The Welcome Mat Is Out-- for New York's Rats

Let’s see: you kill the tax base by driving the most affluent taxpayers out of the city. Then you are obliged to cut the budget. You cut back on policing, of course, But then you cut back on sanitation. That is, on garbage pickup. Instead of picking up the garbage every weekday, you pick it up three times a week. 

The result: rats are running wild all over New York City. It’s open season for vermin. 

The Daily Mail:

Rat sightings across Big Apple have reportedly increased 60 percent since city officials slashed the Department of Sanitation's budget by more than $100 million two months ago.

The troubling spike in rodent encounters has been attributed to a recent change in procedure spurred by the budget cut in June that reduced trash collections in New York City from daily to just three days per week.

Less than 1,000 rat sightings were reported in the city in April, but after the collection change was implemented that number ballooned to 1,650 in June – and city officials say the infestation is getting worse by the week.

Politicians who have been largely silent in the face of a spike in crime, are now up in arms about the rats:

A number of politicians gathered in Harlem on Tuesday to pressure the city's government to reverse course. New York City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer said the current policy has created a ‘welcome mat for the rats of our city’.

‘These rats have the run of New York City,’ Stringer continued about the infestation. ‘These rats are walking around waiting for a table at outdoor seating.’

Over the last few weeks, photos of the city street have captured bags filled with leftover food scraps, cans and bottles piled high on sidewalks or overflowing out of corner litter baskets.

To state the obvious: it’s bad for business, especially for the open-air restaurant business.

With the increase in trash, rat sightings have ballooned, and Singer says the growing infestation is having a profound effect on local restaurants and tourism – two industries already reeling from the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

‘I say to the mayor today: Wake up. Get out here and see what's going on,’ he said. ‘This is the city that you manage. Own it. Stop throwing your hands up because you had to make a small budget cut to the sanitation department, which is less of a cut than other agencies have taken. This is a poor excuse for bad management.’ 

The deeper meaning is that Scott Stringer will be a candidate for mayor in the next election. 

New York wants to chase billionaires out of town. But, as for the rats: the welcome mat is out.