Georgetown residents have seen enough of rats.

With the goal of tackling the city’s rodent infestation, the Citizens Association of Georgetown met last night at St. John’s Episcopal Church on Potomac and O Streets to discuss proposals for rodent control initiatives.

“We probably have more rats in Georgetown than actual people,” Bill Starrels, Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2E vice-chair said at the outset of the meeting.

Gerard Brown, Program Manager at the DC Department of Health Rodent Control Division, called on the standing-room-only crowd to help fight the rats.

“Volunteer,” he said. “Help, because the battle is contagious.”
Starrels and Brown, along with Juanita Crabb, executive director of the Georgetown Business Improvement District and Oren Molovinsky, treasurer of the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington, D.C., established a one-block test area “a couple of months ago,” Crabb said.

Crabb said that because of the program, the rat population has “come very close to total elimination” within the test area. If this initiative is successful, it will be replicated throughout the area. The program features the use of poison to kill rats and solar-powered compactors to be shared by local businesses to keep waste from being put into the street as rat fodder. These elements combine for a program that eradicates rats and is environmentally friendly, Crabb said.

Brown also outlined the goal of a community partnership with the city.

“We come to the table, we create ideas and talk about solutions,” he said. “We have our work cut out for us.”

“We’re going to pinpoint what areas need to be fixed in this pilot meeting,” Molovinsky said. “There’s a lot of excitement about this.”

Several residents and business owners raised questions about the program. The proprietor of Mr. Smith’s of Georgetown alleged that other businesses had been placing trash in his containers, which was causing overflow and resulted in fines by the city. Other residents discussed the success of residential trash cans and lids, inspectors for businesses and the practice of baiting the sewers for rats.

As questions were raised about the cost of the program, Crabb noted that the program costs nothing to organize and that the restaurants will only be responsible for the costs of communal trash compactors, a cost the businesses already incur.

“We are taking this city back from the rats once block at a time,” Brown said.