City Councilor Ed Flynn will chair a hybrid City Services hearing to discuss the current status of the Boston Rodent Action Plan on Friday, Oct. 23, at 10 a.m. in the Iannella Chamber on the fifth floor of City Hall, as well as virtually.
Although Councilor Flynn said he thinks positive steps have been outlined in the BRAP, he still believes the plan falls short of the recommendations made by the study’s author, renowned rodent urbanologist, Dr. Bobby Corrigan, and himself. Among their other suggestions, Councilor Flynn and Dr. Bobby Corrigan advised the city to revisit the idea of formally creating a ‘rat czar,’ like New York City has already done.
And after talking with residents and businesses across the city over a number of years, Councilor Flynn also said he objects to the findings of the Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC), which asserts that the city’s pest control crisis doesn’t currently pose a serious public risk.
A 2025 Tufts University study on the Boston’s rat population found they are now carrying and spreading leptospirosis, Councilor Flynn noted.
Meanwhile, Councilor Flynn has called for hearings every year on pest control, going back to the start of the pandemic in 2020. Restaurants were closed at that time, so rodents migrated to more residential areas in search of new food sources.
In 2023, Councilor Flynn, then serving as Council President, met with New York City’s Director of Rodent Mitigation, or ‘Rat Czar,’ Kathleen Corradi. They discussed the logistics of working with a number of different city departments to tackle this quality-of-life issue, as well as specific strategies for dealing with growing rodent populations in municipalities.
After calling for a hearing on the creation of an Office of Pest Control in January of 2023, Councilor Flynn introduced an ordinance at the City Council in January of 2025. He held a hearing to formally establish one in the City of Boston and also met with relevant city departments, along with Dr. Corrigan, to offer his own recommendations on tackling the city’s pervasive rodent problem.
“I’d like to thank Dr. Corrigan and our dedicated city departments for focusing on working together to address some of the recommendations we discussed related to overall trash containerization and mitigating the opportunity for rodents to thrive, community walkthroughs, targeting commercial areas and sewers, among others,” said Councilor Flynn in a statement. “Although the Boston Public Health Commission indicated that rats do not currently pose a high public health threat to the residents of Boston – I adamantly disagree. We should not be downplaying the impacts that this significant quality-of-life issue is having on neighbors across the City of Boston. Public education campaigns and language access in every neighborhood of Boston is also critical to ensure all of our residents are invested in working together to make sure their trash is disposed of properly.”
Neighbors who would like to attend the hearing in-person or testify virtually via zoom are asked to email [email protected]. Written testimony can also be submitted via email to the committee at [email protected], or to Councilor Flynn at [email protected]. Neighbors are also invited to watch the livestream of the hearing at www.boston.gov/city-council-tv.
For more information, contact Councilor Flynn’s office at 617-635-3203, or via email at [email protected].