NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — Mayor Eric Adams' rat problem appears to be far from over.
Adams is facing two more fines for the second time in less than a year at his Brooklyn townhouse, according to summonses reviewed by the Daily News.
Shirley Jean, a city Health Department inspector, fined Adams for the latest violations in two separate tickets — with a combined maximum penalty of $1,200 — after finding during a Dec. 7 inspection that an infestation was still afflicting his Bedford-Stuyvesant building.
According to the Daily News, Jean said in her first ticket that she spotted recyclables littering the front yard of the Lafayette Avenue rental property, creating "harborage conditions" for the rats. In the second ticket, she listed several "active rat signs" she had seen during her visit.
"A rat burrow was observed along the ledge of the fenceline at front right," she wrote. "Fresh rat droppings were observed in front of the garbage bins in the yard at front right ... An active rat runway was found along the property line at front left."
It's not clear if the rodents made it inside Adams' house, according to the report.
Jean first issued a $300 fine in May over similar violations.
On the same day of the Dec. 7 inspection, Adams told 1010 WINS anchor Susan Richard that he spent $6,800 fighting the vermin on his entire block, saying that there had been a rat issue on the block "for far too long" and that he had educated the residents, who all chipped in.
Adams added that despite being mayor, he is "still a New Yorker" who "did the appropriate thing to deal with the rat problem" on his block.
On Dec. 9, a hearing officer dismissed the $300 fine ruling that the mayor had "placed rat traps around the property and helped educate and encourage his neighbors to take similar steps to combat infestation," according to the New York Times.
A hearing on the new summonses has been scheduled for Jan. 12.
A spokesperson for Adams told the Daily News that the mayor is looking into the matter but would not say whether he intended to once again fight the fines.
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