NYC’s rat-fighting mayor fined over infestation at own house
BEDFORD-STUYVESANT — New York City Mayor Eric Adams is such an enemy of rats that he once called a press conference to demonstrate a contraption for drowning them. Now Adams finds himself contesting a $300 fine issued by his own administration over a rat infestation at a building he owns in Brooklyn.
Adams was issued a summons by the city health department on May 10 after a health inspector spotted “fresh rat droppings” at his townhouse on Lafayette Avenue in Bedford-Stuyvesant.
The New York Times reports that Adams dialed into a city administrative court hearing on Tuesday to contest the $300 fine, which he was issued after first ignoring the summons.
Adams told the hearing officer that he had spent nearly $7,000 battling rats at the property and had even used the rat-drowning device that he promoted in 2019 when he was Brooklyn borough president, the Times said.