Proposed Rule Relating to the Use of Certain Receptacles by Food-Related Businesses

Online comments: 48

• James Romanelli

  Can the rule be extended for all commercial bussinesses, regardless of if they are related to food, put their trash in receptacles. It should also be added that receptacles are removed from the street or sidewalk by 8am the next morning.

  Comment added May 18, 2023 3:12pm

• Matthew Suozzo

  Just make sure it costs as little to businesses as possible, are low enough that they won’t tip over, and have reflectors so when they inevitably get pushed into bike lanes people won’t get hurt.

  Comment added May 18, 2023 3:44pm

• Joseph Ghezzi

  Dear city officials. One of the most effective measure you should be considering in the never ending battle against rodent infested streets is removing the rat motels (outdoor dining structures) that provide ideal harborage conditions for the rodents. All these other measures, later put out times for garbage, this proposal, are like trying to plug a dam fissure with a finger. The massive increase in observed rat population correlates almost perfectly with the erection of the structures. They served their purpose during the pandemic. Their time is gone. Every time I’ve witnessed one of these structures demolished a little colony of rats has scurried away from them. Wake up. Get rid of their habitats and you might get s handle on the issue.

  Comment added May 18, 2023 9:50pm

• Joseph Ghezzi

  One of the most effective measure you should be considering in the never ending battle against rodent infested streets is removing the rat motels (outdoor dining structures) that provide ideal harborage conditions for the rodents. All these other measures, later put out times for garbage, this proposal, are like trying to plug a dam fissure with a finger. The massive increase in observed rat population correlates almost perfectly with the erection of the structures. They served their purpose during the pandemic. Their time is gone. Every time I’ve witnessed one of these structures demolished a little colony of rats has scurried away from them. Wake up. Get rid of their habitats and you might get a handle on the issue.

  Comment added May 18, 2023 9:52pm

• Alice S

  The new rules will be a logistical nightmare for most businesses as there is no place to store numerous containers inside. Allowing these disgusting dumpsters to be in front within 3 feet of the restaurant is a ridiculous idea. They will be blocking sidewalks get sprayed with graffiti and they will smell. There is no way that these will be kept clean as pedestrians will start dumping garbage into these containers making a mess for many small businesses. Many small restaurants have just 15-20 feet of frontage in my neighborhood and some blocks have 3 or 4 restaurants or food establishments. How will all these containers fit on sidewalks? We don’t have a rat problem in Bay Ridge. Some restaurants owners I know already tried a wheeled container with a lid and it became a rat motel. The rats can get into containers and it’s not going to solve the rat issue. Time Square did a pilot with containers for their trash cans and it didn’t go well. Why does the city continue to push a one size fits all for a problem that is largely confined to high density areas like Manhattan and some neighborhoods in the outer boroughs?

  Comment added May 18, 2023 10:07pm

• Johncaro

  It’s a good idea for businesses in stores to use trashcan for the garbage call Rob population it’s impossible to live. What is rats and they’re danger

  Comment added May 19, 2023 1:17am

• Teresa Solomita

  I live in Prospect Heights and cannot walk without seeing rats, dead or alive, especially on the evenings that restaurants and food establishments put out their trash in overloaded garbage bags. Please enact this new ruling for the safety and well being of our community.

  Comment added May 19, 2023 7:33am

• Brian Rifkin

  This rule is so eminently sensible. I support it 100%. It’s in fact outrageous that NYC is still in the position of putting trash bags filled with food on the street curb. Please implement this as soon as possible, and then continue toward real containerization infrastructure across the city at the expense of a small fraction of free parking spots.

  Comment added May 19, 2023 8:40am

• Julie Lang

  I live in Boerum Hill Brooklyn and cannot walk without seeing rats, dead or alive, especially on the evenings that restaurants and food establishments put out their trash in overloaded garbage bags. Please enact this new ruling for the safety and well being of our community.

  Comment added May 19, 2023 8:53am

• Rocco Rella

  Now this regulation make sense!! I often see torn garbage bags placed next to outdoor eating sheds, rats don’t need to go that far for food. Enacted immediately.

  Comment added May 19, 2023 5:00pm

• Frances Dirks

  I live in _Carroll Gardens Brooklyn and cannot walk without seeing rats, dead or alive, especially on the evenings that restaurants and food establishments put out their trash in overloaded garbage bags. Please enact this new ruling for the safety and well being of our community.

