Community board works to improve rat issues in Bed-Stuy

A Bed-Stuy neighborhood is growing frustrated with a rat problem that the Department of Health is involved with.
A total of 814 rodent complaints have rolled in across the neighborhood over the past six months. The Department of Health says most of Bed-Stuy has been in the Neighborhood Rat Reduction Area Program, meaning they regularly inspect the community for rodents.
Henry Butler, with Community Board 3, calls Lafayette Avenue between Bedford and Nostrand avenues ground zero for the issue. Although signs around the area show the city is treating many properties for rats, it continues to be an uphill battle.
Butler says despite the treatment from the city, many businesses and schools are not doing their share to help the problem. He says they neglect to hose down the street in front of their properties after sanitation hauls away garbage.
Now, Community Board 3 is setting out to educate the neighborhood about the proper way to keep their garbage in the hope of curbing the so-called rat infestation. They say anyone who lives near a construction site and notices rats is asked to call 311 and notify the community board.
The Department of Health tells News 12 things are getting better, with 51 less rat complaints than this time last year.