City in $4M war on rats at schools

THE CITY IS taking its war on rats to 133 public schools, where they’ll spend $4 million to clamp down on rodent-luring mounds of trash produced by classrooms and cafeterias.

The de Blasio administration is targeting schools in the Lower East Side, East Village and Chinatown in Manhattan; BedfordStuyvesant and Bushwick in Brooklyn; and the Grand Concourse area in the Bronx.

These neighborhoods are also where the city is aiming to wipe out 70% of the rat population with a $32 million plan launched earlier this year.

“By reducing available food sources and habitats, we reduce the rat population,” said Mayor de Blasio’s spokeswoman Olivia Lapeyrolerie.

The extra cash will pay for 18 compacting dumpsters and 569 tilt trucks, or rolling trash storage bins, which will keep trash bags off the sidewalk and away from hungry rats.

The city also will buy 16,188 new trash cans for inside schools to properly sort garbage, recyclables and organics like food scraps.