Heh

NEW YORK — 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 in poison. 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 the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood.

 

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.

 

Adams noted that city laws are designed to penalize homeowners for failing to take steps to prevent and control rodents, according to the Times. “I took those steps,” he said, “and will continue to do so.”