City Seeks Pest Control Services For Brooklyn Bridge Park

The Bloomberg administration recently laid off 63 of the city's 84 pest control workers.

A video capture of rats in Collect Pond Park in lower Manhattan in July. On October 29 - the same day the Brooklyn Bridge Park RFP for pest control was published - the City released bid documents for the long delayed re-construction of the park dubbed "Rat Zoo." The Bids are due December 8, 2010.

On October 29, a Request for Proposals (RFP) for pest control in

Brooklyn Bridge Park (BBP) was released. According to the ad posted in the City Record, the park "is seeking bids for Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and extermination services for the park. The Contractor shall furnish all supervision, labor, materials and equipment necessary to accomplish the monitoring, management and pest removal components of the pest program. The Contractor shall perform inspections (frequency and timing to be agreed upon by both BBP and the Selected Respondent) and provide proper identification, management and treatment of pests consistent with IPM principles in order to maintain, control and to prevent infestations."

Jeffrey Sandgrund -seen in an embarrassing video widely seen on You Tube regarding artists selling art in the park - is the contact for the contract.

Is there a rat problem in Brooklyn Bridge Park?

"Absolutely not," Regina Myer, president of the city development corporation overseeing the park’s construction, told the New York Post on Wednesday when asked about the solicitation.

Myer said the contract is about being "pro-active" so that mice, rats and other pests never become an issue at the waterfront park, according to the paper. She said Skanska, which is building the park, provided pest control services early on and before the sections at Piers 1 and 6 in Brooklyn Heights were completed earlier this year.

The bids are due November 19, 2010.

Let's hope the park rats aren't as big as what Brooklyn-based transportation consultant Brian Ketcham recently caught. The bloody creature-the size of a small possum - was rummaging through his front yard on Pacific Street in Brooklyn. It seems that the rats had been initially attracted by Trader Joe's, around the corner from Brian's house, when the store's garbage disposal system had broken down and waste was left on the street for pick up, according to the Neighborhood Retail Alliance.

Read More:

Rats not welcome at Brooklyn Bridge Park

New York Post - November 3, 2010

Are Rats Taking Over Brooklyn Bridge Park?

gothamist - November 4, 2010 - Jen Carlson

Rats Overrun Collect Pond Park - "Rat Zoo"

A Walk In The Park - July 28, 2010

Rats Overrun Collect Pond Park - "Rat Zoo"

A Video capture of rats in Collect Pond Park in lower Manhattan.  

MANHATTAN

Paolo Mastrangelo posted a video on nyctheblog.com of numerous rats frolicking around the decrepit parks' planting beds and enormous sinkholes surrounded by metal barriers.   Adding to the embarrassment, the 1 acre park is located a few blocks from City Hall and is surrounded by numerous court houses. The park has long been known as one of the worst in Manhattan. Besides its deplorable condition, it is also famous because for decades the Parks Department has allowed a major portion of the park to be illegally used as a municipal parking lot without the "non-park use" getting State alienation legislation.   The park's long-delayed $ 3.5 million dollar renovation will consist mostly of hardscape including numerious water features.

"Collect Pond Park seems to be returning to its original state of 200 years ago, when it was a garbage and disease infested sinkhole," Paolo Mastrangelo wrote. "The sidewalks are cracked, broken, and sinking into the ground. Numerous benches are missing seating. Large swaths of paving stone inside the park have gone missing, and the landscaping consists mostly of dirt. Rats have created a network of tunnels underneath. The park is used by mainly by homeless and intoxicated peoples in the evening, and working class residents who work in the government buildings nearby during the day. Neither group apparently worthy of a cared for and landscaped park." 

MYFOXNY.COM - A New York City blogger recorded footage of rats overrunning a Manhattan park to the point where he jokingly renamed it Rat Zoo.

Paolo Mastrangelo recorded dozens of rats on the sidewalks, bushes and cracks in the ground.

He wrote on nyctheblog.com that an NYPD officer expressed resigned anger at the rats overrunning the park. "Look at that thing," he exclaimed, pointing and shaking his head in disgust, "it's as big as a cat!"

The park is located on Leonard Street between Lafayette and Centre Streets near the courts complex.

The Park has long been known as one of the worst parks in Manhattan.  

(Photos: http://nyctheblog.com)  

(http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=13767780&id=406462895056#!/photo.php?pid=13767779&id=406462895056&fbid=10150250221930057)

Read/View More:

Rats Overrun Manhattan Park

My Fox NY - July 28, 2010 - BY Luke Funk

Paul Revere, Rat Zoos and the GTL Index

New York Times - City Room Blog -  July 28, 2010 - By J. David Goodman