NYC Comptroller: Health Department Not Doing Enough To Fight Rat Problem
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- An audit by the city comptroller's office shows the number of pest complaints, including rat problems, is on the rise.
Scott Stringer's report says the number of complaints to the city's 311 hotline and online climbed from 22,300 in fiscal year 2012 to 24,586 the next year -- a 10.3 percent jump.
At a news conference Sunday near a series of rat traps on West 121st Street in Harlem, Stringer blasted the city's Health Department, saying it is failing New Yorkers when it comes to controlling the rodents, 1010 WINS' Glenn Schuck reported.
NYC Comptroller: Health Department Not Doing Enough To Fight Rat Problem
"In my own community, walking down the street at night, these rats are walking upright, come up to me and say, 'Hey, Mr. Comptroller, how is your day?'" Stringer joked. "There's too many of them."
Stringer said that in about a quarter of the cases his office examined, the department failed to answer residents' complaints within 10 days of a call -- the agency's own target for a response, the comptroller said.
Stringer said in some cases health inspectors faked how much time they spent at various places without ever addressing a reported rat problem.
"In 160 cases, we found that there were no inspections at all," he said.
A Health Department spokesman said the agency "strongly disagrees" with the audit, and the agency also takes a proactive response to exterminating rats in the city.
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