B-Mouse Summer isn't over yet.
New Yorkers aren't convinced the city's new pizza box trash cans will scare away pizza-loving rats.
New York City parks officials on Friday unveiled new rodent-proof trash cans big enough to fit a square pizza box in several New York City parks, but the new bins went largely unnoticed by park-goers over the holiday weekend.
“I think it's more of a gesture than anything,” said Chris, 24, from Queens, speaking at Further Demos Square in lower Manhattan, one of five parks included in the bin experiment.
New York City Parks Commissioner Sue Donahue announced the initiative as part of Mayor Eric Adam's “trash revolution,” saying the goal was to scare rats away from popular eateries and keep streets a little cleaner.
The brown pizza bins are nothing fancy, just have a small sign that reads “Empty pizza boxes only.”
“That's a good thing. People [know it’s here]”I don't know if there's enough information around here that there's a special place that delivers pizza. I've never seen it,” said Lewis, 46.
So far, only six have been installed in various parks around the city, all next to or near traditional trash and recycling bins.
The trash can in Father Demo Square in Greenwich Village is largely ignored by pizza-loving locals, who barely noticed it was a trash can on Sunday.
“That's an Eric Adams initiative. Are you serious?” Esther, 23, of Brooklyn, asked incredulously.
With the regular trash can still nearby, patrons of the famous Joe's Pizza barely noticed the new pizza-friendly alternative.
A Washington Post reporter observed three people eating pizza and then throwing the Joe box into a regular trash can in just 10 minutes.
“And look, [graffiti] “It already feels so symbolic,” Esther told The Post. “It's amazing.”
She noted that because the awkward-looking opening cut into the front of the can is very low to the ground, it would still be very easy for a rat to get inside.
Each bottle costs about $950. Gothamist reported.
The effort is consistent with Mayor Adams' intense hatred of rats, a hallmark of his mayoral career: He previously hired a $180,000 “rodent” to help mitigate New York City's rat infestation.
Adams' next goal in his battle against the city rats is The first nationwide urban rat summit In September this year, rat experts will begin work to “advance the science of urban rat management”.