  Comment added May 19, 2023 5:02pm

• Heather Hamilton

  I strongly support this new rule. This is a very important and much needed change to help deal with disturbing and unhealthy rat population explosion in our neighborhood. Trash needs to be contained. Thank you for your help!

  Comment added May 22, 2023 12:00pm

• Jason Dumelie

  There isn’t enough space on sidewalks for restaurants to put more garbage there. These are heavily used spaces and restricting them makes it even more difficult for people with challenges walking.

  On the other hand, parking is socially harmful. If DSNY is allowing restaurants to put their garbage out, it should specifically be in parking spaces, not on the sidewalk.

  Comment added May 25, 2023 5:11pm

• James L

  The proposed rules sound terrible for restaurants in NYC. First off aesthetically, having trash cans all over the place is going to look ridiculous. Secondly, there is no place to store them inside. Most of us are on leased space with only so much room. Having to store and move trash cans inside and out is a logistical nightmare and puts an unfair burden on hard working business owners in the restaurant industry. Lastly, the cost of doing this is going to be significant. Restaurants are already struggling after COVID, so to add this cost would be punitive to an industry that is still trying to make up for years of lost revenue that hasn’t even returned. I would STRONGLY discourage the city from passing this. You’re just hurting the industry if you pass it.

  Comment added May 25, 2023 5:57pm

• Erick C

  This idea is just as terrible as changing the put out times . People create trash and with more people there is more trash, what needs to be done is opposite of all of these ideas. Remove or stop setting up city bikes. Also no to putting trash cans in cars places and doing away with trash bags how will buildings with compactors like high rises get their trash out???? You seem to be fixated on rats but forgetting that rats are still finding food and all that is being done is making more space for restaurants trash now . So why we’re overall put out trash times changed if restaurants can put their trash out all day?? We changed the menu for the rats is what this now does ??? So now we go from building trash to definite food waste which is what the rats want??????? Please make this make sense

  Comment added May 25, 2023 8:08pm

• Erick

  Dear city officials. One of the most effective measure you should be considering in the never ending battle against rodent infested streets is removing the rat motels (outdoor dining structures) that provide ideal harborage conditions for the rodents. All these other measures, later put out times for garbage, this proposal, are like trying to plug a dam fissure with a finger. The massive increase in observed rat population correlates almost perfectly with the erection of the structures. They served their purpose during the pandemic. Their time is gone. Every time I’ve witnessed one of these structures demolished a little colony of rats has scurried away from them. Wake up. Get rid of their habitats and you might get s handle on the issue.

  Comment added May 25, 2023 8:14pm

• Carol Morrison

  I am writing in support of proposed change in DSNY rules that all food-related businesses must set out any putrescible solid waste, including refuse and organic waste, at the curb for private carter collection in rigid receptacles with tight-fitting lids.

  I lead the Prospect Heights Rodent Task Force—initially created to address the gross rat infestation on Lincoln Place between Underhill and Washington. After our group’s first meeting we realized there was a significant problem throughout 11238. And then the NYC RAT PORTAL https://www.nyc.gov/site/doh/health/health-topics/rats.page corroborated our lived experience. Prospect Heights  (11238) has the dubious distinction of having the most 311 calls for rodents. (The most infested section of our zipcode —from Eastern Parkway to Park Place between Washington AVe and Underhill)—is overrun by rodents.
  11238 today, post-pandemic has an overwhelming rat problem of epic proportions—with stories to match.

  In 11238, there are rats found in car engines year-round, burrows throughout our precious street tree pits, infestations in local restaurant basements, in abandoned cars, rats running across people wearing flip-flops, and unchecked rat colonies growing under outdoor food huts and parks.Anyone reading this welcome to join me on a night walkthrough on Lincoln Place or the (grossest of the gross) St Johns Place between Underhill and Washington to find real-time corroborating evidence of the infestation.

  We realize that NYC has no comprehensive strategic plan with regard to rodent control—so no one agency can (or does) take responsibility—but be clear NYC is still facing this epidemic without a meaningful strategy and that must change. Hopefully Kathleen Corradi, the city’s citywide director of rodent mitigation and the formidable Carolyn Bragdon, Director of Neighborhood Interventions, Bureau of Veterinary & Pest Control Services Division of Environmental Health, New York City Department of Health & Mental Hygiene along with the leadership of Department of Sanitation, Commissioner Jessica Tisch will develop an coordinated interagency strategic plan. (Let’s think global warming and rats reproducing 12 months a year to inspire some enthusiasm for a coordinated interagency strategic plan)

  However, as developers continue to ravage our city infrastructure and restaurant outdoor eateries leave a 24 hour smorgasbord for rats (I am pro-restaurants just anti-rats) , one helpful policy addition would be that any business that produces food waste should be required to place their waste in sealed containers to limit potential food sources for vermin.  

