Rats Plague Seniors in Betances Houses

Lindsay A. Lazarski, City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism

Abstract

For months, residents of the Betances Houses building set aside for senior citizens heard the sound of claws scratching as rats scurried back and forth in the crawl space overhead at night. Rat urine stained the ceiling. The animals gnawed holes in it, then tumbled through them onto the floor. They darted into the radiator vent beneath the mailboxes in the lobby.