Science and Technology in NYC

The city that never sleeps has a problem that never sleeps—rats.

The furry creatures greet New Yorkers on the subway ride to work, in the park during lunch and at home in the evening.  Many feel that there is nowhere to turn for a rest.

Enter Bobby Corrigan. Three years ago, Mr. Corrigan, who holds a PhD in pest control, was hired by the city to restructure its pest control system. Under his guidance, Pest Control Services—a division of the Department of Health—has shifted its plan of attack against rodents and promoted education for residents and business owners on how to combat the vermin.

New York City rat history has several important dates. At the turn of the eighteenth century, sailors brought the Norway rat (Rattus norvegicus) with them from Northern Europe. The Norway rat, separated from other rats by its ability to swim, willingness to eat just about anything and fondness of necrophilia, has since dug a niche for itself in New York and other cities on the Eastern seaboard. Consequently, all rats found in the five boroughs are Norway rats.

In 1949, Dave Davis, an ecologist from Johns Hopkins University, studied the rat population in New York City and determined it to be around 250,000—not nearly the one rat per man that urban storytellers will have you believe. Subsequent research has shown that the rat population has not grown much since.

The city enjoyed its glory days in the world of rat management between World War II and 1981 when President Reagan decreased federal aid to cities. By 1999 the city budget for dealing with rats had been cut down to $5 million.

That all changed in 2000 when Mayor Giuliani was crossed (quite literally) by a rat. After the rodent ran over his foot on the steps of Gracie Mansion, Giuliani boosted the budget to $13 million and called for a “rat summit” to be held at Columbia University. Out of the summit came a “rat czar”—then Deputy Mayor Joseph Lhota and a determination to make the urban environment less rat friendly.

But the rats prevailed. Partially because of increased construction during the boom years after September 11 that forced them out of their underground burrows and partially because of the increased amounts of garbage disposed of during those prosperous times, rats returned to the limelight of NYC public health. After the remodeling of City Hall Park in 2007, the city’s rats found a new home on the park’s very visible lawn. Tourists and natives were not thrilled.

Perhaps the greatest embarrassment came when video of rats taking over a Greenwich Village KFC-Taco Bell restaurant surfaced on YouTube after making the rounds on local TV stations in early 2007. Reporters soon discovered that a Department of Health employee inspected the restaurant in question just one day before. The city forced all of its inspectors to take the training course again.

That same year, Bobby Corrigan took over from Lhota as “rat czar.”

Corrigan was an obvious choice. For four years, he split time between consulting the city on rats and working for his pest management firm in Richmond, Indiana. Before that he taught at his alma mater, Purdue University. Earlier in his career, Corrigan worked for a Long Island company tackling home and business owners’ pest problems.

Corrigan was given control of the Department of Health’s Pest Control Services program. Fighting through bureaucracy—he still has to work with 19 other departments and sacrifice a large part of his time to interfacing with important decision makers—Corrigan has revitalized the program and in turn the fight against rats.

For a long time, especially after the budget cuts of the 80s, the city’s main weapon against rats was baiting. Often this meant using pesticides that when ingested by pets and children proved detrimental and even fatal to health. The prolonged use of pesticides has also increased the rats’ immunities to poisons—although new poisons are being developed faster than rats can become immune to them. Many individuals are also concerned that they cannot retrieve rat carcasses after they have been poisoned (as rats typically return to their burrows to die).

Pest Control Services now take a different approach. They focus on a system carried over from agriculture called Integrated Pest Management (IPM). Developed by entomologists after WWII, IPM focuses on changing the pest’s environment instead of exterminating it. A large part of a pest manager’s day is spent monitoring the unwanted population. If it is deemed to be outside acceptable levels, the pest manager takes action—first through mechanical, then biological and finally chemical means.

Applied to NYC’s rat problem, IPM means a lot of data gathering. In Pest Control Services’ flagship program, inspectors move through the Bronx block by block analyzing both public and private properties for signs of rats. These include tracks on the ground, gnaw marks on the undersides of doors and burrows in back and front yards. Inspectors contact property owners and schedule follow up inspections that, if failed, carry monetary fines for owners. Inspectors are also permitted to apply controls to violating properties.

PCS have also made information available to New Yorkers. Their website contains a booklet that details common myths about rats (e.g. that they can grow to be the size of alley cats; most weigh in at a mere 23 ounces) and tips on how to deal with rodents. There is also an interactive map that displays citywide rat statistics. Corrigan personally runs a three-day class for public and private pest inspectors popularly deemed “Rat Academy.”

