City tackles growing concerns over rats
Boston Metro, Wednesday, December 19, 2007
By Greg St. Martin

BOSTON. City officials faced tough questions on rat control during a hearing at City Hall yesterday, following a jump in resident complaints and a recent rodent report that put the Hub on the hot seat.

The city has received about 300 more phone calls this year on trash and rat complaints, a 38 percent spike. Officials here have targeted the Back Bay, Allston, Dorchester and the North End as the city’s biggest trouble spots.

Trash piles left overnight, as well as large construction projects, often trigger the presence of rats in plain sight. John Meaney, the principal health inspector at the city’s Inspectional Services Department, admitted the rat problem is a challenging one, but he stopped short of declaring it “out of control.”

“Increased rodent complaints do not mean increased rats,” Meaney said.

At the hearing, sponsored by Councilor Michael Flaherty, city officials also outlined some future steps to combat rats, which could be tailored for each neighborhood.

In the North End, for instance, one scenario being considered is pushing back the time residents can put out their trash from 5 p.m. to 12:01 a.m. the next day. Other ideas include expanding the South End’s popular single stream recycling program to other neighborhoods.

“Clearly, we have to change the way we do business,” said public works official Frank O’Brien.

However, O’Brien rejected cutting down the time trash stays on the street by setting specific trash pickup times for neighborhoods. He argued that such deadlines could often be dogged by unforeseen factors, such as inclement weather or mechanical failure.

Meanwhile, a New Jersey-based rodent control company, d-CON, released a study in October ranking Boston third among major U.S. cities most likely to face rat infestation. But, Meaney yesterday refuted that assertion, claiming the company never asked his department to provide any statistics for the study, which he called “theory-based.”

Residents from Beacon Hill, Back Bay and the North End who testified at the hearing claimed they’ve had to take matters into their own hands, by either organizing trash prevention practices or hiring private companies to bait around their homes.

“To me, keeping families in Boston means kicking the rats out,” Flaherty said.