By William Tauro

Rodent Control in Somerville should not have been taken lightly from the beginning. My two mayoral opponents Katjiana Balentine and Wilfred N. Mbah for the past 5 to 7 years have done absolutely nothing to address the problem, but instead have been sitting on their hands about the rodent infection situation and not doing a thing about it except collecting a paycheck. They don’t even mention it in their political literature drops! Shameful!

On the other hand, I have a plan and I will make it a top priority on combating the increasing growing rodent infestation problem in Somerville. The only way to make it happen is to begin to do it.

Part of the problem is that we’re feeding these rodents every day making them fatter and healthier. Instead of restaurants taking out their trash every night they, should be taking their trash out every morning just before their scheduled trash pick ups. Many restaurants have walk-in refrigerator systems and freezers within their facilities where they can easily store this trash overnight safty covered and contained inside without further spreading the problem to the entire neighborhood and keep it there until the early morning hours making it less available for the rodents to feast upon and multiply.

This is just a part of the problem. Our trash receptacles are being eaten by these rodents through the lids as well as through the bottoms on the trash reciprocal from the rodent sharp teeth. We need better trash reciprocals that cannot be penetrated by rodents.

We need a full-time advisory and strike team to constantly keep up with the citywide situation and stay on top of it. Once these rodents are caught, they have to be removed immediately and I will create citywide rodent task force program that will exactly do that moving forward in Somerville once elected.

The problem to combat the rodents should’ve had hit the ground running with modern day scientific strategies by professional people from day one. Instead the city worked backwards by instead of combating these critters with a solid plan, all they did was call in the Somerville DPW and dropped it on their laps and called it a plan. Now don’t get me wrong the Somerville DPW have some very nice and very intelligent people working there, but they’re not rodent control experts. With the size of the rodent problem that we have in Somerville, calling in the experts should’ve been the plan from day one.

The current administration and city council has failed us miserably with rodent control solutions across the city. They have been sitting on their hands for almost a decade accomplishing nothing. We have to do this and we have to do this now.

#1 Replacing/ adapting existing open trash bins that are currently on city streets, in private homes, businesses, in parks, along bike and walking paths as well as for replacing any and all open bins that are currently in use across the city immediately. And sadly that is only the beginning!

#2 The city should be calling in the professionals from a designated city department with a professional person specifically in charge of professionals strictly in combating the rodent situation hands on with boots on the ground and not just some white collar city hack with a no show job and lack of experience. They need to put a qualified and dedicated person behind the helm to make this work and to hold he or she accountable to make sure that the job is being done properly, effectively, efficient and on budget.

#3 rodent birth control must be incorporated and used to prevent the spread of newborn rodents being born on a daily basis to control the rodent population.

#4 Getting this job done ASAP without any bureaucracy nor red tape is the key to a successful remedy to this problem.

I’ve been doing research on the rodent problems and trying to find a solution for months. Combating rodents today is a science and there are scientific methods and scientific solutions they were brought to our attention by scientific results from scientific testing. A rodent will only travel less than 25 feet from their borough (their home/tunnel beneath the ground) to a food source (your trash bins). These results were formulated by measuring the amount of oil on the walls of the rodent’s borough. The oil that covered the borough walls came from the rodent’s own fur from constantly maneuvering to and from the borough to the trash source and rubbing of it’s fur into the walls of the borough. The scientific results proved that the rodents traveling from their boroughs will stay close to its food source and usually don’t travel beyond those points.

When you catch a rat that rodent goes away but another will immediately take its place in it’s borough now claiming it for itself.

Scheduled followups will have to be strategically put in place to seal up as many openings as possible to eliminate other new rodents from taking over old vacated boroughs.

If elected mayor I will take my job seriously and I will assemble a professional team of experts to take this task seriously, effectively, efficiently, they will all be held accountable to ensure the job is being done and yes on budget.

Until then here are some basic things that we can do until then:

“Rodent Control Strategies and
Rodent Control Solutions

Use exclusion and sanitation tactics to get rid of rodents in a safe and cost-effective way. The most effective long-term solution is to keep rodents out in the first place. Measures such as sealing entry points prevent rodents from entering buildings and help you avoid a full-scale invasion.
Follow the tips in the sections below and you will be one step closer to keeping your home permanently free of rats and mice.

Need Gopher or Mole Controls?

The Basics On Rodent Control

Rats and mice are not only a nuisance but can also cause property damage and transmit diseases. You’ll know they’ve arrived if you see rodent droppings near a food source or shredded fabric or paper. If you identify rodents, there are several steps to take to ensure permanent removal of these pests.
Removing rodents with traps or poisons will not keep rodents out of your home in the future. To permanently keep rats and mice out of your home or business, you will need to prevent access by sealing all possible entry points. It is equally important to eliminate rodent attractions such as food and water by keeping food in tightly sealed containers and repairing leaky pipes.

Common Sources of Food and Water

Food in unsealed containers such as bags of chips, rice, cereal, crackers, flour, and other non-perishables.
Pet food and water left out overnight or in a bag rather than in a secure container.
Fruits or vegetables in open bowls left outside of refrigerator.
Leaky pipes or faucets throughout the house.
Open trash and compost containers.
Common Rodent Access Points

Holes near cabinets, closets or doors leading to outside or crawl spaces.
Holes around sink or appliance pipes.
Cracked foundations in the basement or unscreened ventilation holes in the attic, especially in older structures.
Holes around windows or doors.
Missing screens in vents or crawl spaces under buildings.”