NEW YORK (AP) — New York City’s mayor has beaten the rat rap.
Days after Mayor Eric Adams appeared remotely at a city administrative hearing to contest a $300 fine for a rat infestation at a townhouse he owns, the fine was dismissed.
Adams said Tuesday that he had spent thousands of dollars on rat mitigation efforts. The hearing officer was satisfied, and the fine was dismissed on Thursday.
The officer ruled that the mayor had “placed rat traps around the property and helped educate and encourage his neighbors to take similar steps to combat infestation,” The New York Times reported.
Adams’ press secretary, Fabien Levy, said Friday that the hearing process worked as it was supposed to.
“Mayor Adams practices what he preaches,” Levy said. “When he says rats are filthy animals that need to be exterminated, he means it, and that’s why he spent thousands of dollars doing just that at his residence in Brooklyn.”
News of the fine emerged a week after Adams posted a job listing for a rat czar to lead the campaign to eradicate the pests.
But Adams believes rat fighting must be a team effort. “He hopes all New Yorkers join him in the wholesale slaughter of rats across our city,” Levy said.
