West 105th and Broadway falls within the “Rat Reservoir,” according to a recent community board presenter (Google Maps).
Now we know some of the top rat gathering spots on the Upper West Side, thanks to Caroline Bragdon, Director of Neighborhood Interventions and Pest Control for the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. During Monday’s Community Board 7 meeting, Bragdon disclosed four ‘areas of concern’ in the neighborhood, based on data collected since the beginning of 2023.
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“So, what we did is we pulled all of the information that we have available for 2023 this calendar year. The first area of concern was Broadway from West 103rd to West 106th,” detailed Bragdon during her presentation. She presented data from 19 health department inspections in the area this year, 14 of which failed. “That’s pretty bad,” said the pest control director. Bragdon further mentioned that there have been four followup inspections, two of which have failed – later referring to this stretch of the neighborhood as a “rat reservoir.”
Bragdon mentioned receiving a letter from City Council Member Gale Brewer’s office about the next problem area: West 79th Street between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue. “It’s interesting this block, you can see there’s the north side of the block [which] passed all their inspections and the south side mostly failed. So, it’s definitely one particular set of properties. And a whole bunch of tree pits,” she explained. Thirteen out of 23 inspections have failed so far this year, with five of six failing their followups. Bragdon emphasized that tree pits have “historically been a big problem on the Upper West Side.” We agree.
Both 210 and 212 west 79th Street have failed three inspections so far this year (Google Maps).
West 71st Street between Broadway and Columbus Avenue was identified as another area of concern. Four out of six initial inspections failed, and then all four failed again in their followup inspections. Bragdon added, “Most of them failed recently in March and are currently being treated. You can see the addresses of the places that are on the treatment list.”
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West 102nd Street between West End Avenue and Broadway also made the list. So far, seven of eight inspections failed this year and the two sites which had followup inspections failed again. This stretch also falls in rat reservoir territory.
Before concluding, Bragdon offered her availability to the community. “It’s summer, there’s lots of health fairs and events happening across the city. And if you want us there, we have a small but mighty little outreach team. Invite us, we’ll come out with a table and we’ll bring our brochures and our posters and talk to people and hopefully answer their questions.” The rat team can be reached at RatPortal@health.nyc.gov.
They are pretty bad on West 96th street too. Gross.
Why stop at 106th when 107th between Bway & Amsterdam is a nightmare!
West 68th st between Riverside & Freedom in the planters! The underground rat network under Riverside Boulevard area and the rat Warrens in Riverside park from 60th to 70th are immense
Have NEVER seen a rat on W 102nd St, but 103rd (Bway to WEA) is so bad I have to walk up the middle of the street at night.
You must be closing your eyes on W 102nd. Yep, bad on W 103, but also terrible on W 102 and W 104, for that matter.
All the restaurant sheds are home to the vermin.
I thought that the Covid virus was declared officially over.
Does anyone not take any notice that the restaurants on the streets are worsening the problem. Not only is food and garbage and garbage juices being left everywhere on the streets, but the outside spaces are not cleaned enough and appropriately AND the sidewalks and streets themselves that the outside restaurant spaces now occupy, are left dirty constantly. No sanitation sweepers can clean any more, the landlords, buildings and restaurants do nothing to keep their spaces thoroughly cleaned from the mess that they and the patrons leave. It is GROSS. What about doing something about that? I get that over COVID, restaurants needed a way to make money and so the outside restaurant spaces were necessary, but now they are not, it is NOT ok that they are still allowed to have spaces in the middle of the sidewalk and street.
I am wondering if it is a coincidence that some the blocks mentioned in the article & comments with a rat problem are the same blocks that a guy visits EVERY DAY & scatters day old bagels from Absolute Bagels all over the streets to feed the pigeons. it’s time the NYPD or the Dept of Sanitation starts ticketing this scofflaw as he is contributing to the rat problem in the neighborhood.
I’d like to formally submit my 1000 falcon release program recommendation. Not only will this result in a decrease in the rat population, it may help with the pigeon issue as well! 🙂