Rats! Auto shop says rat problem is due to NYCHA residents’ trash

Employees of a business in Brownsville are fed up, saying they're dealing with a rat problem with trash piling up on their property. 

Employees at Coney Island Auto Parts say the garbage is coming from a nearby NYCHA building, and they now want the housing authority to do something about it.

They say the sea of trash is causing rats in their building.

The manager tells News 12 that the trash comes from residents of the NYCHA building behind the auto store who throw their garbage out of the window, and onto the roof of the store.

"It's uncomfortable, you know, when you have to work and have to worry if rats are running around your place,” says Michael Post, the operations manager at Coney Island Auto Parts. “We have exterminators constantly coming in here, you know, and each time they come in they charge us a big expense to do it and how would you like to live in your house and have rats running around?"

Staff says this business has been fined around $300 for having trash around the building. 

They say the problem started three years ago and the heavy piles of trash caused cracks in the roof.

The manager says the rat problem is affecting business, and he wants NYCHA to address the issue.

"We had problems with our internet connection and we had the cable company come and see why our internet keeps going down. They came up, they couldn't believe what they saw, and they said your internet is down because you have rats on the roof that are chewing through the cables and that's why you have no internet connection,” says Post.

NYCHA says it has communicated with residents about the trash problem.

News 12 found a note posted in one building, telling residents their leases could be terminated if they're caught throwing trash out of their window.