By Gary Martin
I saw something about new garbage cans on the Upper West Side and thought not everyone was going to be happy about them.
Special thanks to NSL for this one.
Gary B. Martin is an illustrator and animator who has lived on the Upper West Side for more than 30 years. His illustrations appear in the Rag on Sundays, chronicling life in the neighborhood, New York City, and the Universe. See them all here. For a broader range of Gary’s work, including animations and other motion graphics, please visit www.martoons.com
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Real rats should only be so cute.
LOL!
Sounds like a job for the NYC RAT Czar!!🤣🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀
EEK!
Now you just have to figure out how to get your car in there
I sense a trap in commenting about this one.
Brilliant. I would be happy to represent them in a class action lawsuit.
Well that’s something to look forward to!
Gary, that is so funny.
Hahaha!!!
The thing is that if everyone composted, we wouldn’t even NEED these new trash containers.
Rats are attracted to garbage bags because when people do not compost, those bags contain “wet” items, often including food remnants, etc. But if everyone were composting, all the “wet” items would be in the composting containers (that every building is now legally required to have) – which the rats cannot get at – and the only thing in the garbage bags would be “dry” things like small paper, cardboard and plastic items, wrapping, etc. There wouldn’t BE any “wet” items for the rats to care about.
I know the above to be true because I used to come home at night (I live in the West 80s b/w RSD and WEA) and always see several rats scurrying back and forth between buildings (or tree pits) and garbage bags, because there were still “wet” items in those bags, and the rats would tear them open to get at them. However, once my block began to compost – and miraculously, EVERY building began doing it, pretty efficiently – the rats completely disappeared from our block within a matter of months, possibly even weeks, to look for “wetter pastures,” because there was no longer anything “wet” available to them, and they could sense that.
Composting WORKS. And it is the single best way to get rid of rats. So if you want to get rid of those bulky, ugly (?) new garbage bins, START COMPOSTING!
The Rats will be fine as everything one hearts desire will be free after January 1st.
Of course, that is NOT what he said or implied. He did promise a few “free” things (buses, groceries, rent freeze), but he did NOT promise that all of these would occur on “Day 1.” It will take time to implement these plans, even if all of them can fly. NO mayor “delivers” on ANY campaign promise on “Day 1.” So you seem to be holding Mamdani to a RIDICULOUSLY higher “standard” than any other mayor That is both absurd and unfair.
I believe he can deliver on ALLTHREE of these proposal, but that they will take time, will likely be “rolled out” in stages (as opposed to all at once), and will require “tweaking” along the way. And there is nothing wrong with that. It takes ALL mayors time to implement policy proposals.
Be patient. I think you will find that your sarcasm is unwarranted and while your expectations are way too high (in terms of timing), that all of these proposals will eventually be implemented; again, being rolled out over time, and increased depending on their degree of success.
Rats would be avoided if garbage gets set out the morning of collection and collection is done during the day rather than at night.
I don’t get it.
I sure do!
As someone who works for a labor union, and comes from a family of union members, this is one organizing effort I’d be happy to see fail…
Cute!(?)
Unionized rats could be trouble!
Hahaha. Not just on the UWS! All over the city. Perfect.