Pest Control in East Harlem, Manhattan
East Harlem, also known as El Barrio or Spanish Harlem, extends from 96th Street to the Harlem River, between Fifth Avenue and the East River. It has long been a center of Puerto Rican culture in New York, and today is also home to large Mexican, Dominican and African American communities. Colorful murals, casitas, bodegas and bakeries line 116th Street and Lexington Avenue, and La Marqueta under the Park Avenue viaduct revives the old market tradition. Public housing developments make up a large share of homes. Thomas Jefferson Park and the East River Esplanade offer open space. The 6 on Lexington Avenue and the Q at 96th Street serve the area.
Also known as: El Barrio, Spanish Harlem.
About East Harlem
East Harlem developed in the late nineteenth century as elevated trains brought tenements for Italian, Irish and German immigrants; by the 1930s it was home to one of the largest Italian communities in the country. Puerto Rican migration after World War II transformed the neighborhood into El Barrio. Urban renewal from the 1940s through the 1960s replaced many tenements with public housing towers that define its landscape today.
Common Pest Problems in East Harlem
East Harlem contains one of the highest concentrations of public housing in the city, and those campuses with lawns, playgrounds and trash compactor areas give rats plenty of habitat. The Metro-North viaduct along Park Avenue creates shaded spaces where trash accumulates and rats and pigeons thrive. Tenements with shared walls and old plumbing let German cockroaches and mice spread from apartment to apartment. Construction of new developments has displaced rats too.
Food businesses, street vendors and markets along 116th Street and Lexington Avenue produce waste that feeds rodents. Pigeons roost beneath the viaduct and on building ledges and fire escapes. In older walk-ups and public housing units with plumbing leaks, silverfish thrive in bathrooms and under sinks. Community gardens and casitas, which are important neighborhood spaces, can also shelter rats when compost and trash are not carefully managed, and the East River Esplanade offers more habitat along the water.