Dear Honorable Mayor DeBlasio and Sanitation Commissioner, Edward Grayson:

The residents of the landmarked Lamartine Place on West 29th St. between 8th and 9th Avenues have come together to create this petition. Our neighborhood, as well as the neighborhoods of many other NYC residents as represented by the signatures below, are crawling with rats. This is a serious health hazard. We ask the City do the following things to eradicate the rats:

1. At the bare minimum, the City must require all buildings to have rat-proof garbage bins (common in cities in Europe) with hinged lids and wheels which owners must put out to the curb so that sanitation workers can collect the garbage on scheduled garbage collection days. The current practice of allowing New Yorkers to put black plastic garbage bags on the sidewalk that are left out overnight must end. The City must also replace all open mesh public garbage cans presently located on our street corners with rat-proof bins with an opening that can be closed.

2. The City must prevent leftover food from being strewn about the city by strictly enforcing littering laws. This includes ensuring that organic garbage is adequately removed daily from streets and parks, with support from NYC initiatives/organizations such as the Parks Department and the Department of Sanitation. (For example, the public grounds of the New York City Health Department located at 9th Ave. and 28th St could use much more support.)

3. The City must have NYC Pest Control do much more frequent rat inspections.

4. The City must exterminate the rats city-wide and end this health emergency instead of exclusively relying on owners to do so and then fining them if they do not comply. Some of the owners whose properties have a rat infestation do not live in the City and are difficult for the NYHealth and Mental Health Department to locate.

Your help in restructuring the procedures and equipment for garbage collection would be deeply appreciated by the residents of Manhattan.