WYPR’s R. Kenneth Burns asked the mayor if it was called “Rat Stat.” Baltimore City officials dubbed it the Rat Rubout. Whatever its name happens to be, the city is taking an alley-by-alley approach to dealing with the rat infestation so its not just a fishing expedition. Here’s the plan:
First, they’ll increase the number of Public Works employees who inspect alleys and bait rats from 8 to 15. With more boots on the ground, the teams will be able to hit every alley in the city, every 20 days. There are 12,250 alleys in the city, so the city is hoping the team can make 5,000 inspections every two weeks. Rats have a gestation period of about 20 days, so hitting each alley within that time is designed to keep them from multiplying.
At the same time, Public Works employees will compile data of 311 calls that come in where citizens complain about rats. The city will keep track of all of those calls, so that the field team can fan out to spots that the rats are particularly fond of.
Here’s a map of rat hot spots that was released yesterday:
After a year, the City will evaluate how the program is going.
”The mayor is going to be requiring us to have results,” said DPW Director Rudolph Chow.
