is a bunch of people with 9 irons, practicing their swing after sunset.

Rachel

The rats on that stretch of 108th street have always been really bad. When I was at Columbia a few years ago, I knew a couple of people who lived there, and even then it seemed to have way more rats than any other street in the area.

adam

I think what Columbia really needs is less complaining, lying graduate students. I live on 108th between Amsterdam and Broadway, and have seen very few rats on the street. Not that there aren't a few on Amsterdam, or even the occasional one on our street. But 10?! 8?! regularly?!don't think so buddy, glad to see you got some attention, probably all you wanted anyway.

Joe

Cats are good for controlling mice, but rats? For rat control we need rat snakes. Rat snakes eat "birds, eggs, lizards, frogs, other snakes, chipmunks, squirrels, small rabbits, mice, rats, voles, shrews, and other small mammals."