Rats are apparently overwhelming two locations in particular on the Upper West Side. Residents are calling it an end-of-summer invasion.<\/p>\n
The rodents were rambunctious at West 96th Street and Broadway on Monday. A swarm is how Linda Colarusso and her neighbors described the scene.<\/p>\n
“Everybody’s talking about it,” Colarusso said. “We’ve definitely seen rats over there by the median and the entrance going into the subway.”<\/p>\n
Councilwoman disputes mayor’s claim that rat mitigation is working<\/p>\n
City Councilwoman Gale Brewer said the problem is people feeding pigeons and rats taking over the buffet. The public is being asked to remember if you’re feeding wildlife, including pigeons, you may be feeding swarms of rats.<\/p>\n
At the start of summer, Mayor Eric Adams said rat complaint calls to 311 were down<\/a>, coinciding with the city’s rollout of new trash containers in some areas<\/a>.<\/p>\n However, Brewer said she has not seen a big change since.<\/p>\n “I get as many complaints now as I’ve always gotten,” she said.<\/p>\n That includes ones about Tots Playground near the West 67th Street entrance to Central Park, an area young Mateo Augustine Gallo described as “a park full of rats.”<\/p>\n It’s also where Marina Calderon, who was with stroller and baby on Monday, dodged one dead rat on the way in.<\/p>\n “The rats are everywhere. It’s insane,” Calderon said. “Rats in the strollers, rats on my feet with children, so I don’t think the problem is going down.”<\/p>\n More changes are needed, councilwoman says<\/p>\n “We wrote to both the parks and health departments. I need to convene a task force for that location. It’s not just rats. It’s pigeons bringing the rats,” Brewer said.<\/p>\n “Garbage. There’s garbage all around, so that’s where they’re really coming from — from the garbage,” area resident Anthony Guzman said.<\/p>\n As the city finds other and more effective ways to eliminate them, rat removal is on everyone working together to make it harder for the rodents to feast on garbage and bird feed. While it is in fact legal to feed the birds, city officials hope they can convince people to use common sense to keep rats away.<\/p>\n \n More from CBS News\n <\/p>\n