Overview
- An executive order signed Dec. 17 creates a permanent office to coordinate city agencies, community groups, and private partners on rodent control and public education.
- The office is designed to be led by a mayor-appointed rat czar, a role left unfilled since Kathleen Corradi departed for NYCHA in September.
- City Hall says the new office is currently budgeted only for the rat czar position, which remains vacant.
- Administration figures report 12 straight months of declining rat sightings, crediting public education and DSNY’s containerization of roughly 70% of city trash.
- Local groups, including the District 35 Rat Task Force, urge the next administration to restore interagency leadership following a controversial summer program that gassed rats from street tree beds.