New York City’s “rat czar” is scampering out of City Hall.
Kathleen Corradi, who was hired by Mayor Eric Adams in April 2023 as the citywide director of rodent mitigation, will resign from her post effective Oct. 10, the mayor’s office announced Wednesday. She was heralded as the worst enemy of New York City's rats when she took the newly created role.
Corradi will move to a new job overseeing resident services as a senior vice president at NYCHA, a spokesperson for the agency confirmed. She will manage about 200 people at the public housing agency, with a core mission of connecting residents to economic opportunity.
Adams credited Corradi with a citywide drop in rat sightings, though the exact scope of her $176,000-a-year position was never made clear. The mayor’s office billed her job as one that coordinated several city agencies around the sanitation department’s effort to containerize the city’s garbage and eliminate the piles of trash bags on sidewalks that act as a major food supply for rats.
Corradi also led the city’s “rat pack,” a program designed to educate New Yorkers on rat behavior and techniques to reduce the rodents' presence. She hosted the city’s first ever rat summit last year, which brought together leaders from across the country to trade notes on killing rodents.
A freedom of information law request by Gothamist seeking Corradi's daily schedules has gone unfulfilled since June 2024.
Adams said in a statement that Corradi “is not going too far.” Spokespeople for his office wouldn’t confirm where she would be working next, or if her role would be left vacant.
“Hats off to Kathy [Corradi] for this incredible work, and we wish her the best in this future endeavor — thankfully, she is not going too far and will still be working to serve the city in a different capacity,” Adams said.
Her departure comes as Adams faces a longshot re-election bid as an independent candidate in November’s mayoral election. Adams, who ranks fourth in the polls behind Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa, has repeatedly said he plans to stay in the race.
Corradi previously rose through the ranks in administrative jobs at the city education department. From 2015 to 2023, she worked as a sustainability manager at the department and later became its director of space planning.
Councilmember Sandy Nurse, who previously led the Council’s sanitation committee, said the “rat czar” position was more about fanfare than substance.
“It's not a clear job. It's a made-up job,” Nurse said. “This is not against [Corradi], but I just am unclear what the deliverables were for that role and what accountability there was in achieving it.”
At an event earlier this month announcing the expansion of the city’s trash containerization program, Corradi sidestepped questions about whether she’d stay on as "rat czar" into the next mayoral administration.
“ I think the value of this role in this central coordination, really helping to vision, set, bring agencies together,” she said. “It is not a job of one. It's a job of many. That's from all the agencies, from all the staff.”
“I think there's nothing but success proven in this role from public perception to operational changes and I certainly hope that it continues forever,” she added.
This story was updated with information on Corradi's new job at NYCHA.
