We get a lot of stories comparing of districts and neighborhoods: South Brooklyn has higher crime than North Brooklyn, one report said; Williamsburg properties have been selling for more than those in Park Slope. But the NY Daily News today reported that Greenpoint, Williamsburg and Brooklyn Heights have more of something than their central and south Brooklyn competitors: rats. The reason may simply be density — "There's more people living in those areas," said Health Department Assistant Commissioner Daniel Kass, and more restaurants, too. Construction also seems to contribute to their proliferation, along with, predictably enough, poor garbage pickup and disposal. "Neighborhoods in North Brooklyn – including Fort Greene, DUMBO, Clinton Hill, Greenpoint, Bushwick and Ridgewood — had 175 or more sightings of rats or signs of the rodents by Health Department inspectors in 2006 and 2007," they write. "The neighborhoods with the worst problems are Bushwick/Ridgewood, with 770 rats, and Bedford-Stuyvesant and Stuyvesant Heights with 595 rats." Park Slope, Sunset Park and Coney Island have a rat problem, too, but much less of one than Bed-Stuy and Bushwick. The Health Department has launched what they're calling a "rat information portal;" creatively enough, it's http://www.nyc.gov/rats. There you'll also find info on how to get rid of them. Happy reading. And, yes, we know, you don't like greeting the day with a big rat photo.
Creepy Tails of the City [NY Daily News]
Photo by <:3(----)~~~.
