Health Department Forms Folder 0065, 1999-2001

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

1 212 782 2975 P.01/06 MRYOR' S PRESS OFFICE SEP-13-2000 13:31 ,ctvl ( Manhattan President C. Vir~1n. Fe{ds~ Municipal Building, Centre Street, 19th Floor, New York. NY 10007

For Immediate Release IQ -"' ` tL Contact: Claudia Zequeira (212) 669-3129 September 13, 2000

HEALTH DEPARTMENT IS A REAL MAZE follow-up- Fields denounces DON's approach to rat control abatement abysmal, Manhattan Borough President Calling the Department of Health's response to rat approach Virginia Fields renewed her call for increased funding, additional staffing and a comprehensive C. -1-800-RAT- Manhattan Borough President's Rat Complaint Line to rat control in the city. To date, the specific locations. 1550- has received 640 calls referring to 407 plagued areas of the city. First it was lower "It seems like every day we hear about new rat Bronx. yesterday it was the East Tremont section of the Manhattan and the Baruch Houses. As recently as food is and don't know that the Bronx is up and the Battery's down — they just know to go where the Rats seriously and appears that the city isn't taking these complaints where they can live in relative peace. Yet, it additional funding for DOH's rat It is clear th at we need changing the way it deals with this serious problem. and dealing for identifying potential problem areas program and a comprehensive and proactive approach with them before they get overrun. Complaint Line and sent the Department of Health "It's been two months since I anruunced the Rat the complaints we've had confirmation that two -- two! — of over the 365 complaints we received. To-date, made the complaints. information from the constituents who have been addressed. And we had to get that numbers to disgraceful. To make matters worse, DOH is barely keeping up with assigning tracking That's complaint numbers, to Late last night we finally received 114 the complaints we forwarded over to them. And that's after are still missing some 66 complaint numbers. make a total of 299 numbers we sent over; we two months. staff e complaints —calling as average citizens- my "To add insult to injury, when checking up on th of the wrong numbers to call to check the status was put on hold for long periods of time, given had been done and that it would efforts in the areas of complaint, or told, simply, that nothing extermination overwhelmed by the abated. This clearly shows that DOH is take another four weeks for problem areas to be within 7 days. was able to handle a rat complaint smallest increase in call volume. It used to be that the city That reality has obviously changed," said Fields. inspectors, early 1980's, the Pest Control Unit operated by the city had approximately 1,200 In the same ranks. Almost twenty years later, that very exterminators, coordinators, and clerical staff within its "Considering th at represents a 300% decrease in personnel! office is manned by less than 400 people. This unacceptable," Fields York City, those numbers are completely the rat population has not decreased in New added. Code her call for enforcement of the Health The Borough President took the opportunity to renew examine a rat abatement Department of Buildings is mandated to within the Department of Buildings. The requirement is currently key factor in rat infestation. This stamp provided by DOH prior to construction, a health into e Health Code, but it is seldom enforced. "Not only is this unacceptable, it is a public written th hazard," said Fields.

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NYC-WTC 000138051