There’s a new “Rat Pack” in town.
Mayor Eric Adams is looking for volunteers to join an “elite corps of dedicated rat-control activists,” named after a group of A-listers from the 1950s that included Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin.
Those who sign up for the “New York City Rat Pack” will receive flashy prizes, such as T-shirts and hats featuring the rat logo, Adams said at a community cleanup event Sunday in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park.
During his tenure as mayor, Adams has waged a multi-pronged war on rats, including finally mandating that the city’s trash be placed in containers and appointing a $170,000-a-year “rodent control officer.”
The “Rat Pack” joins these campaigns in a three-step process to get New Yorkers to join the fight: attending the Department of Health’s “Rat Academy,” which teaches safe and effective rat prevention methods; participating in “Rat Walks,” which detail the lives of rats in the city; and finally, Supported Events Clean, rodent-free environment.
The branded merchandise that comes with being part of the Rat Pack has caught the attention of some New Yorkers, including Mr. Aminat, a 59-year-old Brooklyn native.
“The shirts are nice, but I don’t do it for the shirts,” she told The Post on Monday. “I do it because I live here.”
But not everyone was excited about the chance to be part of a pest control team.
Wilson Chen, who has lived in Sunset Park for 15 years, said his neighbors have already been trying to clean up their trash, but the city’s sanitation department isn’t picking up the piles of trash that rats love to collect.
“The problem is not our society, it’s the garbage not being collected,” Chen said. “Sometimes we put our garbage out and it’s not collected for two weeks, and then we have to take it back.”
Some people agreed with the idea of the outspoken mayor who hates rats.
“If everyone does their little bit, we can keep the city a little cleaner,” said Maria Surdana, who has lived in Brooklyn for 38 years.
Surdana spoke to The Post in Sunset Park, near 44th Street and Sixth Avenue, where dozens of trash bags were lined up.
“I’ve lived here for 38 years and I’ve never seen the city so dirty,” she said, adding that she was volunteering because she couldn’t take it anymore.
The rat eradication effort has also, perhaps surprisingly, garnered tentative support from PETA.
Ashley Byrne, a New York resident and director of public affairs and communications for the animal rights group, said the program appears to focus on nonlethal, humane preventative measures, such as neighborhood cleanups.
“The solution to the concerns about New York being overrun with rats is prevention, not culling, so we’re all in support,” she said.
“But I would say this: I want the Mayor to stop demonizing rats and instead target the nasty humans who dump their trash on our streets and subway tracks.”
