Critters are running all over a Brooklyn public housing complex, and the tenants are unhappy with it. The problematic climate resiliency project has these possums, raccoons, rats, and even those with six legs.
Critters All Over Brooklyn
One of the residents, Karen Blondel, president of the Red Hook West Tenant Association, said there's a dead possum and stinking, she'll report it. Such a massive influx of coons, possums, rats, and cockroaches had started after the New York City Housing Authority began a $550 million refurbishment of the Red Hook houses infrastructure in 2017, reported NY Daily.
These works encompass a $3.2 billion Recovery and Resilience Program after the onslaught of Hurricane Sandy in 2012, per NYC Gov.
According to Alberto Calderon, a New York licensed commercial nuisance wildlife control operator; saying these pests are building and making tunnels (rats) to travel underground. They are only giving more ways to allow entry for the unwanted pestilence, citing Local Today.
Hurricane Sandy hit development hard, leaving the housing with no power or utilities for a long time. But the following environmental overhaul that should have been finished in the middle of 2021 is only at 60% finished. It became a wildlife preserve with a 40-acre network of underground tunnels with many pests, from four-legged to six of these critters.
Everything went awry when the plan was to improve and make the Brooklyn public housing complex facilities resilient, including the water, heat, and piping, for less climate change effect.
One of the residents, Tavina Willis, who has lived in Red Hook for 16 years, said more vermin are rats, skunks, and possums, unlike before.
Brooklyn Public Housing Complex Infestation
Calderon added that under the law in New York, only approved wildlife can remove these pests. The NYCHA has eradication staff working in the Red Hook Houses, but they do not treat zones currently under construction based on the agency.
The website says the contractor utilizes a private pest control company that controls vermin like rats, roaches, and bed bugs.
Due to the infestation, the residents say they need to do more.
Pamela, 61, a Red Hook crossing guard, saw more raccoons and cat-sized rats in the area. She added it was her first time there, and she had lived there for eight years.
Another complaint from another tenant, Anthony Hernandez, 62, stated that it's the worst in 20 years living there. Mentioned there's a problem with rats and roaches all over, citing a rat was seen on the fourth floor. Saying they could have climbed the walls.
All the NYCHA East and West complexes are made up of 32 buildings, with many low- and moderate-income tenants; many are colored, said long-time resident Blondel.
Most of the underground construction work started in the summer of 2020 but will extend to the last three months of 2024.
According to Blondel, when the garbage piled up, it needed a special meeting was to be called. A representative of NYCHA mentioned the renovation project had included repairing the bust landscape, playground, basketball courts, adult exercise area, and seating places when all finished.
Calderon added the critter are hard to remove when they claim the place, so they must be managed. The critters in the Brooklyn public housing are causing a stir, expecting more to be done.
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