“You’ll be seeing a lot of me - and a lot less rats,” Corradi,
whose official title is “citywide director of rodent
mitigation,” said at a news conference. “There’s a new sheriff
in town.”
Adams, who has often expressed a deep hatred for rats, posted
the job last year, seeking someone "somewhat bloodthirsty" with
a "general aura of badassery" and offering an annual salary
between $120,000 and $170,000.
Corradi, a former teacher, is not new to the fight against rats.
She previously oversaw rat mitigation efforts in the city’s
public schools.
Rat sightings have jumped in recent years, according to city
data. Some officials have said the proliferation of sidewalk
dining – a concession to the COVID-19 pandemic that shut down
the city’s restaurants – contributed to the problem.
The size of the city’s rat population is unknown. A 2014 study
put the figure at around 2 million, or one for every four
residents.
Adams has implemented other measures aimed at what he called New
York’s “No. 1 enemy.”
In recent months, his administration has limited the number of
hours that trash bags can sit on sidewalks awaiting pickup and
launched a curbside composting program intended to reduce food
waste.
But the brown rat, which likely arrived in New York sometime
during the Revolutionary War era, has proven a crafty adversary,
thriving despite numerous attempts to eradicate it from the
city’s warrens of subway tunnels and alleyways.
(Reporting by Joseph Ax in New York; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
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