City Council President Richard Conlin's rat feeding program was launched last week and will bring even more of the rodents to your alley where they can join the possums and raccoons.
This is the city's "better recycling program" of food dumped into yards or yard waste containers. When City Hall says "better program" the translation is higher costs, more inconvenience and little benefit to the public.
Non-composters pay at least $3.50 more per month, on top of increased collection fees, and now keep food waste, other garbage, and recyclables separate, instead of just garbage and recyclables. Overall, the City Council is raising garbage rates by some 25 percent with another big boost scheduled for the next year.
Utility rates are a regressive tax, hitting the poorest the hardest. And regressive taxes encourage those who can least afford them to avoid them. So this "better recycling program" gives added incentive to opt for the compost option. That allows for a garbage pile in your back yard. Our politicians pretend that everyone will have a rat-proof compost bin and would never dump food waste on the open piles of grass clippings. When asked what number of people had opted for the compost pile, a city spokesman said he did not know.
A highly qualified inspector tells me that in just the first week of Seattle's "better recycling program" more fresh meaty bones and food scraps are scattered about than ever before. That inspector would be my dog who surveys a six-mile route around Queen Anne on her morning walks and is finding a larger inventory of garbage on the streets than ever before.
Recently she almost eliminated one of the "better recycling program's" beneficiaries, a rat feeding at an open container off West Galer. The rat was just fast enough to feed out of a food waste bin another day. In my dog's walks, as well as that of her predecessors, we have spotted many compost piles but few compost containers that would discourage a rat. As often as not, those big yard waste containers, which now contain rodent food, are open to accommodate the branches and real yard waste.
The King County Health Services site has hints on how to keep "unwanted guests" away. "If you feed them, they will stay. Pick up fruit and vegetables in your yard. Do not compost any animal products (fish, meat, chicken, cheese, butter). Keep lids tight."
Yet City Hall is encouraging the composting of animal products.
The King County site also warns that a "Compost pile or worm bin that isn't taken care of the right way (do not put meat, fish, poultry, or dairy in the compost) attract rodents." That would be a description of a majority of compost piles in our neighborhoods.
The County Web site warns: Rats are dangerous! They can ruin your food, destroy things in your home and start electrical fires. Rats and their fleas can carry disease.
A City Web site, obviously not up on the latest green drive to attract rats, warns "Don't Compost: Meat, fish, dairy (these attract rats), or pet waste (bag it, and put in trash)."
Rats can have up to seven litters a year with as many as 12 in each litter when food is abundant, as it is now in Seattle.
So they next time you see a rat scampering across the street at dusk, think of our City Council members. The will be scurrying about to sniff out whatever change you have left in your pocket to pay for their next vision of Nirvana.
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