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And then New Yorkers have the gall to constantly make fun of Staten Island (disclaimer: I do not nor have I ever lived in SI).

Spooky23 4y ago
I did live there and on a single family block in queens. Typically there was two pickups a week with people using metal cans in those days. There were plenty of rats. Where people go, rats follow. If you think that your town/city/building doesn’t have rats, you are wrong. HN commenters don’t have all of the answers. Garbage bags on the street are a nuisance, but not the problem.
- autotune 4y ago
  My point was not that SI is a shining example of a garbage free paradise, more so that them making fun of it considering their own problems is hypocritical at best.
  - Spooky23 4y ago
    Oh totally get it. Staten Island isn’t a rat paradise either… but the density of people is much lower.
- floxy 4y ago
  >If you think that your town/city/building doesn’t have rats, you are wrong. I've never even seen a feral rat in real life. Might make for an interesting Ask HN poll. Estimate how frequently you see rats. - Haven't yet - Once per decade - Once a year - Once a month - Once a week - Daily Squirrels, yup, lots of them around. And I've seen plenty of mice in my life, and I'm assuming that's what the owls are eating. Beavers? Check. But no rats in 40+ years. YMMV.
  - lukas099 4y ago
    I've seen rats... when I've visited NYC. (OK I also saw one in Chicago)
  - KingLancelot 4y ago
  - Spooky23 4y ago
    They tend to avoid people from a visibility standpoint and thrive in denser areas. Outside of big old cities you typically find them around restaurants and shopping areas. These places spend alot to control them. Google for “rat bait station”. You’ve seen those at any Walmart, grocery store or in the shrubbery on the side of retail buildings.
- yunwal 4y ago
  I’ve been to and lived in plenty of big cities. NYC is unique in it’s rat problem for sure. Other cities obviously have rats, but they’re nowhere near as common (or big!) It’s 100% due to the garbage bags on the street. If you walk by one of the huge piles in Manhattan (e.g . outside the NYU dorms), try throwing something at it, you’ll see dozens of rats scatter.
- lukas099 4y ago
  > Garbage bags on the street are a nuisance, but not the problem. I find it hard to believe that inexhaustible mountains of calorie-dense food would not affect the population of an organism adapted to that niche.
chimeracoder 4y ago
> And then New Yorkers have the gall to constantly make fun of Staten Island Well to be fair, Staten Island used to be the literal garbage dump for NYC, and being incorporated as the fifth borough was actually the reason this stopped (because it's illegal to dump trash within the city limits).
- autotune 4y ago
  Right, but you kind of lose the right to make fun of it when the garbage dump moved from SI to right in front of your door step, and everyone else's. One fond memory back when I lived in Manhattan is being at a small, classy, cocktail bar that served nice drinks with an excellent street view of garbage bags being piled up right in front that ruined it all.

Spooky23 4y ago

I did live there and on a single family block in queens. Typically there was two pickups a week with people using metal cans in those days. There were plenty of rats. Where people go, rats follow. If you think that your town/city/building doesn’t have rats, you are wrong. HN commenters don’t have all of the answers. Garbage bags on the street are a nuisance, but not the problem.

autotune 4y ago
My point was not that SI is a shining example of a garbage free paradise, more so that them making fun of it considering their own problems is hypocritical at best.
- Spooky23 4y ago
  Oh totally get it. Staten Island isn’t a rat paradise either… but the density of people is much lower.
floxy 4y ago
>If you think that your town/city/building doesn’t have rats, you are wrong. I've never even seen a feral rat in real life. Might make for an interesting Ask HN poll. Estimate how frequently you see rats. - Haven't yet - Once per decade - Once a year - Once a month - Once a week - Daily Squirrels, yup, lots of them around. And I've seen plenty of mice in my life, and I'm assuming that's what the owls are eating. Beavers? Check. But no rats in 40+ years. YMMV.
- lukas099 4y ago
  I've seen rats... when I've visited NYC. (OK I also saw one in Chicago)
- KingLancelot 4y ago
- Spooky23 4y ago
  They tend to avoid people from a visibility standpoint and thrive in denser areas. Outside of big old cities you typically find them around restaurants and shopping areas. These places spend alot to control them. Google for “rat bait station”. You’ve seen those at any Walmart, grocery store or in the shrubbery on the side of retail buildings.
yunwal 4y ago
I’ve been to and lived in plenty of big cities. NYC is unique in it’s rat problem for sure. Other cities obviously have rats, but they’re nowhere near as common (or big!) It’s 100% due to the garbage bags on the street. If you walk by one of the huge piles in Manhattan (e.g . outside the NYU dorms), try throwing something at it, you’ll see dozens of rats scatter.
lukas099 4y ago
> Garbage bags on the street are a nuisance, but not the problem. I find it hard to believe that inexhaustible mountains of calorie-dense food would not affect the population of an organism adapted to that niche.

chimeracoder 4y ago

> And then New Yorkers have the gall to constantly make fun of Staten Island Well to be fair, Staten Island used to be the literal garbage dump for NYC, and being incorporated as the fifth borough was actually the reason this stopped (because it's illegal to dump trash within the city limits).

autotune 4y ago
Right, but you kind of lose the right to make fun of it when the garbage dump moved from SI to right in front of your door step, and everyone else's. One fond memory back when I lived in Manhattan is being at a small, classy, cocktail bar that served nice drinks with an excellent street view of garbage bags being piled up right in front that ruined it all.