City to double its rat-control patrols

Officials plan to nearly double the size of Baltimore's rat-fighting crew in the coming weeks, a move they say will cut in half the time it takes exterminators to blanket the city and give them a chance to keep up with the rapid reproductive cycle of the prolific creatures.

Expanding the "Rat Rubout" program from eight workers to 15 will allow them to visit each of the city's 12,250 alleyways once every 20 days. That's often enough to catch young rodents before they are old enough to reproduce.

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake directed the city's Public Works Department to re-evaluate its rat abatement program during budget talks this year. She is expected to announce the expansion on Wednesday.

"I have been in elected office since 1995, and there has never been a time in my experience when the citizens were pleased with rat abatement," she said.

"It just hit me. I was like, 'Wait a minute. We can keep doing what we're doing, but is there a better way?'"

Officials have no estimate for the number of rats currently slinking along Baltimore's streets and tunneling under its yards. But a review of recent complaints shows hot spots on the city's east and west sides, with high activity in Sandtown-Winchester, Edmondson and Broadway East.

The new crew members will start in those neighborhoods before moving to a regular citywide inspection schedule, officials said. Valentina Ukwuoma, head of the city's solid waste division, said the city is shifting its approach from responding to 311 complaints to ongoing, systematic pest control.

The new strategy is expected to increase the number of inspections the crews make from 33,000 per year to 110,000, Ukwuoma said. The regular inspections began last month, she said; the new crew members are expected to join the program by the end of the year.

The new strategy isn't expected to cost any more money, officials said, because the new crew members will be shifted from other jobs in public works.

The city budgeted about $620,000 for rat control this year, down from about $665,000 last year.

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City to double its rat-control patrols