Overview
- Adrian Jordan, a longtime employee of the Department of Public Health, was named Rat Abatement Manager on Wednesday to coordinate work across health, streets, sanitation, community life, licenses and inspections, and water.
- The city has begun door-to-door surveys in Oxford Circle and Castor Gardens with the Health Department’s Rat Control Team to find unreported problems, give residents prevention advice, and record service needs.
- Officials announced a public dashboard to show resident contacts, complaints, and properties serviced but said the dashboard is not yet live and will appear online once finalized.
- City leaders said there has been no documented rise in confirmed rat complaints despite increased media and neighborhood reports, and they urged residents to use metal trash cans, seal openings, remove hiding places, and call 215-685-9000 to report sightings.
- The appointment responds to a recent City Council resolution and follows other cities’ experiments with centralized rat offices, and the move could change how the city tracks problems, allocates crews, and measures progress in neighborhoods that report recurring rodent issues.