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NEW YORK (FOX5NY.COM) - Rats have overrun the Claremont Consolidation Houses in the Bronx. NYCHA apologized to residents and promised improvements. But will that be enough?
Trash removal on Tuesday included a dead rat from an apartment. Fox 5 saw NYCHA workers actively dealing with a rat infestation that resulted in a 1-year-old boy being bitten in his crib.
Trash, which is like a gourmet meal for the rats, is a big problem at the complex. Residents can only dump it on the sidewalk because the basement is too dangerous for proper trash disposal.
We saw what we thought were new trash cans in the courtyard, but resident leader Danny Barber said the bins are for recycling, not garbage.
NYCHA said it has a multi-step plan for getting rid of the rats and making sure they don't come back. Staff went door to door to check every apartment, the authority said.
City Council Member Ritchie Torres said he is outraged by what he saw, including video of rats in a resident's kitchen.
After hearing reports about children being bitten by rats, the New York State Health Department sent in inspectors.
"As part of the State's monitoring of ongoing NYCHA health and public safety crises and at the invitation of the tenants' association, DOH staff are on site today conducting a review of the situation," spokesman Jonah Bruno said.
Residents said the basement became so infested with rats that workers could not go down there to incinerate garbage. So it piled up in other places. NYCHA is looking a long-range trash removal solution.