NYC’s anti-rat mayor gets R5,000 fine for the rats at his town house

New York City mayor Eric Adams must pay a $300 (R5,395) fine for harbouring rats at his Brooklyn property, an awkward outcome for an elected official who has elevated his battle against vermin from a personal crusade to a political rallying cry. 

A city hearing officer on Tuesday denied Adams’ appeal on one of two tickets he received in December after a health inspector found evidence of a rodent infestation at his Bedford-Stuyvesant town house, which he’s renting out while he lives at Gracie Mansion. 

The hearing officer said Adams “failed to credibly rebut the allegation or establish a valid defence” to the citation for harbouring rats in his recycling. Samantha Chetrit, an officer with the city’s Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings, said Adams’ own photographs show the recyclables were in plastic bags and not in rodent-proof bins.

But she found in the mayor’s favour on another citation finding rat burrows on his property. While she said Adams failed to make his case that the rats were on his neighbour's property, she credited his “ongoing efforts to prevent and control rat infestation before the issuance of the summons”.

Adams testified at his hearing last week he’s spent nearly $8,000 on rodent mitigation in the past year.

“The mayor is grateful that one of the two summonses was dismissed and is reviewing the second decision,” said Fabien Levy, the mayor’s press secretary. “One decision is clear, however: The mayor still hates rats.”

The mayor — who once drowned rats in a vat of brine while he served as Brooklyn borough president — has made his disdain for the vermin a key part of his political persona. With the refrain “I hate rats”, he’s promised changes in trash collection practices, enforcement and has posted the job of city “rat czar”.

The mayor and the health department each have 35 days to appeal the rulings. 

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