NYC Has an Infestation Problem… Why?

Over the last 65 years, NYC’s rat population has grown 800%… and its not slowing down. Why is that?

Cartel - Blue Steel // Don’t Slip on the Drip - Norman Sann

**Everything used to make this video**

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[damonaniton]

I was home about a month ago. As someone born and raised in NYC the amount of both trash and rats was insane to me. To say it was bad was an understatement.

[TT-dpqh]

Your report is much better than those news channels. Very clever!!!

[Jeracraft]

In Gibraltar where I'm from, most of the community comes together once a year to clean up the environment and nature reserves voluntarily. It's a wild comparison but I don't understand why there is so much trash.

[markkramer]

Cash, you've taken a "simple" real-estate channel and evolved it into a superb documentary channel about life in a big city.
I don't know what you're educational background is, but you make a great reporter and correspondent.
Keep on keeping on!

[russellkeeling]

I worked for years in a mountain resort community and we had a problem with bears. They would get into the trash containers and scatter trash while teaching their young that was their source of food. It took much work to prevent the bear from getting to the trash containers and when we were able to accomplish that the humans were to lazy to open the closed area and would just throw their trash on the top of the enclosure. You can put all the trash containers you want around your city but the people have to be retrained to not be lazy bums and use them correctly.

[gembearer]

Avoid movie theaters; once the lights go down, the bed bugs become active. Bed bugs can crawl off of a host, or out of a cushion and onto you. Makes my skin crawl!

[kathleenlankford]

People pay outrageous rents to live in filth, doesn't make sense to me.

[donaldleider]

Lifelong NYC resident, I just watched a video about Singapore. I was jealous, I couldn’t believe how clean it was!

[markadler]

This is what happens when you leave garbage laying in the streets for pickup. I live in Vancouver Canada right downtown and hardly ever see rats. We have thick steel bins that get collected regularly that are fairly rat proof.

[adidass]

I’m 45 and it’s been the same rat problem in NYC for as long as I can remember. Same complaints, same trash and same dumb city officials

[dianaquill]

This is why my arms hurt as a kid when we were traveling. My parents immediately checked for bed bugs and we had to carry all our stuff and theirs as they checked the room.

Great content, I enjoyed listening. Thank you for sharing!

[actuallyitisrocketscience]

I can’t believe a major city like NYC is so far behind the times. I live in Florida. We’ve had the garbage and recycling containers with automated pickup for around 20 years here, and I’m in a rural suburb. Any apartment buildings have either trash compactors or dumpsters. Putting out garbage bags will get you fined. You’d think a big city would be ahead of us in technology.

[isnoo]

I owned a business back in the 80's in Perth Western At the time part of the ground floor was a Cafe.... which we had no control of. Some of our guests came to us one day to tell us about the RATS running around in the the Cafe which could be seen from the street. Thankfully we were able to get the people out of there and were able to take over the Cafe and make it a part of our business. It took a LOT of work but we did I know what it is like to have these pests/vermin in your life!!

[lesterdiamond]

Every one of these videos makes me so happy about my life.

[PLuMUK]

In my city in England, they decided a few years ago to start using wheelie bins. Certainly, in my area, the rat population plummeted. Obviously, there will still be rats. However, from seeing them daily, I actually can't remember the last time that I saw a rat.

Containing the rubbish in lidded bins does work, but only if every property has to use them. There are parts of my city where black sacks are dumped alongside bins, where fly-tipping occurs, these are the areas where rats are visible and a problem. These are also often the areas where there is a lot of graffiti, and this is part of the problem. Excess graffiti suggests that the area is not cared for. An area that looks uncared for means that people take less interest in the environment. Litter therefore increases. The litter attracts rats. The more run down an area looks, the less people care for it.

Dealing with the rat problem is not solely the job of local government. However much money is thrown at the problem, if the locals don't play their part, then the money may as well just be poured down the drain.

[mariah]

Influencers glamorize NYC. Cash keeps it real

[SaraSachsMediumonthego]

When I lived in NYC, the vermin problem was pretty bad, but now it seems out of control. Back then, the rule of thumb was to never rent in a building with a restaurant or bodega downstairs. I'm glad that Cash addressed the problem with food service places in this excellent video. My only disagreement would be is that it's an exercise in futility to check a restaurant's cleanliness, no matter how expensive and fancy shmancy they are. There's always slippage in the best of them. To be safe, avoid those buildings all together. I remember a garbage workers strike being settled fast because of the piled up garbage attracting rats. There was talk of the potential of bubonic plague because of the fleas the rats could be carrying. I kid you not. NYC really needs to address this whole problem, because bedbugs could be awaiting you at the Plaza.

[Gitnit]

In the olden days, I remember seeing pictures of people sweeping the sidewalks and streets in front of their houses. Now we depend on the government to clean up after us. Apparently, government is not able to keep up with the slobs who don't care to clean up after themselves.

[seankirby]

Your content has changed and in my opinion for the better. Thanks for mixing it up ! Oh just so you know the containers they are going to start using are very easy for rats to chew through. The lids do not lock and they are flimsy and even the ones you showed had already been chewed throughed. Most likely buildings with over 9 apartments already have stricker rule. They just are not followed.

[_Kittensworth]

A rat tried to run up my leg in Bushwick a couple years ago. I'm not afraid of rats, but I don't want a stray one running around on my feet!