Do You Want This Rat Merch? The Mayor Hopes So.

Do you live in New York City? Have you ever thought to yourself, Gee, I’d like to personally do something about all of these rats running around?Are you willing to do just about anything for a T-shirt?

Mayor Eric Adams is hoping to recruit everyday New Yorkers to the New York City Rat Pack, a volunteer initiative to help fight the city’s some three million rat residents. At a news conference on Sunday, Mr. Adams described the newly formed unit as an “elite squad of dedicated anti-rat activists,” the latest effort in his ongoing war against rats.

Members of the pack are expected to complete three tasks to become certified members. First, they must attend a “rat academy” class led by the health department to learn about prevention methods. Second, they must participate in a “rat walk,” a stroll through the city with a group of up to 30 people to get a better sense of “the relationship between the built environment, human behaviors and rat biology.” Those hoping to join the Rat Pack must also participate in a volunteer project, like a park cleanup.

Participants will not be paid for their efforts, but instead receive Rat Pack swag, including a T-shirt and a baseball cap. The “R” in rat pack has been stylized to look like the trash-eating vermin the initiative targets.

Online, reactions to the mayor’s announcement were mixed. “It’s not expensive enough in this city, they now want us to act as exterminators,” one user wrote on X of the new initiative. “Is this a trick,” the comedian and writer Julie Klausner wrote in a post.

Mr. Adams has made controlling the rat population in New York a major focus of his time in office, often to the befuddlement of political observers. In 2019, when he was Brooklyn borough president, he drew some criticism after demonstrating how to use a device for drowning rats.

And it’s personal: Mr. Adams has long espoused his particular hatred of the creatures, claiming that his childhood home had been overrun by the critters and that he once had one as a pet, Mickey.

As mayor, he has escalated the issue. Last year, after conducting a national search, the Adams administration appointed Kathleen Corradi as the city’s first-ever rat czar and tasked her with leading the fight against the rodents that scurry around the city’s streets and subway tunnels, burrow into trash bags and, on unfortunate occasions, skitter across the feet of unsuspecting city dwellers.

But she has her work cut out for her, and the mayor himself has been battling (and been fined for) rat infestations at a Brooklyn rowhouse he owns.

Will a free shirt and a hat be enough to entice New Yorkers to join the fight? The rats probably hope not.

Advertisement