NYC NOW - January 30, 2024 : Evening Roundup

Episode Date: January 30, 2024

The City Council has overriden two criminal justice reform bills Mayor Adams vetoed earlier this month. Also, after years of delays, New York's sanitation department is rolling out the biggest reforms to business trash collection in the city's modern history. And in New Jersey, a bid to ban smoking in Atlantic City's casinos is advancing through the state’s legislature following years of stalemate. And lastly, WNYC’s Precious Fondren takes a tour with Kenny Bollwerk, aka “Rat Daddy.”

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. I'm Jenae Pierre. The City Council is overridden two criminal justice reform bills Mayor Eric Adams vetoed earlier this month. One bill would ban solitary confinement in New York City jails. The other would require NYPD officers to report more types of civilian stops. This is a developing story, so stay tuned to WMYC for more. After years of delays, New York City. Sanitation Department is rolling out the biggest reforms to business trash collection in the city's

modern history. The new regulations establish 20 commercial waste zones in the five boroughs, which aim to prevent private garbage trucks from going to multiple boroughs and taking more than 12 hours to complete. The long routes were found to lead to horrendous working conditions for workers, and the private garbage trucks got into a number of deadly crashes over the last 20 years. Private businesses must pay private contractors to pick up their waste. The city sanitation department has selected three companies in each zone to pick up trash from businesses. The program goes into effect this fall. A bid to ban smoking in Atlantic City's casinos is advancing through New Jersey's legislature,

following years of stalemate. On Monday, the state Senate's Health Committee approved the bill, which is backed by many casino workers. Though smoking has been banned in much of the Garden State for almost 20 years, Smoking is allowed in designated areas in all nine of Atlantic City's casinos. Business interests and some casino workers argue that prohibition would be an economic catastrophe for casinos. The bill must still pass the full state senate. Identical legislation must also clear the assembly. Stick around. There's more after the break.

Okay, just a heads up. This next story is about, well, rats. safe to say that most New Yorkers try to avoid them. But not Kenny Bulwark. He spends his free time chasing after them. He's known as Rat Daddy on TikTok, where hundreds of thousands of followers tune in to see his videos of rats across the city. He even gives tours of the most infested areas in the city.

WNYC's precious fondron took one. On a recent Thursday night, I met Kenny Bullwork at Hudson News Convenient Store at Grand Central, dressed in a reflective safety vest, a headlamp, and gloves, he's more than ready to film rats for his thousands of online followers. There goes two of them fighting. Bullwork starts the tour by pointing to a shelf of snacks, where mice are crawling between bags.

What they do is they'll crawl up and down this chip counter right here, this chip shelf, and they'll bite into the bag, it'll eat out of there and they'll drop all the droppings down the ground. Watch, he's still testing it out. In his series Rat Talk on TikTok, Bullwork films the rats running across sidewalks and climbing trash cans. Instrumental music plays in the background as he talks about how many rats he sees and what they're doing. Look, they come right by in here.

I don't know if the same ones. Look, you're coming on this box right here. I don't have anything for you guys. From Hudson News, we check out two more spots near Grand Central. Bullwork's been returning to this part of town since July. During the hour-long tour, I saw around 30 rats. Bullwork says it's a light night. Kind of quiet over here today like it was in the store. Usually you'll see 20 of them out here right now.

We spend about 15 minutes at each location. Once the vermin appear, Bullwark sprays them with a rodent deterrent called Infinity Shields. Ready? He's sponsored by the brand and says the spray confuses the rats by masking the smell of the trash so they won't return to it. Here it goes. This is a big one. This is a big one. You can see his head. So they're eating good tonight. I think that should pull away. Bullwork moved to the city from St. Louis in 2019. At first, he was creating tourist-friendly videos about places to eat and fun things to do. Last year, his boss at Filomena's Pizzeria suggested he film a rat-infested area for his TikTok. That video was a hit.

All the effort I put into making, like, New York City content, now I'm filming rats. I'm like, where's my life going? Karen North is a professor who teaches classes on digital social media at University of Southern California's Annenberg School. She says Bullwark's been able to build a following because people are drawn to seeing what they can't or don't want to see in their daily lives. He's let us come along for the ride. You know, we're tagging along with him vicariously as he explores the dark side of New York.

Bullwork doesn't just film the rats, though. He also tells his viewers to file 311 complaints with the city. I need everybody to submit a complaint to 311. This is video of vice infested at Grand Central Terminal in the Hudson News Store. This store needs to be shut down. He says with enough pressure, the city will take action to mitigate the problem. That could mean, for example, spraying poison at rat-infested construction sites. Bullwork says he's not trying to kill all rats.

But I am trying to control the population in certain areas. They shouldn't be eating and food that you're buying because look at that. It's disgusting. Matthew Diadot is the president of Urban Pest Management. His company has helped kill rats on the Upper East Side. He says the war on rats is unwinnable. The rats will always have a place that we can't access, and they will always be able to thrive on the ground just as quickly.

Bullwork says he's embracing his newfound fame. He charges $50 for rat tours now, and is selling Rat Talk hoodies for $40. Everybody likes to do something fun and interesting in their life, whether it's playing fantasy football, whether it's watching The Bachelor. I like chasing down rats at night. You're looking for the rats? Yes, sir.

I'll never take a rat tour again, but you can book yours now. Precious Fondron, WNYC News. Hudson News did not respond to our request for comment. Thanks for listening to NYC now from WNYC. We'll be back tomorrow morning. I'm Jene Pierre.