Soon, PCS and Corrigan will add another weapon to their arsenal. The program hopes to get a body count on exterminated rats by installing baited boxes (so that the rats cannot run away after they are poisoned) throughout the city. This will give Corrigan another vital piece of information.

But all of this data is useless unless the city and its residents change their everyday habits. Instead of putting out and collecting trash at night (when rats are out and about the most), the city should collect it in the morning, argues Bruce Colvin, an expert on the topic. New Yorkers should also abstain from littering and leaving their trash exposed in plastic garbage bags that rats can easily chew through.

When he wants to make an impression on someone, Corrigan pulls out the dead rat in his book bag and quips “at least we got one.”  Although he knows that we will never get rid of them all, Corrigan still thinks the fight is worthwhile.

St. Mark’s Place. A tiny portion of the East Village running from Astor Place to 1^st avenue is famous for it’s restaurants, shops, and bars. Hundreds of visitors walk through St. Mark’s daily, and on the weekends, the influx of people increase ten-fold.  So why are storeowners and visitors complaining? Take a whiff of the air, and you’ll smell why.

“You definitely know when it’s almost time for garbage day,” says Brittaney Mines, a barista at Café Mocha on 116 2^nd avenue as she gestures towards the garbage bags piled on the corner.  The East Village and its residents are no strangers to the horrible stench that has become a part of the East Village’s identity. The stench is only a partial component of the greater problem. The mountains of trash piled along sidewalks and curbs are the other.

The New York City Department of Sanitation suffered greatly from the 44.8 million dollar budget cut imposed by Mayor Bloomberg in 2008. One of the major components of Bloomberg’s budget cuts was to cut Sunday trash pickup by 50%. Even further, instead of 150 trucks making pickups, only 50 trucks were slated to make the rounds.

Trash collection in the East Village occurs just three times a week on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. This is not nearly enough to compensate for the tremendous amounts of trash that accumulates over the week from over 500 restaurants and even more residential housing. “There is too much garbage and too little collection,” Minnes says of the trash.

The large amounts of garbage have a negative effect on business, says Habib, the manager of a tattoo and piercing shop on St. Mark’s and 3^rd avenue. The streets of the East Village are very narrow, barely large enough for two people to walk hand in hand. With the addition of garbage bags, bins, and boxes, the amount of space for walking decreases even further. “People are always falling on the garbage,” says Habib, who points out the trash along the street. Habib also mentions that when the weather turns gray, as it usually does in New York City, the trash situation grows deeper. “Wind blows garbage everywhere, and when it rains, the trash runs all along the streets,” Habib continues. “It smells really bad here.” However, the problems described by Habib are not the least of the worries by the storeowners. An underlying problem much more dangerous than the loss of customers hides underneath the trash and stench, literally. “There are mice everywhere,” says Habib.

The mice and vermin population increase in those places where trash is more prominent. The East Village has fallen victim to a rat and vermin due to the inefficient garbage collection plans by the city. “Mice and vermin are a huge problem around here,” Allen Maikels, an FDNY paramedic stationed in the East Village says. “Disease carried by vermin and mice such as salmonella and dysentery are highly likely to occur here,” Maikels continues.  “The garbage situation is one that the city needs to re-evaluate before people start getting sick. That, and the stink is almost unbearable sometimes.”

An overabundance of trash is the key factor in an infestation of vermin such as cockroaches, rats, and flies. Salmonella and dysentery cited by Maikels are but a few problems that can be caused. Others are the fleas carried by the mice. These fleas can transmit typhus, bacterial fever, and Hantavirus. Though the viruses and diseases described are extreme, the fear and possibility of spreading is present.

With an irresponsible city government unaware of the problems caused by trash, it is no surprise then that the community has banded together to minimize the negative effects of the garbage collection plans of the city. “We pile garbage by ourselves so that it doesn’t take up too much room,” Habib reported. Another group, The Village Alliance, has also come together to round up individuals to clean up the streets of the East Village. However, to all of the East Village, the city needs to clean up its act.

Despite the fact that garbage sounds so mundane, so under control, it still has a large impact on our lives, in negative and positive ways.  It is up to every person, as a group and individually, to help keep trash under control and manageable, both for the benefit of our city and for the benefit of the great people who live here, both in the east village and the other unique and important communities that make this great city of ours.

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