  I am in full support of this measure.

  Carol Morrison
  Prospect T Heights rat Task Force
  11238

  Comment added May 27, 2023 1:15pm

• Judith Anne Pruden

  voting for waste pick up..

  Comment added May 27, 2023 7:59pm

• Carey Tan

  I am writing in support of a proposed change in DSNY rules that all food-related businesses must set out any organic waste at the curb in rigid receptacles with tight-fitting lids. I am a resident of Prospect Heights and I believe that this simple rule change would make a big difference in my neighborhood’s rat problem. We all know that rats’ easy access to organic waste is the #1 contributor to their out-of-control population growth, so it makes total sense that food waste should be kept in sealed containers, where the rats can’t access it. In fact, I believe that residential organic waste should likewise be kept in rat-proof containers, so I’m eagerly awaiting the rollout of a citywide trash containerization plan. In the meantime, I believe that this rule change pertaining to food-related businesses will make a noticeable improvement in our city’s rat problem.

  Comment added May 28, 2023 9:46am

• Jesse Hendrich

  We are overrun by rodents.

  I am writing as a resident of Prospect Heights, and a member of S.C.R.A.M. (Sterling’s Committee for Rat Awareness & Mitigation). I support the proposed change in DSNY rules: that all food-related businesses must set out any putrescible solid waste, including refuse and organic waste, at the curb for private carter collection in rigid receptacles with tight-fitting lids. In the anti-rodent activist work of S.C.R.A.M., we have found that the single-most effective method of reducing the rat population is to eliminate bags of garbage with food waste on our streets. S.C.R.A.M. agrees that businesses that produce food waste should be required to place their putrescible waste in sealed containers and thus limit potential food sources for vermin. In addition to this important rule change, we hope further that the City considers eliminating the floors of any outdoor dining shed, which provide food scraps and harborage for out-of-control rat infestations.

  Comment added May 28, 2023 10:54am

• Teresa

  See my attached document. This illustrates the reason we need containerized trash in NYC.

  This is obviously one solution to a problem that requires a systemic approach. Let’s at least get this done.

  Comment attachment
  Proposed-rules-comment.docx

  Comment added May 28, 2023 4:00pm

• Suzette Sundae

  For the love of God it’s about damned time!

  Comment added May 29, 2023 9:56am

• Liza F Kuritsky

  I am writing in support of proposed change in DSNY rules that all food-related businesses must set out any putrescible solid waste, including refuse and organic waste, at the curb for private carter collection in rigid receptacles with tight-fitting lids. I am a resident of Prospect Heights and have multiple restaurants near my home. Walking home after dark, the only way to avoid a rat encounter while walking past the restaurants when garbage is out is to literally walk in the street to avoid them. Obviously not a desirable option as that leads to other types of real risk of injury. And so, I agree that any business that produces food waste should be required to place their waste in sealed containers to limit potential food sources for vermin.

  Comment added May 29, 2023 7:45pm

• Kate Huyett

  I am writing in support of proposed change in DSNY rules that all food-related businesses must set out any putrescible solid waste, including refuse and organic waste, at the curb for private carter collection in rigid receptacles with tight-fitting lids. I am a resident of Prospect Heights and rats are a major issue in our neighborhood. I agree that any business that produces food waste should be required to place their waste in sealed containers to limit potential food sources for vermin.

  Comment added May 29, 2023 7:56pm

• Bryce Covert

  I am writing in support of proposed change in DSNY rules that all food-related businesses must set out any putrescible solid waste, including refuse and organic waste, at the curb for private carter collection in rigid receptacles with tight-fitting lids. I am a resident of Prospect Heights and our rat infestation levels are like nothing I’ve ever seen in my two decades of living in New York City. The only effective and sensible way to fight the problem is to put garbage in rigid containers with lids. This also has another important benefit: clearing sidewalks for pedestrians, especially those with wheelchairs and strollers, and making our city cleaner and less smelly when we don’t have rotting piles of garbage bags strewn all over our sidewalks and streets.

