New York City hired Ratcatcher for $155,000 a year, and she’s had a passion for exterminating insects since she was just 10 years old.
Mayor Eric Adams announced the appointment of 34-year-old former elementary school teacher Kathleen Corradi on Wednesday, and it comes just months after he was ordered to pay $300 for an infestation of rats at his Brooklyn home.
Corradi became the city’s first director of rodent mitigation—a position Adams had previously dubbed “Rat Czar”—and He will lead a team of rodent experts to deal with the critical rat problem in the city. Viewings have doubled in the past year, according to city data.
Corradi said the city will begin to reduce food waste on the streets, and Adams said the “Rat Relief District” in Harlem will see $3.5 million invested in ridding the neighborhood of rodents.
New York City has hired rat writer Kathleen Corradi (pictured right) for $155,000 a year
Adams said the “Rat Relief District” in Harlem will see $3.5 million invested in ridding the neighborhood of rodents
In December, Adams receives a summons for a rat infestation in Brooklyn where he lives with his son
“This is a job almost made for her,” Adams said of Corradi during a news conference Wednesday.
Although chosen after a national search, she worked for the Education Department and previously led rodent reduction efforts, New York times mentioned.
“With these efforts, nearly 70 percent of schools with persistent rodent problems have reached their compliance goals,” Coradi said.
“As New York City’s first Director of Rodent Mitigation, I will provide a science and systems-based approach to reducing the rat population in New York City.”
“You’ll see a lot more of me and a lot less rats,” she added.
Her mother told the Times that her hatred of mice is long-standing. She recounted how ten-year-old Corradi spotted a dead rat near some train tracks on Long Island nearly 25 years ago.
In shock, she distributed it among the neighbors and handed it to the local officials, demanding that they do something.
“The Long Island Rail Road Company listened,” her mother said. They came and relieved the mice.
At a conference Wednesday, the city laid out on the table a variety of materials it was proposing to use to attack rat populations, including traps, sealants and poisons.
Adams declared war on rats last December when he began his search for someone to fill the new position. “There’s nothing I hate more than mice,” he said while announcing Corradi’s job now.
Corradi became the first citywide director of rodent abatement, but the long-sought position was previously dubbed “Rat Czar”.
At a conference Wednesday, the city laid out a variety of materials it was proposing to use to attack rat populations, including traps, sealants and poisons.
The mayor’s neighborhood in Brooklyn is known to have rat problems and is addressing the problem with the help of the health department
The position is listed as for anyone with a background in urban planning, project management, or government work. He. She Explain that the task will require doing the “impossible” to reduce the number of rats in the city.
She also noted that a suitable candidate would have “a cocky attitude, a sly sense of humor, and a general aura of vulgarity”. Knowledge of PowerPoint is also required.
The job also required “stamina and theatrical craftsmanship” and the listing suggested that “the ideal candidate is highly motivated and somewhat bloodthirsty”.
Despite their successful public engagement strategy and cheeky presence on social media, rats are not our friends. The post said rodents spread disease, damage homes and wiring, and even try to control the movements of kitchen staff in an effort to take over human jobs.
Adams’ citywide rat issue affected his home as well. In December, he received a summons due to an infestation of rats at the Brooklyn home he shares with his son.
His record showed an unpaid $330 summons fine he received in May — after his Bedford-Stuyvesant home was found to be infested with rodents.
Adams contested the ticket at a hearing before the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings in February, but an officer denied the challenge and ordered the mayor to pay $300.
Advertisement for the “Rodent Mitigation Manager” job, which Corradi is now hired for
Adams invited reporters to tour his basement home in Brooklyn last year, in an effort to prove that he actually lives in the city — not New Jersey.
When Adams was borough president of Brooklyn, he held a press conference to explain that he actually lived on the property
The Adams House is a part-let property. The mayor previously failed to list his home as a tenant and critics accused him of actually living in New Jersey with girlfriend Tracy Collins.
To debunk the allegations last year he invited reporters to his Brooklyn home. He said he lived in the basement and rented the floors above to pay for his son Jordan’s college fees.
Adams is registered to vote on the first floor, yet a tenant who has lived there for years is listed under the same unit on multiple documents obtained by Politico last year.
Rat Adams’ case extends beyond his home and into the streets of New York City.
