That’s why the rat control question matters. The city manages rat control by giving food and waste cleanup duties to property owners, creating local mitigation zones, and encouraging public reporting. Mamdani threw out many projects pursued by his predecessor, Eric Adams, but kept rat control, recreating Adams’ city Rat Czar position into a permanent Mayor’s Office of Rodent Mitigation. The Guardian noted the progress this week, reporting that “New York’s long-running rat war is in a period of uneasy detente.” Terry H. Schwadron retired as a senior editor at The New York Times, Deputy Managing Editor at The Los Angeles Times and leadership jobs at The Providence (RI) Journal-Bulletin.