NYC tourists seeking authentic experience take late-night rat tours

 There is a new rat race in town.

Tourists are flocking to the Big Apple to check out its exploding rat population — and tour guides are tailoring excursions to introduce them to the city’s most beady-eyed natives.

Kenny Bollwerk maps out late-night rat routes near Rockefeller Center and in Flushing and Sunnyside, Queens.

Luke Miller, owner of Real New York Tours, adds a stop to Columbus Park near Chinatown for tourists with a yen for vermin.

“They are like the new celebs in New York City with all the press they are getting,” said Miller.

Such fascination may have begun seven years ago when New York City’s most famous rodent, the Pizza Rat, drew 12 million viewers to an online video of it trekking down subway stairs while dragging a full slice.

Noelia Guzman scopes out the scene in Sunnyside, Queens, looking for rats feasting in garbage piles.

Stefano Giovannini

“Rats are like a New York City mascot,” said Bollwerk. “People want to see it for themselves.”

Bollwerk’s free walking tours of rat hotspots include busted-up sidewalks and construction sites where the rodents squeeze themselves under fences and through sidewalk cracks, and restaurants in Sunnyside and Forest Hills where garbage is piled high, and abandoned outdoor dining shacks provide rodent refuge.

Up to 10,000 people at a time tune in to Bollwerk’s TikTok live streams as he explores rodent-infested areas.

@nyc_kb

Rat infestation replay from Sunday, February 5th in New York City. #311 #rattok #nycrats #pestcontrol #ratinfestation #starbucks

♬ original sound – bestspedup ❊

In some videos, he sprays a peppermint repellent around the sites and encourages viewers to call 311 to report them.

Rat populations grew exponentially during the pandemic thanks to ample shelter and food from dining sheds.

Outdoor dining was “designed without a plan to keep the rats from becoming its biggest patrons,” city Department of Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch said earlier this month.

Kenny Bollwerk (second from right) maps out late-night rat routes in Manhattan and Queens. In Sunnyside, he is joined by Lisa Jones (far left), Noelia Guzman (second from left), and David Fraticelli (far right).

Stefano Giovannini

There were over 60,000 reports of rat activity citywide in 2022 — a shocking 102 percent increase from 2021, according to Health Department data.

So far this year, there have been over 39,000 reports of rat activity.

The city launched a crackdown in 2022 that included new rules for securing garbage and what times it could be put out.

Mayor Eric Adams — who has publicly declared his hatred of rats — announced in April that “rat czar” Kathleen Corradi would lead the charge to eradicate them.

Clearly, not everyone shares Hizzoner’s musophobia (which includes mice. too)

“I loved it ever since I started watching it,” said “RatTok” fan Patrick Norris of St. Louis.

“It made me want to go there and actually see the setting and the scenery and, you know, ‘What’s behind this corner? What’s behind that corner?’”

Norris traveled to the Big Apple earlier this year and visited a construction site on Queens Boulevard in Sunnyside that was a haven for rats.

“It was awesome,” he said.

Aaron Lidwell and his wife Christine visited from Altoona, PA in April with hopes of seeing rats.

Bollwerk’s free walking tours of rat hotspots include busted-up sidewalks where rodents scavenge for scraps.

Stefano Giovannini

“It’s one of those things you just have to see,” Lidwell told The Post.

The couple accompanied Bollwerk to a construction site where rat tails were peeking out from beneath plywood at a construction site.

While most would run, Lidwell had a different reaction — he reached down and gently pinched some of their long, pink tails.

“Kenny’s livestream went nuts,” he said.

The rats “are like the new celebs,” proclaims the owner of Real New York Tours.

Stefano Giovannini

For David Fraticelli and his 12-year-old daughter Noelia of the Bronx, rat tours have become a highlight of summer vacation.

Noelia has become a regular in Bollwerk’s TikTok videos.

Now, her friends tune in to see if she makes a guest appearance.

Noelia has since learned all about the animals and what people can do to curb them.

Rodents can spread over 30 different diseases to humans including salmonellosis, typhus, and Lyme disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Mayor Eric Adams has vowed to crack down on the city’s rodent problem, implementing policies and rules to curb it.

Christopher Sadowski

Fleas that traveled to humans from dead rats spread the Black Death, which wiped out 25 million Europeans by 1351.

Noelia said her goal is to warn the younger generation.

“Rats and very dangerous and infect our communities,” she said.

https://nypost.com/2023/08/26/nyc-tourists-seeking-authentic-experience-take-rat-tours/

NYC drug dealers now masquerading as artists in Washington Square Park

 It’s the art of the drug deal. 

Crafty drug dealers in Washington Square Park are disguising themselves as art sellers now that cops are cracking down on the brazen magic-mushroom market following an expose by The Post.

On a recent afternoon, as nine vendors around the fountain hawked framed drawings in the style of Keith Haring and screen prints of cityscapes, at least three drug dealers blended into the scene by lining their stalls with child-like artworks of snails or pink bucket hats – all while selling shrooms and weed under the table. 

“We got amazing art! We’ve got some weed, too!” one woman barked at her table, which was draped with a Colombian flag and displayed graffiti-style paintings of pigeons wearing gas masks. 

On the south side of the park, a couple at one stall made a half-hearted attempt to look as if they were selling canvas paintings, including one of a dog wearing gold headphones and glasses — but winked at their real trade with a green tablecloth that featured a marijuana leaf. 

Drug dealers blended into the scene around Washington Square Fountain by lining their stalls with child-like artwork.

“It’s like whack-a-mole,” one frustrated Greenwich Village resident said about the drug dealers’ new operations.

In the course of an hour, six people ambled over to their stall, many of whom were given a black umbrella to hold as cover. After bending over and handing wads of cash to the woman with marijuana leaf earrings, the man passed them pre-rolled joints from under the table. 

“It’s like whack-a-mole,” Greenwich Village resident Steven Hill, 70, said. “[Law enforcement] made some progress . . . but when people are making money, they’re gonna come back.”

The creative camouflage comes after the NYPD arrested a seller who had been openly displaying and peddling psychedelic narcotics while seizing dozens of psilocybin and cannabis products. 

After customers handed the “art sellers” wads of cash, a man passed them pre-rolled joints from under the table

Artists like Eric Cook are frustrated they’ve been swept up in the park enforcement crackdown.

Stefan Jeremiah for NY Post

Between July 15 and Aug. 3, cops doled out 14 vending summonses and made 12 arrests in the park, compared to just seven summonses and 10 arrests during the same period last year, according to police data.

“You can’t get away with stuff you do here in a different park in New York City. I’ve heard people say that, and the drug dealers know that,” said Village resident Lisa Peralta, 55. “I see them selling right in front of police.”

Many of parks’ bona fide artists, however, are frustrated that they’re getting caught up in a crackdown brought on by their phony counterparts.

“They know who the artists are, they know who the drug dealers are, but rather than using discretion, they’re indiscriminately going across the board to everybody,” griped artist Eric Cook.

“We continue to work in collaboration with NYPD to address unauthorized vending at Washington Square Park,” Parks spokeswoman Izzy Verdery said.

https://nypost.com/2023/08/26/drug-dealers-hiding-as-art-sellers-in-washington-square-park/