  Comment added May 30, 2023 8:27am

• Megan Hertzig-Sharon

  I am writing as a resident of Prospect Heights, and as a member of S.C.R.A.M. (Sterling’s Committee for Rat Awareness & Mitigation). I support the proposed change in DSNY rules: that all food-related businesses must set out food waste at the curb for private carter collection in rigid receptacles with tight-fitting lids. In the anti-rodent activist work of S.C.R.A.M., we have found that the single-most effective method of reducing the rat population is to eliminate bags of garbage with food waste on our streets. S.C.R.A.M. agrees that businesses that produce food waste should be required to place their waste in sealed containers and thus limit potential food sources for vermin. If the restaurant or business can’t fit all their waste in closed containers, they need to use additional containers not pile the bags on top of their container. Thank You

  Comment added May 30, 2023 8:34am

• jillian steadman

  Hello,
  I am a member of SCRAM, we are overrun by rodents, we support this sanitation rule change! Our block in prospect heights was horrible and we have seen real change since asking neighbors to use cans! I would love to feel at ease again while walking in the evening!! Please!
  Thank you
  Jillian Steadman(member of SCRAM)

  Comment added May 30, 2023 9:12am

• Kamy Wicoff

  As a member of my block association’s rat prevention committee, I can attest that NOTHING is as effective in reducing the rat population than eliminating their food source. We have worked hard to educate and support our neighbors and have seen big improvements from getting more residents to use cans with tight-fitting lids, but without support from the city and guidelines (and consequences) for the biggest producers of food waste—restaurants—we have absolutely no hope of turning this issue around. Please add your authority and your leadership to our grass roots efforts and pass, and enforce, this rule! It also seems that the city has the duty to pitch in to help make this affordable and doable for restaurants.

  Comment added May 30, 2023 10:29am

• Zachary Halbrecht

  I am writing in support of proposed change in DSNY rules that all food-related businesses must set out any putrescible solid waste, including refuse and organic waste, at the curb for private carter collection in rigid receptacles with tight-fitting lids. I am a resident of Prospect Heights and rats ate my car’s engine wiring last summer! A costly and inconvenient repair. And so, I agree that any business that produces food waste should be required to place their waste in sealed containers to limit potential food sources for vermin.

  Comment added May 30, 2023 10:35am

• Art Chang

  I am writing in support of proposed change in DSNY rules that all food-related businesses must set out any putrescible solid waste, including refuse and organic waste, at the curb for private carter collection in rigid receptacles with tight-fitting lids. I am a resident of Prospect Heights and.. [insert story about rats, and perhaps the role of restaurant garbage or copy and paste my testimony highlighted below]. And so, I agree that any business that produces food waste should be required to place their waste in sealed containers to limit potential food sources for vermin.

  Comment added May 30, 2023 10:41am

• Ellen Edelman

  I am a member of our block association’s rodent mitigation committee (SCRAM). We are overrun by rodents. Individual home owners on our block are making efforts to eliminate rats, such as having trash cans with lids, but we get little support from local businesses (landlords and restaurants especially). We need the City to back us up. That is why I strongly support this sanitation rule change!

  Comment added May 30, 2023 11:45am

• Mary Shuford

  I am writing in support of proposed change in DSNY rules that all food-related businesses must set out any putrescible solid waste, including refuse and organic waste, at the curb for private carter collection in rigid receptacles with tight-fitting lids. I have been a resident of Prospect Heights for over 50 years. Prior to 2020, I had NEVER seen rats running in our streets or, worse yet, in our backyard gardens. Since then, increasingly we not only see evidence of rats in our backyards (and sometimes the rats themselves), but there is no time when I walk the streets that I do not see at least 1 rat scurrying along the sidewalk or from the curb into buildings.

  Our block association on Sterling Place between Washington and Underhill Avenues has established protocols for enclosing all household garbage in rat-proof garbage cans with lids, both when it is alongside our buildings and when we put it out for collection. We also have alerted our neighbors to be on the lookout for rats nesting in their tree beds, planters, or under their stoops. When evidence is discovered, efforts are made to disrupt the burrows. We have had some success in reducing the rat population on our block, but the fact that restaurants, stores, and other businesses on the cross streets do not contain their garbage erodes our efforts to control our rat population.

  For these reasons, I agree that any business that produces food waste should be required to place their waste in sealed containers to limit potential food sources for vermin.

  Thank you for your consideration.

