Photo by Sarah Anne Hughes.

Last night’s much-hyped Logan Circle rat summit didn’t provide any big, exciting solutions to the rodent problem plaguing the neighborhood. (No pied-pipers or Ben-style flame throwing.) Rather, officials reminded residents about proper trash disposal, provided numbers to call with complaints and promised to deal with the problem a block at a time.

Gathered in a ballroom at the Washington Plaza Hotel were around 30 rat-sick residents, Advisory Neighborhood Commission leaders and officials from the Department of Public Works and Department of Health.

Gerard Brown from the D.C. DOH said the rise in rats could be attributed to warmer winters and new construction “disturbing the rats.”

“Rats are really not the problem,” he explained. “They’re an indication of something wrong in a certain area, and that’s usually poor trash handling. That’s our main problem. People don’t know how to put trash in the can and put the top on it.”

“We’ll take city back from the rats one block at a time,” he said, adding that residents should contact them if they see any trash issues at commercial properties. He said every alley and street is different, meaning there isn’t a blanket solution: “We have to go out there and look at the situation, change the habitat, change the behavior and kill the rats.”

One resident, the most rat friendly person to speak at the meeting, asked Brown if rats do anything harmful, like transmit diseases. Brown said he’s never heard of a rat making a person in D.C. sick during his tenure, but he did say they chew wires which can start fires and upsets residents.

Pamela Washington from DPW showed the group photos of trash piles from around the city taken by one of 34 inspectors who look for violations daily in every ward. “Not properly storing our trash does hurt our city and contribute to the rat population,” she said.

Another resident asked DPW if they are “the inspecting authority for rivers of sludge,” namely the “stinking” one that runs down an alley on 14th Street NW between Rhode Island Avenue and N Street NW.

“I understand that everyone is concerned with the river of sludge,” Washington replied, saying they’ve spoken and handed out citations to restaurant owners in the area. “However, and I have to stress this, please don’t take this the wrong way, but I don’t have a gun. I can’t go to the restaurant owner and hold the gun to their head and say, ‘Hey! You better to do this.’ It’s up to the restaurant owner, it’s up to the property owner to determine that it’s better to address this in a meaningful way, than to receive citations.”

No restaurant owners spoke at the meeting. But as Short Articles About Long Meetings reported, “representatives of Eat Well DC (operator of nearby restaurants The Pig, Logan Tavern, and Commissary) and Whole Foods attended.”