Worst Neighborhoods For Rats In Chicago: West Town Tops List For Complaints
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Chicago's issues with rats are no secret to anyone, but just how bad is the city's rodent problem?
CBS 2's Tara Molina dug into the numbers Wednesday, focusing on the community area we found has more rat complaints than any other – West Town.
The West Town community area includes the neighborhoods of Wicker Park, Ukrainian Village, East Village, Noble Square, River West, parts of Bucktown, and the West Town neighborhood itself - as well as the park of Humboldt Park.
We found, through a public records request, that people in West Town have already filed more than 1,000 rat complaints this year. They have filed multiple thousands in the past three.
The people we talked to in the area on Wednesday were not surprised to hear that.
Quiet streets, family homes, and alleys that look pretty tidy can be found in West Town – and there's no sign of a problem when the sun is out. But things change at night, when the West Town rats come out.
"Well, I'll talk to you about rats," said Matthew Mertz, who lives with his family on one of the streets we checked out Thursday.
Mertz's street is among those that have some of the most rat complaints to 311. He and his family saw the same well-fed, cat-sized rat so many times here that they named it.
"Chubby," Mertz said. "Chubby was a well-fed snacking machine."
Mertz said Chubby is gone now, thanks to the city - and call after call to 311, trap after trap.
"Goodbye, Chubby," Mertz said. "Adios."
With more than 1,200 rat complaints filed in the West Town community area just this year, we looked at the same time frame in years past and found consistently high numbers there. They doubled the past two years.
This is a month-by-month breakdown of rodent complaints in West Town by month since February 2019.
Date # of Complaints Total 6,365 2019 2,099 Feb 6 Mar 104 Apr 132 May 175 Jun 251 Jul 300 Aug 319 Sep 318 Oct 231 Nov 134 Dec 129 2020 3,064 Jan 145 Feb 121 Mar 130 Apr 203 May 342 Jun 297 Jul 347 Aug 370 Sep 380 Oct 308 Nov 231 Dec 190 2021 1,202 Jan 145 Feb 76 Mar 222 Apr 266 May 355 Jun 138
And while West Town has the highest number of complaints in the city, they are followed closely by the community areas of Portage Park, Logan Square, and Lakeview. This is a citywide breakdown of rat complaints by quarter:
Date # of Complaints 2019 41,086
Qtr1 2,492
Qtr2 11,000
Qtr3 18,014
Qtr4 9,580
2020 54,068
Qtr1 7,805
Qtr2 13,958
Qtr3 20,171
Qtr4 12,134
2021 22,625
Qtr1 9,260
Qtr2 13,365
Grand Total 117,779
This is a breakdown of rat complaints in the top five community areas for the first two quarters of 2019, 2020, and 2021 to date:
Community Area # of Complaints 24 (West Town) 3,108
2019 668
Qtr1 110
Qtr2 558
2020 1,238
Qtr1 396
Qtr2 842
2021 1,202
Qtr1 443
Qtr2 759
22 (Logan Square) 2,482
2019 623
Qtr1 125
Qtr2 498
2020 986
Qtr1 345
Qtr2 641
2021 873
Qtr1 319
Qtr2 554
15 (Portage Park) 2,377
2019 475
Qtr1 95
Qtr2 380
2020 931
Qtr1 301
Qtr2 630
2021 971
Qtr1 376
Qtr2 595
6 (Lake View) 2,292
2019 619
Qtr1 128
Qtr2 491
2020 806
Qtr1 309
Qtr2 497
2021 867
Qtr1 346
Qtr2 521
64 (Clearing) 2,005
2019 456
Qtr1 80
Qtr2 376
2020 791
Qtr1 282
Qtr2 509
2021 758
Qtr1 310
Qtr2 448
We asked Chicago's Streets and Sanitation Department about the success Mertz told us they had on his block - and what is being done about the rat problem across Chicago, complaints or not. Streets and San released this statement:
"The Department of Streets and Sanitation (DSS) is dedicated to keeping Chicago clean and healthy, which includes continuing rodent baiting year-round. We recommend residents continue to clean up after their dogs, maintain their gardens and birdfeeders, and contain their garbage to help support our baiting efforts."
A spokesperson didn't give us specific info on the city's efforts, but did say the department is meeting its target of responding to rodent complaints within five days.
In West Town, residents said they've seen that effort working.
"Call the city," Mertz said. "They do help, and they do bait, and they do put poisons down - and it worked."
The Streets and San spokesperson went on to say everyone has a part in solving the rat problem. They're asking that you clean up after pets and bird feeders, and keep garbage contained to help.
Meanwhile, the Tree House Humane Society is using feral cats to fight the problem across the city. They are placing 10 to 15 cats in neighborhoods every month.
We checked in with the Tree House to see how many have been placed in West Town. Information was not immediately available.