New York City Mayor Eric Adams has been served with a subpoena regarding a rat infestation at the Brooklyn home where he lives with his son.
Adam’s file showed an unpaid $330 subpoena he received in May – after his home in Bedford Stuyvesant was found to be inundated by rodents.
The mayor declared war on the city’s rats last week when he posted a job looking for what he dubbed the Big Apples’ “rat tsar,” better known as the citywide director of rodent mitigation.
“There’s nothing I hate more than rats,” he said last week when announcing the new job posting.
This comes after Jessica Tisch, commissioner of the Department of Sanitation, sensationally said last month, “The rats don’t rule this town, we do.”
Mayor Eric Adams will appear in court next week after being fined $330 after his Brooklyn home was found to be infested with rats
Adam’s home is on Lafayette Street in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn. He lives in the basement and rents out the other two floors to pay for his son’s college education
Adams appears to be battling rats in his own home and across town. Pictured: a rat on the subway
Adams was due to appear in court in June but has postponed his hearing until next week. He can pay a fine of up to $600.
He appeared to be addressing his rat problems by placing rat traps around his home, photos revealed by the New York Daily News.
Garbage bags also lined up outside his home in front of two filled bins – which may not have helped his growing rat problem.
The Mayor’s Neighborhood in Brooklyn is known to have rat issues and the issues have been addressed with the help of the Department of Health and Human Services.
As Adams is scheduled to appear in court next week, he has “spent thousands of dollars seeking remedy.” [the] infestation at his Brooklyn residence earlier this year,” a spokesman for the mayor told the Daily News.
However, records showed that Adams had not addressed the infestation.
Adams’ Brooklyn neighbors said rats are a big problem on the block due to garbage bags on the streets and construction.
“You dodge rats every night,” Meredith Rogers said.
The mayor said he lives in the basement of the property with his son and rents out the upper floors.
The mayor previously said he hates nothing more than rats. He’s currently looking for someone to deal with the town’s rat infestation
The Mayor’s Neighborhood in Brooklyn is known to have rat problems and the problem has been addressed with the help of the Department of Health and Human Services
Adam’s house serves as a partial rental property. The mayor has previously failed to list his home as a rental property, and critics have accused him of actually living in New Jersey with his girlfriend, Tracey Collins.
He debunked the claims last year – before he became mayor – when he brought reporters into his Brooklyn home and showed them his unkemptly made bed and creaky floors.
The mayor said he lives in the basement and rents out the floors above to pay for his son Jordan’s college tuition.
Adams is registered to vote on the first floor, but a tenant who has lived there for years is listed under the same unit in several documents obtained by Politico last year.
His neighbors also previously said they were unaware that Adam lived on their block.
Adams last year invited reporters to tour his Brooklyn basement home to prove he actually lived in the city — and not in New Jersey
At the time, Adams was President of the Borough of Brooklyn. He held a press conference alongside his son Jordan, 25, to insist he was living at the property
Adam’s rat problem extends outside of his home and onto the streets of New York. Last week he started his job search for a rodent control specialist.
The job, which makes between $120,000 and $170,000, is open to anyone with a background in city planning, project management or government work, but it appears the Democratic mayor is looking for someone with flair for the position.
A city council member told CBS that the city has seen a 71 percent increase in rat sightings since 2020.
Adams held a press conference in October where he said that along with crime and inequality, “fighting the rats” was what he was focusing on in his attempt to make New York a livable city.
The rat hunting job description explained that the job would do “the impossible” to stop the city’s rats.
It also suggests you have a “swashbuckling attitude, sly humor, and an overall aura of badassery.” Knowledge of PowerPoint is also required.
However, the position also has a dark side, as it states that you need “stamina and stagecraft” and that “the ideal candidate is highly motivated and somewhat bloodthirsty.”
The post reads: “Despite their successful public engagement strategy and cheeky presence on social media, rats are not our friends. Rodents spread disease, damage homes and electrical wiring, and even try to control the movements of kitchen staff to take over human jobs.”
Adams wants to pay a rat hunter more than $120,000 to get rid of the rodents in town
Adams held a press conference in October where he said that along with crime and inequality, “fighting the rats” was what he was focusing on in his attempt to make New York a livable city
This is perhaps a reference to a time when rats were seen eating everything from pizza and bagels to the salad that went viral online.
The first rodent to take social media by storm because of its oversized appetite was Pizza Rat.
In September 2015, New Yorkers were stunned when footage emerged of him carrying a whole large slice of pizza down the steps of a subway station.
Although the disk was larger, the rat managed to drag it down several steps before being defeated.
The video clip of his valiant efforts went viral.