Mayor Eric Adams, a longtime fan of rats, signed an executive order on Wednesday that set up a new “Rodent Mitigation” office—something he’s passing on to his successor, Zohran Mamdani.
The office will be headed by a mayor‑appointed rat czar who will coordinate efforts between city agencies, community groups and private partners to keep the battle against rats going. Some residents worry the rodents are edging ahead since the original rat czar, Kathleen Corradi, left in September.
A City Hall spokesperson added that the new department will work with homeowners, researchers and pest‑control experts to lower the rat population across New York while also driving public outreach and awareness initiatives.
“With this new executive order establishing the Office of Rodent Mitigation, we are ensuring our ‘War on Rats,’ and the smart policies we put in place to coordinate across city agencies, has a permanent home,” Adams said in a statement.
While the budget details are still forthcoming, the mayor’s office reports that rat sightings have dropped for 12 straight months. They attribute this trend to a mix of public‑education campaigns and the Department of Sanitation’s push to containerize 70% of the city’s garbage, cutting off a key food source for the rodents.
The announcement follows last summer’s launch of a specialized “rat death squad” tasked with evacuating vermin from 600,000 street tree beds using carbon monoxide. Groups such as the Council‑member‑created District 35 Rat Task Force have expressed concern that without a dedicated czar, the city could slip back into the chaotic days of uncoordinated mitigation, potentially leading to even more rats.
“Without an interagency approach our beloved city faces a rat infestation that will only worsen, jeopardizing our quality of life and health,” the Prospect Heights organization and the Sterling Place Rat Mitigation and Awareness team wrote in a letter to the incoming mayor-elect, urging the position to be restored once he takes office.
Corradi’s 2020‑to‑2021 role, which paid $176,000 per year, ended when she accepted a leadership job at NYCHA; no successor has been named. Adams closed the note by saying, “I am proud of our legacy on a major quality‑of‑life, public‑safety, and public‑health issue, and I am excited to see this work continue to make our city more livable for all.”
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