WSJ: Rats Mob The Upper East Side

An army of rats is scurrying into apartments, stores and even car engines on a stretch of the Upper East Side"and locals blame blasting for the Second Avenue subway project.

The infestation has left residents of the East 90s along Second Avenue with what they say is the worst rat problem in decades. Things get especially ugly at night, says Walter Johnson, a 60-year-old maintenance worker.

"It looks like the street's moving," says Mr. Johnson, who has lived on 93rd Street east of Second Avenue since 1976. "It's just wild. You can't imagine how infested this place became." (...)

When alternate-side parking rules were suspended around Easter and Passover, Mr. Washington left his car in front of 318 E. 93rd St. for almost a week, he says.

One morning around 9 a.m., Mr. Washington says, he had to take his wife to the dentist. But when he turned the key, the car started to shake and people on the street shrieked, he says. Seven rats ran out from under the front of the car.

When Mr. Washington shifted into reverse, two more ran out. Mr. Washington says he was able to drive his wife 14 blocks south to the dentist and back, but the car was shaking so much he decided to have it towed to a dealership in New Rochelle.

"My dashboard was lit up like a Christmas tree," he says. "'Check engine, check oil, check everything.'"

The rats had chewed wires under the Toyota's hood, and started to build a nest from paper, he says. The smell of urine was strong.


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Nhaiyel wrote:One morning around 9 a.m., Mr. Washington says, he had to take his wife to the dentist. But when he turned the key, the car started to shake and people on the street shrieked, he says. Seven rats ran out from under the front of the car.

Sounds like a great opening scene for a movie.

The most shocking thing about this article is that at one point in time, a maintenance worker could afford to live on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

^ Some maintenance workers actually make a pretty penny. There's a demand for what they do, probably in part because it isn't glamorous.

My brother and his family lives in that exact neighborhood. Last summer I stayed with them for two months and I didn't notice any 'army of rats.' Didn't notice any vermin near my car either.

You want to see rats? Drive up and down 5th Avenue from 59th street to where Central Park ends at around one in the morning. HUGE motherfucking rats come out of the park at night.

I used to live in New York and would sometimes work out at Bally's in East Harlem a few times a week. It's north of the UES and not a great neighborhood, for those unfamiliar with Manhattan. I'd park my car on 105th btwn 2nd and 3rd Ave, and would typically see rats crossing the street. It's disgusting. The people who live in this neighborhood leave garbage strewn on the street. There's garbage everywhere. Sometimes you reap what you sow.

Wadsworth wrote:The most shocking thing about this article is that at one point in time, a maintenance worker could afford to live on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

He's either a super with a free apartment or he's lived up there forever. Not all neighborhoods in Manhattan were always for the wealthy. It also depends what part of the Upper East side you're talking about.

The LES was working class as was Hell's Kitchen. A friend has inherited a huge pre-war apartment in Hell's Kitchen, it was his grandmother's. He lived with her during the last six years of her life, he made sure to get on that lease.

Wadsworth wrote:The most shocking thing about this article is that at one point in time, a maintenance worker could afford to live on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

Yeah now they would be lucky to be able to afford to live in the Lobby.

Nhaiyel wrote:An army of rats is scurrying into apartments, stores and even car engines on a stretch of the Upper East Side"and locals blame blasting for the Second Avenue subway project.

The infestation has left residents of the East 90s along Second Avenue with what they say is the worst rat problem in decades. Things get especially ugly at night, says Walter Johnson, a 60-year-old maintenance worker.

"It looks like the street's moving," says Mr. Johnson, who has lived on 93rd Street east of Second Avenue since 1976. "It's just wild. You can't imagine how infested this place became." (...)

When alternate-side parking rules were suspended around Easter and Passover, Mr. Washington left his car in front of 318 E. 93rd St. for almost a week, he says.

One morning around 9 a.m., Mr. Washington says, he had to take his wife to the dentist. But when he turned the key, the car started to shake and people on the street shrieked, he says. Seven rats ran out from under the front of the car.

When Mr. Washington shifted into reverse, two more ran out. Mr. Washington says he was able to drive his wife 14 blocks south to the dentist and back, but the car was shaking so much he decided to have it towed to a dealership in New Rochelle.

"My dashboard was lit up like a Christmas tree," he says. "'Check engine, check oil, check everything.'"

The rats had chewed wires under the Toyota's hood, and started to build a nest from paper, he says. The smell of urine was strong.


http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704448304575196110880930850.html?mod=WSJ_hps_MIDDLEThirdNews#project=SLIDESHOW08&s=SB10001424052748704446704575206772552826754&articleTabs=article

I believe it. Every morning at 34th and 7th Subway I see rats all the time and they look pretty healthy. People throw food onto the tracks and the rats feed off off this. I have to wonder if this 2nd ave. project is really going to help alleviate the crowding on the subways. Anyone that lives in NY and knows the 53rd and Lex station, they made this even more crowded by opening up passage to the 6 train and sticking an escalator right in the middle of the platform where there is like 3 feet of room on each side for people to get out of the crowded trains to get to the escalator that will take them to the 6 train or the street. Very poor planning.

They've been doing a lot of building in the city I live in. Rats and mice are a serious problem when you tear up their natural habitat.

In what universe is 318 E. 93rd St. considered the Upper East Side? It sounds rather like the neighborhood where that horrid jewelry-making woman lives with the little Asian girl and her three ignored boys in their bunk-bed tower.

I once read an article that said rats have no socially redeeming quality. They are bred out of filth, and exist for the sake of affirming that there is something wrong with the environment. It is a fact that rodents feed on garbage, and nest in debris. If a community makes a concerted effort to keep the trash and squaller to a minimum, Ben and his little friends will not be drawn to the area. If people are not going to care, the rodents will.

Scariest shit I've ever seen was a rat as big as a damn dog come out from somebody's trash when I was walking down 3rd Ave.

This thread gives me the hevy-jeevies. I just can't deal with rats. :::::SHUDDERS:::::
I'd be ready to pack up and move a LONG distance away.

But yeah like Tony Marino says, you see them on subway and train tracks.

Nystyle709 wrote:Scariest shit I've ever seen was a rat as big as a damn dog come out from somebody's trash when I was walking down 3rd Ave.

Nystyle709 wrote:Scariest shit I've ever seen was a rat as big as a damn dog come out from somebody's trash when I was walking down 3rd Ave.

I was on a subway train once and at 50th and 8th the doors opened and a rat came aboard! You should have seen the people jumping and screaming it was just hilarious!!