As Eric Adams battles rats across NYC, trouble still scurrying around his own backyard

Mayor Adams may be making strides in his administration’s war on rats, but he’s still struggling with a battle closer to home.

The mayor is facing a $330 fine over an allegedly persistent rat infestation at his Brooklyn apartment building, city records show. The fine was initially $300, but it jumped 10% when he missed a December response date.

In his sixth rodent-related citation since becoming mayor, Adams was hit with the ticket on Nov. 6 from a Health Department inspector who observed “fresh rat droppings” in the front yard of his rowhouse on Lafayette Ave. in Bedford-Stuyvesant, including near trash bins and underneath a utility meter.

The inspector cited Adams for alleged failure to remedy the active rat conditions, summons paperwork says.

Adams could’ve contested the fine on Dec. 11 before an Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings officer. But he didn’t appear at the hearing and hasn’t yet paid off the fine. As a result, he now owes the city $330, $30 of which is a default penalty.

Spokesmen for Adams didn’t return requests for comment Monday.

Adams’ administration has focused on cracking down on rats citywide.

According to Adams’ latest management report released last week, the Health Department conducted 56,000 pest control inspections across the city between July and October, the latest reporting window. That marked a 17% increase in inspections as compared with the same span in 2023.

Of all the inspections in the latest period, 21.9% of targeted properties were cited for “signs of rat activity” — the violation that has plagued Adams’ home. That marked a 3% improvement compared with the July-October 2023 period, and the Health Department cited that trend to the administration’s “focus on increasing proactive rat inspections” and “efforts to promote best practices in rat management citywide,” the management report says.

Including the latest ticket, Adams has been slapped with six summonses for rat violations at his building. Four of those tickets were dismissed after Adams contested them, while he paid $300 to resolve a fifth one in March 2023.

Originally Published: February 3, 2025 at 6:40 PM EST