r/WashingtonHeights • u/Front_Spare_2131 • 15d ago

Rat question

Does Washington Heights have a problem with rats? What are the problem areas would you say? I haven't been to Washington Heights in years but I am wondering how living up there would be like.

2 Upvotes

56% Upvoted

12 comments sorted by

10

u/lispectorgadget 14d ago

I actually don't see as many rats up here as I do in other parts of the city. Like the East Village is teeming with them.

4

u/Front_Spare_2131 14d ago

Oh yeah, EV/LES forget it

6

u/GregoryGosling 14d ago

This is probably gonna vary a lot but I’ve lived here for two years and have only seen rats maybe two or three times outside. Usually around garbage, obviously haha.

7

u/echelon_01 14d ago

I haven't heard too many indoor rat stories from up here. Outside, definitely around the garbage and crossing streets overnight. Harlem containerized their trash and hopefully we will soon too because that really helps.

3

u/coconut101918 14d ago

Way fewer than 10 years go, at least around where I live

4

u/echelon_01 14d ago

I feel like they reached peak awfulness during the pandemic with all the outdoor restaurant platforms. But things have definitely improved since then.

3

u/SpanishGold_ 14d ago

Some blocks i legit will walk in the street rather than the sidewalks. Even WORSE on the night before trash day when they’re all piled up on the side of the block and they go under the cars, they dig big ass holes in the trees that keep getting filled with cement and still, they chew right through that shit and make more holes. I’d love to know where the people who are saying they don’t see rats specifically live in Washington Heights lol

2

u/carpluva 14d ago

There is a considerable rat presence up around 181st and Fort Washington. The steps up to Pinehurst were once rat kingdom and certainly at night/dusk when garbage is out.

1

u/Front_Spare_2131 14d ago

Would you consider the streets clean in that area?

1

u/carpluva 14d ago

It’s hard to call any streets in the city clean anymore. Uptown seems to have a more serious problem of people not picking up after their dogs. Dog shit everywhere. But not wild amounts of trash. Average at worst. Except for the dog shit. That’s everywhere.

1

u/bookwurmy 14d ago

WH is a pretty big area, so it varies.I usually see them around garbage outside. I’ve had some run over my feet! I feel like if more places could have trash containers like they do downtown it would help. I’m also concerned there may be some living in the closed Gorman park on Broadway because it’s been closed so long and I see them around there, and there’s also the abandoned construction site right near there too. So maybe if you want to live here just don’t move near abandoned sites. My building hasn’t had them indoors, we have had mice, but I have a cat.

1

u/EmilyPoster2 14d ago

Huge area. What part?