Rodent Control in Flushing

Rodent Pressure in Flushing

Flushing is one of the most commercially intense neighborhoods in Queens, centered on Main Street from Northern Boulevard south to the LIRR tracks. The concentration of Chinese supermarkets, Korean food halls, Hong Kong-style cafes, dim sum restaurants, and specialty food vendors along Main Street and the cross-streets creates one of the highest food waste densities in the borough. The New World Mall, the food courts on 40th Road, and the restaurant clusters on Prince Street all contribute to sustained Norway rat pressure in the immediate vicinity.

The attached housing stock on the residential streets north and south of Main Street — two and three-family attached brick houses from the 1920s and 30s on streets like Murray Street, 149th Street, and Pople Avenue — sees the most direct impact from the commercial corridor food waste. The 7 train terminus at Main Street-Flushing station and the LIRR Port Washington branch both create underground infrastructure in the neighborhood core.

Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, the 1,255-acre park at the neighborhood's southern and western border, is one of the largest parks in the city and provides extensive harborage for Norway rat colonies that forage into the surrounding residential streets. Buildings on the blocks adjacent to the park's perimeter — Union Street, Sanford Avenue, 126th Street — see elevated rat pressure from the park population.