  Mary Shuford

  Comment added May 30, 2023 12:49pm

• Michela Galante

  I am writing in support of proposed change in DSNY rules that all food-related businesses must set out any putrescible solid waste, including refuse and organic waste, at the curb for private carter collection in rigid receptacles with tight-fitting lids. I am a resident of Prospect Heights and rats are a huge problem in my neighborhood. And so, I agree that any business that produces food waste should be required to place their waste in sealed containers to limit potential food sources for vermin.

  Comment added May 30, 2023 1:17pm

• Kate Caldwell

  I am writing in support of proposed change in DSNY rules that all food-related businesses must set out any putrescible solid waste, including refuse and organic waste, at the curb for private carter collection in rigid receptacles with tight-fitting lids. I am a resident of Prospect Heights and I support the tremendous work being done by my neighbors to reduce the infestation of rats that we have by reducing rat access to edible waste further and further. And so, I agree that any business that produces food waste should be required to place their waste in sealed containers to limit potential food sources for vermin.

  Comment added May 30, 2023 1:33pm

• Lucas Hendrich

  I am writing in support of proposed change in DSNY rules that all food-related businesses must set out any putrescible solid waste, including refuse and organic waste, at the curb for private carter collection in rigid receptacles with tight-fitting lids. I am a resident of Brooklyn . And so, I agree that a business that produces food waste should be required to place their waste in sealed containers to limit potential food sources for vermin.

  Comment added May 30, 2023 2:14pm

• Daniel Evans

  Dear city officials – as a long-time city resident, in the late evenings I have often had to navigate the sidewalk between a restaurant and it’s pile of bagged waste, and am used to having to steel myself to the almost inevitable rat confrontation that ensues. Sometimes you just hear the rat(s), sometimes you see them frolicking on the pile, sometimes they get spooked and come out like a wave right at you. Requiring commercial locations to dispose of food waste in a way that will limit such waste from becoming a rodent food source is a net win for the public and public health.

  Comment added May 30, 2023 2:30pm

• Roy Abir

  I am writing in support of proposed change in DSNY rules that all food-related businesses must set out any putrescible solid waste, including refuse and organic waste, at the curb for private carter collection in rigid receptacles with tight-fitting lids. I am a resident of Prospect Heights and see how rats “took controls” of the neighborhood especially during the evening and nights. This also affect the cleaning less of the neighborhood as garbage bags are open after a night of rats’ feast and sidewalks are full of organic waste. And so, I agree that a business that produces food waste should be required to place their waste in sealed containers to limit potential food sources for vermin.

  Comment added May 30, 2023 2:49pm

• Tara Prout

  I am writing in support of proposed change in DSNY rules that all food-related businesses must set out any putrescible solid waste, including refuse and organic waste, at the curb for private carter collection in rigid receptacles with tight-fitting lids. I am a resident of Prospect Heights and in 11238, there are rats found in car engines year-round, burrows throughout our street tree pits, infestations in local restaurant basements, in abandoned cars, rats running across people wearing flip-flops, and unchecked rat colonies growing under outdoor food huts and parks. And so, I agree that any business that produces food waste should be required to place their waste in sealed containers to limit potential food sources for vermin.

  Comment added May 30, 2023 4:05pm

• Scott Dvorin

  We have an overwhelming rat problem in Prospect Heights and throughout the rest of the city. I strongly believe limiting their access to food from restaurant garbage left in bags on the street will go a long way to alleviating the issue. Let’s close the all-they-can-eat buffet for rats outside of restaurants.

  Comment added May 30, 2023 4:24pm

• Ben

  Dear city officials. One of the most effective measure you should be considering in the never ending battle against rodent infested streets is removing the rat motels (outdoor dining structures) that provide ideal harborage conditions for the rodents. All these other measures, later put out times for garbage, this proposal, are like trying to plug a dam fissure with a finger. The massive increase in observed rat population correlates almost perfectly with the erection of the structures. They served their purpose during the pandemic. Their time is gone. Every time I’ve witnessed one of these structures demolished a little colony of rats has scurried away from them. Wake up. Get rid of their habitats and you might get s handle on the issue.

  Comment added May 30, 2023 7:43pm

• Christine Blackburn

  I am writing in support of proposed change in DSNY rules that all food-related businesses must set out any putrescible solid waste, including refuse and organic waste, at the curb for private carter collection in rigid receptacles with tight-fitting lids. I am a resident of Fort Greene for over a decade and I have experienced a terrifying and unsafe level of increase in the rat population . The dining sheds on our street are full of living and dead rats and I’ve paid over $5000 just to mitigate burrows on my property which were caused by the rats eating restaurant food waste . Rats run over my kids feet as we try to enter our home on a regular basis.And so, I agree that any business that produces food waste should be required to place their waste in sealed containers to limit potential food sources for vermin.

