Boston City Council debates new Office of Pest Control for rat-plagued neighborhoods

BOSTON -- April 9, 2024, Boston City Council weighs creating a standalone Office of Pest Control after five years of hearings on a worsening rat problem. The Committee on Government Operations, chaired by Councillor Gabriela Coletta Zapata, heard testimony Tuesday on Docket 0262, co-sponsored by Councillors Edward M. Flynn and Liz Breadon, which would formalize a coordinating office for multi-departmental rodent abatement. Dr. Robert Corrigan, an urban rodentologist hired by the city for approximately $20,000 to audit current operations, warned that Boston's 14 licensed environmental inspectors, covering 22 wards with no routine weekend shifts, represent a significant gap, and that overuse of poison bait stations amounts to "band-aids" substituting for integrated pest management. Chief of Operations Dionne Irish declined to commit to specific budget changes before Corrigan's final Boston Rodent Action Plan report, due by the end of April, is delivered. Allston-Brighton resident and Rat City Arts Festival founder Richard Meinke testified in support, urging the council to give any new office enforcement power over negligent landlords.