Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz applauds the New York City Department of Health (DOH) for their most recent effort in ridding the Kingsbridge community of rats. A major clean-up has been taking place in the areas surrounding 3058 Godwin Terrace.

The clean-up is a result of the Assemblyman's request several months ago after hearing about a terrible rat problem in the vicinity. After the Assemblyman visited the site first hand, what he saw disgusted him. A dumping ground existed behind 3058 Godwin Terrace between the building and several stores along Broadway. Garbage of all shapes and sizes were visible at this location. Also visible were signs of major rat infestation.

After Assemblyman Dinowitz initially contacted DOH and several inspections were made, warnings went out to the property owners to clean and maintain their property. When these warnings were unheard, summonses were then issued.

The next step is cleaning up. Since the owners do not take it upon themselves to clean their property, DOH does the job. A cleaning crew has been removing trash from the dumping ground daily and may be there for quite some time. They have baited the area for rats and set many traps to capture the rodents. They have also put up posters to inform the community and urging the community residents not to feed pigeons since that too can lead to rats in the neighborhood.

"I am pleased to see that the process is continuing to flow in the removal of rats on Godwin Terrace. When I originally saw what existed behind 3058 Godwin Terrace, my stomach turned. After going back more recently and seeing the crew removing trash it was quite a difference. There is still a lot of work to be done, but I'm glad to see that this terrible problem is being addressed. I applaud the Department of Health for working with my office to make sure that Kingsbridge becomes rat free", said Dinowitz.