Pest Control in Rosebank, Staten Island
Rosebank occupies the northeastern shoulder of Staten Island just north of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, where Hylan Boulevard begins at the water's edge. It has long been one of the borough's Italian-American strongholds, and the hand-built grotto of the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Society on Amity Street still draws a summer feast. The Alice Austen House, the home of the pioneering photographer, overlooks the Narrows, and the Garibaldi-Meucci Museum preserves the house where Antonio Meucci sheltered Giuseppe Garibaldi. Streets are lined with modest detached homes, many with gardens, and Bay Street provides delis, bakeries and bus service north to the ferry.
Also known as: Rose Bank.
About Rosebank
Rosebank developed in the mid-1800s as a waterfront village with estates, a brewery and working piers along the Narrows. New York's quarantine station was relocated to its shoreline in the late nineteenth century, operating there for decades. Italian immigrants settled in large numbers from the 1880s onward, building the churches, social clubs and backyard gardens that still define the neighborhood. Much of the current housing went up between the late 1800s and the 1950s.
Common Pest Problems in Rosebank
Rosebank's backyards are a big part of its character, and they bring wildlife close to the house. Vegetable gardens, fig trees, grape arbors and compost piles attract rats, which burrow beneath sheds and along fences, and raccoons, which raid gardens and trash cans before looking for shelter in garages or attics. The waterfront lots and the green slopes near the bridge approach give both animals travel corridors between blocks. Mice slip into older homes each fall as temperatures drop.
Many houses here are wood frame on shallow foundations, with decks, porches and garden beds pressed right against the siding. That combination is ideal for subterranean termites and for moisture-loving insects. Earwigs gather under mulch, stones and planters and wander indoors through door sweeps and basement windows during damp summer weeks. Kitchens in older two-family homes can also harbor German cockroaches, particularly where one unit has changed tenants frequently and cardboard boxes have come and gone.