  Comment added May 30, 2023 9:01pm

• John S

  The proposed rule puts undue burden on restaurant owners who are still struggling after the pandemic. Firstly, the rule will mandate owners to pay out of pocket for these costly bins. Many restaurants put out dozens of garbage bags and will require a dozen garbage bins. Will the city reimburse them for these costs? Secondly, where will owners store these bins when not in use? There is absolutely no space or backdoor alleys for storing these bins. The bins, in the dozens, will remain on the sidewalk and be an eyesore for the business front. They will no doubt be a target of theft and vandalism. This proposed rule, in addition to the recent rule change to put out garbage later, puts great undue burden on business owners still struggling post-pandemic. I do not support this proposal and urge officials to look at alternative methods.

  Comment added May 31, 2023 10:45am

• Maya Lundhagen

  I am writing in support of proposed change in DSNY rules that all food-related businesses must set out any putrescible solid waste, including refuse and organic waste, at the curb for private carter collection in rigid receptacles with tight-fitting lids. I am a resident of Prospect Heights and know that as much as residents try to eliminate food sources for rats, we’ll continue to have a significant rodent problem unless businesses do the same. And so, I agree that any business that produces food waste should be required to place their waste in sealed containers to limit potential food sources for vermin.

  Comment added May 31, 2023 12:06pm

• Anthony Verde

  I am writing in support of proposed change in DSNY rules that all food-related businesses must set out any putrescible solid waste, including refuse and organic waste, at the curb for private carter collection in rigid receptacles with tight-fitting lids. I am a resident of Carroll Gardens . And so, I agree that any business that produces food waste should be required to place their waste in sealed containers to limit potential food sources for vermin.

  Comment added June 1, 2023 10:05am

• kathryn glass

  I’m writing to support the proposed DSNY rules that all food-related businesses must set out any putrescible solid waste, including refuse and organic waste, at the curb for private carter collection in rigid receptacles with tight-fitting lids. I live in Prospect Heights, where the rat population has exploded since outdoor eateries have been up and down Vanderbilt Avenue. Please, please help our neighborhood curtail the rat population; small businesses have a manifest interest in protection the communities they serve and profit from. Kathryn Glass

  Comment added June 1, 2023 1:52pm

• Michelle French

  I am writing in support of proposed change in DSNY rules that all food-related businesses must set out any putrescible solid waste, including refuse and organic waste, at the curb for private carter collection in rigid receptacles with tight-fitting lids. I have resided in Prospect Heights for more than 20 years, and the rats have become increasingly present in streets, gardens, alleys, basements, sidewalks, car engines, etc. We have put in a lot of effort to rat-proof our building as have many of our neighbors, but these efforts are almost futile as long as the restaurants on nearby Washington Ave and Vanderbilt Ave continue to provide ample food for rats by leaving garbage in bags on the sidewalk. I have many rat sightings and stories, from just this year, including seeing own block’s version of “pizza rat” transporting a giant slice of pizza across the front of several apartment buildings, and sitting inside a Prospect Heights restaurant by the window and seeing multiple rats animating (digging around inside) the restaurant’s garbage bags right outside the window – very unappetizing. I agree that a business that produces food waste should be required to place their waste in vermin-proof containers to put an end to the rat buffets.

  Comment added June 1, 2023 7:43pm

• Erin Kelly

  I live in Gowanus and cannot walk without seeing rats, dead or alive, especially on the evenings that restaurants and food establishments put out their trash in overloaded garbage bags. Please enact this new ruling for the safety and well being of our community.

  Comment added June 2, 2023 6:17pm

• Pete Simon

  Put a lid on it!

  I am writing in support of proposed change in DSNY rules that all food-related businesses must set out any putrescible solid waste, including refuse and organic waste, at the curb for private carter collection in rigid receptacles with tight-fitting lids. I am a resident of Prospect Heights and am sick of seeing the more concentrated rat activity around less-than-good-neighbor restaurants nearby. And so, I agree that a business that produces food waste should be required to place their waste in sealed containers to limit potential food sources for vermin.

  Comment added June 3, 2023 9:27am