Queens woman fined $600 over rat reports

August 29, 2024 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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MASPETH — AN IRATE QUEENS woman is seeking payback from the city after being fined $600 over rats living in the roots of a city-owned tree near her Maspeth home, reports PIX News, stemming from complaints that she called in to 311. Esther D’Alia, 91, told PIX that she reported the rats last summer after seeing them beginning to burrow into her yard but was surprised to receive two $300 summonses and was forced to pay for an exterminator herself. The city denied her appeal, on the grounds that D’Alia did not hire the exterminators until after the summonses were issued — although the city only repaired the sidewalk near the tree, sealing off the rat holes, just last month. Councilmember Robert Holden has taken D’Alia’s side, helping negotiate the sidewalk repair, and is seeking to have the city reform its rat complaint procedures, which even Mayor Adams has fallen afoul of, saying that issuing fines to complainants encourages people not to report rat infestations.

“The city, to add insult to injury, is ticketing the homeowner or the person who complained, but it’s not even their land. This is so ridiculous… People will say, why should I complain? Then they’ll come after me.” Holden told PIX.

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