Mayor Eric Adams is losing his “war on rats” — in large part because his administration refuses to fully fund a Sanitation Department unit dealing with a backlog of more than 1,700 garbage-strewn lots that need to be cleaned, a majority of City Council members said this week.
Council Minority Leader Joann Ariola (R-Queens) fired off a bipartisan letter last week to the mayor signed by 30 council members demanding the city pump another $2.6 million yearly into agency’s Lot Cleaning Unit back to pre-pandemic levels of 108 employees in 2019.
The unit has since shrunk to 10 workers assigned to clean city-owned lots and vacant lots in the five boroughs.
“These [lots] are not only unsightly and unsafe, but they are also infested with rats and other vermin that spread disease,” Ariola wrote.
“Considering the resources your administration has poured into its ‘War on Rats,’ we expected that tackling these filthy areas in every borough would be a priority.”
Adams’ proposed budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1 includes $820,277 for lot cleaning, increases the unit’s staff to 15 and it’s funding to $1.6 million by fiscal 2029.
That’s not enough, said council members who have been forced to use their discretionary funds to supplement nonprofits and city sanitation workers cleaning filthy weed-strewn lots and traffic medians.
“Having a severely deficient lot cleaning program only undermines other efforts by DSNY and your administration to ‘Get Stuff Clean,’” wrote Ariola, referring to the mayor’s campaign to cleanup city streets.
“It also sends a hypocritical message to New Yorkers that, while residents are required to comply with the rules, to containerize their garbage and clean their own properties or else face fines and penalties, their own city government has no such responsibility.
“We once again ask that you provide DSNY the funding they need to rectify this problem.”
The backlog of vacant lots desperately needing a cleaning include one on Chandler Street near Motts Basin in Far Rockaway, Queens, and another disaster at 75 Baltimore Street in Great Kills, Staten Island, according to council members.
Both are garbage-filled, weed-strewn eyesores that have become neighborhood dumping grounds covered with abandoned shopping carts, mattresses, furniture and other debris.
Rodent complaints to 311 spiked nearly 8% during Adams first two years in office — despite his ballyhooed multi-million dollar war on rats and vow from Day One to make headway against the vermin, The Post has reported.
Updated statistics were not immediately available.
Sanitation Department spokesman Joshua Goodman insisted Mayor Adams proposed budget for next fiscal year “makes greater investments in a cleaner city than ever before.”
“The increased funding for cleaning vacant lots allows us to focus on those that pose health risks, those located near schools or parks, and those receiving 311 service requests – not just in the coming year, but for years to come,” he said.
“We can always do more with more, and we look forward to working with the Council to ensure resources are allocated efficiently to areas of greatest need.”
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