8 THE QUEENS COURIER • AUGUST 8, 2019 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Ridgewood & Auburndale led rat pack in Queens last year
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
rpozarycki@qns.com
@robbpoz
Ridgewood continued to
have Queens’ largest reported
rat population, while
complaints about the critters
spiked in two northeastern
neighborhoods last
year, according to a Renthop
report released on Aug. 5.
Th e “Is Your City Rodent
Infested?” report documented
complaints about critters
running through major cities
across the United States
in 2018, including a borough
by-borough breakdown
for New York City.
Brooklyn continues to lead the city in
rat complaints, with 6,526 reports during
2018. Queens is in the middle of the
fi ve-borough pack with 2,605 complaints
in 2018, with an average of 24.1 complaints
per square mile.
While none of the Queens neighborhoods
could be considered rat-infested,
residents in Ridgewood had the most
reported rat sightings last year, with
179 total complaints. Th at’s a marginal
increase of 4.7 percent from the 171
sightings in the neighborhood back in
2017.
Jackson Heights (162 complaints in
2018, a 27.6 increase from 2017) and
Astoria (93 complaints in 2018, down
from 108 in 2017) were second and third,
respectively, in having the most rat complaints
in Queens.
Two northeast Queens neighborhoods,
meanwhile, had a surge in rat sightings
last year. Auburndale in Flushing had a
340 percent increase in rat complaints
last year, but while that number sounds
truly skin-crawling, the raw number of
complaints was actually small (22 complaints
in 2018 versus fi ve complaints in
2017).
Oakland Gardens also saw a surge
in rat sightings in 2018, with 12 complaints.
Th at’s up 200 percent from the
four reported in 2017.
Screenshot of map via RentHop
Meanwhile, four Queens neighborhoods
had the biggest drop in rodent
complaints in 2018. Bayside and Bayside
Hills had a 75 percent decrease in reports
over the last year (18 in 2018 versus 73 in
2017), followed by Rego Park with a 73
percent plunge (18 complaints in 2018
against 66 in 2017). College Point residents
saw 64 percent fewer rodents in
Screenshot of map via RentHop Photo via Getty Images
2018 (5 cases against 14 in 2017) and
Ozone Park had a 63 percent decrease
(14 complaints in 2018 versus 38 reports
in 2017).
While rodent complaints tend to peak
during the summer, the most rat sightings
in New York City last year occurred
in the spring and early summer months
of May, June and July, with a combined
38,319 complaints for the period. By contrast,
the fewest complaints were recorded
in January, November and December,
a combined 21,844.
Check out the full report on Renthop’s
website.
Costa seeks protective nets under N line in Astoria
BY MAX PARROTT
mparrott@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
Aft er a heft y metal fl ashlight recently
fell from a construction project on the
elevated subway tracks in Astoria and
nearly struck a pedestrian, Councilman
Costa Constantinides urged the
Metropolitan Transit Authority to install
protective netting under the entirety
of the elevated N/W tracks in western
Queens.
“It landed at her feet. If she had
been half a second quicker, something
bad would have happened,” said
Constantinides.
Constantinides said that the fl ashlight
incident called attention to the daily risk
western Queens residents face under the
subway. He said that he regularly hears
complaints and sees tweets from Astoria
residents about debris falling along the
31st Street tracks from construction or
track maintenance, but hasn’t been able to
substantiate any of these claims until now.
MTA offi cials recently announced the
agency’s plan to install netting under
N/W tracks at the Queensboro Plaza
and 39th Avenue stations — about a
mile south of Constantinides’ district.
Th e councilman is calling on the agency
to complete the remaining two miles
Councilman Costa Constantinides holds a fl ashlight that fell from an N/W track and nearly injured
a constituent.
of track up to the Astoria-Ditmars
Boulevard station.
“Just make sure that we’re safe. We’re
not asking a lot. Just give us peace of
mind. Th is isn’t an attack on the MTA,
they’ve been very responsive, and we
acknowledge the hard work of the
men and women who do this,” said
Constantinides. “I’m just saying it makes
sense.”
Max Parrott/QNS
Asked how much he estimates it would
cost, Constantinides said, “I guarantee
that the cost of the netting is cheaper
than if something bad were to happen.”
Each weekday, around 52,000 commuters
traveled on average through the
N/W stations in Constantinides district
including 36th Avenue, Broadway, 30th
Avenue, Astoria Boulevard and Astoria-
Ditmars Boulevard.
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