Rat czar job description

Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in Donate today. Corradi will coordinate across agencies to handle rats, working with sanitation and health departments to help reduce their numbers.

Thanks for subscribing! Look out for your first newsletter in your inbox soon! By entering your email address you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and consent to receive emails from Time Out about news, events, offers and partner promotions. Talk about an odd job: the Mayor's Office is currently looking for a "rat czar" to, according to an official job posting , "fight the real enemy—New York City's relentless rat population. That last point should not be a problem, considering the fact that New Yorkers have been contending with more right sightings than ever before and readily and rightfully complaining about all the damage caused by the rodents all around town. Even mayor Eric Adams has had enough of the little animals.

Rat czar job description

New York City leaders have been trying to control the rodent population for generations with mixed results. Sightings of rats in parks, sidewalks and other places in the city have recently increased. City rats have survived a multimillion-dollar effort under former Mayor Bill de Blasio that focused on more trash pickups and better housing inspections in targeted neighborhoods. The city also launched a program to use dry ice to suffocate rats in their hiding spots. Adams, when he was borough president of Brooklyn, once demonstrated a trap that used a bucket filled with a toxic soup to drown rats lured by the scent of food. Now, the Adams' administration is looking for a top rat bureaucrat to become the public face of the city's eradication and education efforts. Home U. Want to be a rat czar? NYC posts job listing to 'exterminate rodents with authority. Associated Press.

Discover Time Out original video. Try another? While we're on the topic, we'd be remiss not to call attention to what we believe will become a go-to holiday gift: the NYC Sanitation Department's new vermin T-shirt.

Hate rats? Then you might have what it takes to be the city's new rat czar. The official job title is "director of rodent mitigation," although it was promptly dubbed the rat czar. A virulent vehemence for vermin? A background in urban planning, project management, or government? If so, your dream job awaits," reads the job listing.

This week, the NYC Mayor's Office posted a job listing for a "citywide director of rodent mitigation," or as a city hall spokesperson dubbed it, "a rat czar. The role's listed requirements include a "background in urban planning" and a "virulent vehemence for vermin. It also said the chosen applicant will have a "swashbuckling attitude, crafty humor and general aura of badassery. The role's more serious qualifications include an ability to "self-manage and conduct rigorous research and outreach," a "desire to be entrepreneurial with an interest in social impact" and either experience in local government or a background in a "relevant" field. New York is the country's "second-rattiest" city, according to pest control company Orkin's most recent annual rankings. As of October, New York's sanitation department has reported more than 21, rat complaints in , a sharp increase over pre-pandemic times. The city is topped by Chicago in Orkin's rankings, which has held the "rattiest city" title for eight consecutive years now — but New York rodents have a special place in the cultural zeitgeist. They frequently go viral on social media after dragging various items — most popularly, pizza — down streets and sidewalks. One performance actor, Jonothon Lyons, patrols the city's subway stations and park trash cans wearing a latex rat head.

Rat czar job description

As rats run rampant in New York City, officials have attempted—and failed—to control their booming population. We needed a maestro. New York may be famous for the Pizza Rat , but rats, and the conditions that help them thrive, will no longer be tolerated—no more dirty curbs, unmanaged spaces or brazen burrowing. The brown rat—also called the Norway rat, common rat, street rat or sewer rat—likely arrived in New York City sometime around the Revolutionary War. The animals are native to northern China , but they began spreading across the world in the 18th century because of international trade. Today, the animals are found on all continents except Antarctica. Once forest creatures, they now prefer to live close to humans, foraging a wide range of items, including food waste. But the rodents can spread a variety of human diseases , including bubonic plague , schistosomiasis , murine typhus , tularemia and leptospirosis. The animals can breed incredibly quickly, reaching sexual maturity at just three to four months old.

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Popular on Time Out [image]. Contact us. Close Menu. Giulia Heyward. Want an ad-free experience? Rodents spread disease, damage homes and wiring, and even attempt to control the movements of kitchen staffers in an effort to take over human jobs. Email address. But the mayor's ongoing war with the city's rat population hasn't always gone in his favor, publicly or privately. The newly announced position follows a number of city initiatives aimed at curtailing the problem at hand, including a five-point " Rat Action Plan " that heavily relies on the establishment of "rat mitigation zones" where officials would be expected to double down on their efforts to control the population. In , the then Brooklyn borough president Adams demonstrated an extermination plan that involved a morbid display of bloated rat carcasses. Got a tip? You may also like.

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NYC posts job listing to 'exterminate rodents with authority. Orkin pest control ranks top 'rattiest' cities nationwide. Published Apr 12, Modified Apr 12, By James Ramsay. We do. Correction: The story has been updated to correct who the rat czar will be reporting to and updates Kathleen Corradi's salary. Time Out. Popular on Time Out [image]. Contact us. Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily. The Sanitation Department would be tasked to come up with the parameters for each zone, also determining goals for all areas. The city also launched a program to use dry ice to suffocate rats in their hiding spots. She previously worked at NPR, as a breaking news reporter, and the New York Times, as a reporting fellow on the national desk. NYC has also limited how long trash bags can sit on a sidewalk , in the hopes of giving our rodent neighbors less of a chance to scurry through our garbage and get comfortable. Enlisting a rat czar also comes as city officials navigate a series of new sanitation measures, including a proposal to change trash pick-up schedules, largely to avoid rat mealtimes.