Workers at a Park Slope school have turned the surrounding block into a midnight buffet for hungry rodents — and fat-bellied rats are always back for seconds, neighbors say.
Some Slopers claim the clean-up crew at PS 282 regularly tosses trash bags filled with rotting cafeteria food on the sidewalk in front of the school, attracting throngs of nasty rats on Sixth Avenue and Berkeley Place.
“It looks like a landfill — it’s just disgusting,” said neighbor Karen Hartmann, who claims the filthy mess sits on the sidewalk, and sometimes spills onto the street, overnight on weekends and for days at a time on weekends. “The school makes no effort to clean it.”
Hartmann says the problem could be solved easily if the school stored its trash somewhere secure — like in a closed Dumpster — until garbage crews arrive.
Her complaints closely mirror those of Windsor Terrace residents who claimed raccoons were enjoying regular meals from half-finished milk cartons left in trash bags on the sidewalk outside PS 154.
PS 282 principal Magalie Alexis did not return calls on Thursday or Friday.
Hartmann — who claims the neighborhood’s rat population has boomed recently — says school officials have been unresponsive for months.
“What message does it send?” she said.
Reach reporter Natalie O'Neill at [email protected] or by calling her at (718) 260-4505.
