The New York Department of Sanitation is taking heat from Upper West Side residents who are tired of their neighborhood being overrun by rats.
The upscale population is blaming the Department of Sanitation for the varmint explosion because 110 litter baskets have been removed in the past 12 months and the remaining cans are overflowing giving the rats a feast on the street.
In 2018, the Upper West Side had the highest concentration of rat complaints in NYC according to a survey conducted by the nonprofit watchdog group OpenTheBooks.com.
A spokesperson from the Department of Sanitation released a statement to the New York Post that blamed the residents of the Upper West Side for abusing the litter baskets by filling them with household trash-and claimed removing the bins resulted in cleaner streets for a brief period.
Rodent sighting have gone up by 38 percent citywide since 2014, city officials credited the mild winters for the increase.
Photo Credit: Getty Images