Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

NYC's new rat-killing weapon is wildly successful – for now

businessinsider.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 94 posts

Re: NYC's new rat-killing weapon is wildly successful – for now

#21

Post by InCityDreams »

scientaster2 wrote: post #6
lalaland1125 wrote: post #2

The real solution is quite simple: trash cans The reason why NYC has such a rat epidemic is because they literally throw their trash bags on the street. Which leads to some getting ripped open and leaving food for pests.

The first time I visited NYC, I was appalled that so many people just casually live in the stink of street trash 24/7. They just don't see it as an issue, strangely

Hong Kong in the 60s-70s was a real shithole, NYC sounds a lot nicer. HK cleaned itself up, real nice. Our fave market was called "stinky's".

Re: NYC's new rat-killing weapon is wildly successful – for now

#22

Post by hombre_fatal »

otoburb wrote: post #5

>> [...] a lot of people don't want to give up street parking spots for garbage containers. This is an understatement. A New Yorker with a car that doesn't/can't pay the monthly indoor garage fees will fight tooth and nail for street parking.

On the other hand, it's a reminder of how car-brained we are. You can fit a dumpster in the space that a single SUV takes up, but even in NYC that driver's convenience is more important than a basic amenity like waste management.

Re: NYC's new rat-killing weapon is wildly successful – for now

#23

Post by HPsquared »

notjustanymike wrote: post #8
lalaland1125 wrote: post #2

The real solution is quite simple: trash cans The reason why NYC has such a rat epidemic is because they literally throw their trash bags on the street. Which leads to some getting ripped open and leaving food for pests.

Trash cans aren't viable because of shortcomings in our infrastructure; we don't have alleyways. Large apartment buildings use dumpsters or basement trash rooms, but you can't exactly cart those out on to the sidewalk. Street side pickup is the only option barring rebuilding the city, and a garbage man isn't picking up an entire trash can. Having a truck pick up the garbage can would also encounter issues with space…

Don't Americans have Wheelie Bins?

https://wikiwaste.org.uk/Wheelie_Bin

Re: NYC's new rat-killing weapon is wildly successful – for now

#24

Post by cantSpellSober »

otoburb wrote: post #9

The original NYC "Director of Rodent Mitigation" Rat Czar job posting was hilarious, but completely serious. The municipal government took down the job posting once it was filled, but copies are still floating around for posterity[1]. [1] https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11493659/Seeking-le...

The Daily Mail?! Surely we can do a little better

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-63837306

https://www.npr.org/2023/04/14/1170120247/nyc-rat-czar-kathl...

Re: NYC's new rat-killing weapon is wildly successful – for now

#25

Post by woodruffw »

notjustanymike wrote: post #8
lalaland1125 wrote: post #2

The real solution is quite simple: trash cans The reason why NYC has such a rat epidemic is because they literally throw their trash bags on the street. Which leads to some getting ripped open and leaving food for pests.

Trash cans aren't viable because of shortcomings in our infrastructure; we don't have alleyways. Large apartment buildings use dumpsters or basement trash rooms, but you can't exactly cart those out on to the sidewalk. Street side pickup is the only option barring rebuilding the city, and a garbage man isn't picking up an entire trash can. Having a truck pick up the garbage can would also encounter issues with space…

This is true and also a simplification: NYC required steel trashcans for street pickup for decades, until getting rid of them for performance reasons (I believe the argument was that they made garbage pickup slower).

The city is now bringing back the trashcan requirement, but plastic this time. It remains to be seen how effective that will be (since rats will happily chew through heavy plastic to get to food).

Edit: I realized that I've also simplified: the new can requirement is for commercial pickups only. That's the majority of rat-inducing foot waste, but it's still just a partial solution.

Re: NYC's new rat-killing weapon is wildly successful – for now

#26

Post by hx8 »

scientaster2 wrote: post #6
lalaland1125 wrote: post #2

The real solution is quite simple: trash cans The reason why NYC has such a rat epidemic is because they literally throw their trash bags on the street. Which leads to some getting ripped open and leaving food for pests.

The first time I visited NYC, I was appalled that so many people just casually live in the stink of street trash 24/7. They just don't see it as an issue, strangely

The first time I visited NYC was for a job interview. I wanted to live in an urban, walkable city with plenty of cultural and business opportunities. The trash situation was a primary factor in me choosing another city and another job.

I get that many many people in NYC don't see this as an issue, or don't see this as a solvable problem. As an outsider it is absolutely disgusting, and forever lowered my opinion of the city.

Re: NYC's new rat-killing weapon is wildly successful – for now

#27

Post by cantSpellSober »

ch4s3 wrote: post #18
scientaster2 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The first time I visited NYC, I was appalled that so many people just casually live in the stink of street trash 24/7. They just don't see it as an issue, strangely

EVERYONE but Bill Deblasio sees it as an issue.

Bill Deblasio is not the mayor of NYC, please update your copypasta

Re: NYC's new rat-killing weapon is wildly successful – for now

#29

Post by cmrdporcupine »

macintux wrote: post #17
scientaster2 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The first time I visited NYC, I was appalled that so many people just casually live in the stink of street trash 24/7. They just don't see it as an issue, strangely

~20 years ago I visited Toronto for a Debian conference in the middle of an outdoor workers strike. I wanted to visit Chinatown, but the heaps of trash bags that hadn't been collected left a stench that I couldn't stomach.

I remember that strike :-) Welcome to Ontario :-)

Spadina Chinatown has always been notorious for that. Back in the 90s, it was intolerable on garbage days even when there was no strike. Lots of expired seafood in bags out on the sidewalk etc.

Nothing like rotting squished crabs baking in hot humid 85f summer smog.

It's improved a lot since then.

Re: NYC's new rat-killing weapon is wildly successful – for now

#30

Post by sschueller »

otoburb wrote: post #5

>> [...] a lot of people don't want to give up street parking spots for garbage containers. This is an understatement. A New Yorker with a car that doesn't/can't pay the monthly indoor garage fees will fight tooth and nail for street parking.

Solutions exist[1] that provide a very large trash storage with little above ground space.

[1] https://www.villiger.com/en/products#underground-systems

Post reply on HN