Pols Demand City Clean Up Harlem Trash, Rats As Complaints Soar

HARLEM, NY — As complaints mount about overflowing trash piles and the growing presence of rats in the neighborhood, a cohort of politicians including Congressman Adriano Espaillat and City Comptroller Scott Stringer demanded on Tuesday that the city take steps to clean up Harlem’s streets.

Dozens of business owners have complained in recent weeks about the trash pileups, Stringer said, which have been reported citywide after the Department of Sanitation’s budget was slashed by $106 million in the city’s latest, coronavirus-addled budget. Those cuts reduced the frequency of trash pickups and shrunk the city’s rat-fighting efforts.

Indeed, reported rat sightings have soared since April within Harlem’s eight ZIP codes. After spotting 81 rats in April, residents reported 117 rats in July, and 71 so far in August, according to Patch’s review of the city’s rat data.

“These rats are walking around waiting for a table at outdoor seating,” Stringer joked at Tuesday’s news conference, held on the corner of 125th Street and Lenox Avenue. “I’ve seen them walk upright. They come up to me and say, ‘Good morning, Mr. Comptroller!’”

In a letter sent Tuesday to the city’s sanitation and Health and Hygiene commissioners, Espaillat and Stringer asked the city to install large, Big Belly trash cans along more commercial streets to handle overflow; to allow businesses to put their own trash bins outside stores without facing fines; and to address the growing rat infestation.

“I say to the mayor today: Wake up! Get out here and see what’s going on,” Stringer said, arguing that the budget cuts alone could not explain the fall-off in service.

Also in attendance were Harlem City Councilmember Bill Perkins and State Sen. Brian Benjamin, who said the trash was a sign of neighborhood neglect.

“Trash is the visible manifestation of lack of interest, of lack of resources, of lack of support,” Benjamin said. “What we need is beyond giving us the Big Belly cans.”

In a statement, a Sanitation spokesperson said the city needs federal aid or borrowing authority from the state to avoid further cuts to core services.

“As always, we rely on the partnership of our fellow New Yorkers – residents and business alike – to keep our City clean, and we’re grateful for their cooperation,” said Belinda Mager, the department’s communications director.

In their letter, Stringer and Espaillat requested that the city respond to their demands by Sept. 1.