Philadelphia names its first rat abatement manager, three weeks after Council called rats an emergency

Philadelphia now has a city official whose whole job is rats. The Parker administration on Wednesday named Adrian Jordan, a longtime Department of Public Health employee, as the city's first rat abatement manager, the Inquirer reported. The paper and others have nicknamed the job the city's "rat czar."

If rats are a problem on your block, this changes who is in charge of the response. Until now, the problems that feed rats (trash, overgrown lots, broken sewer lines, dumping) have been split across several departments. The new manager is supposed to pull them together.

What the job is

According to the city's announcement, Jordan leads a team of Health Department inspectors who will go door to door in the most affected communities to assess the problem, remove rats and explain how residents can help. The work runs through the department's Vector Control Services. When a problem belongs to another agency, Jordan will hold regular coordination meetings with:

• the Community Life Improvement Program (CLIP);
• Licenses and Inspections, Quality of Life;
• the Water Department;
• the Sanitation Department;
• the Streets Department.

The Health Department says it gets about 4,000 rat complaints a year, investigates every one, and finds about 2,000 real rat problems. Residents can report rats at 215-685-9000 with the street address, the city says.

Managing Director Carlton Williams has directed Jordan's team to survey parts of the Lower Northeast door to door, including Oxford Circle and Castor Gardens, the Inquirer reported. The paper said the city also plans a public rat dashboard tracking complaints and properties serviced. It is not live yet. Mayor Cherelle L. Parker said the effort "starts today," according to the Inquirer.

City officials told the paper there has been no documented rise in confirmed rat complaints. The Inquirer noted that Philadelphia's complaint rate is lower per resident than New York's, Baltimore's or Washington's, and that some experts question how consistently the city collects the data.

What our records add

The appointment follows a Council resolution that asked for exactly this kind of coordination.

• Resolution 260819. The resolution urges the Health Department, L&I, the Sanitation Department and other agencies to "immediately prioritize and coordinate" their response to the growing rodent infestation in the Lower Northeast. It asks the city to treat conditions there as an urgent public health and quality-of-life emergency.
• Who sponsored it. 9th District Councilmember Anthony Phillips introduced it Oct. 1. Co-sponsors were Mike Driscoll (6th District), Quetcy Lozada (7th District), and at-large members Nina Ahmad and Nicolas O'Rourke.
• When it passed. Council adopted it at the Oct. 8 session. The manager was named 20 days later.
• What it does and doesn't do. A resolution is a request, not a law. It created no position and set no budget. The new job came from the administration. Our records show no Council bill creating the post or funding a rat program separately.

You can read the resolution text on Legistar.

What's next

Watch for three things: the door-to-door surveys in the Lower Northeast, the launch of the promised rat dashboard, and whether Council asks the Health Department to report back in a hearing. Next spring's budget hearings are the next scheduled point where members can ask how much the program costs and what it has done.

The city's tips for residents: keep trash in metal cans with tight lids, clear brush and woodpiles away from the house, and seal openings larger than half an inch.