RATS: City Needs Effective Programs: BENN

Rats in urban areas are a long term problem.

They have been around for about as long as there have been urban areas. Sometimes the local rat population grows, sometimes it declines. At issue is the need to develop an effective long term program to better control the ‘highs’.

Therein the problem lies with pretty much every city program. Effective is never defined. As it relates to the rat population control program, the city needs to define its objectives in measurable terms. For example, the objective of this program is to limit the rat population (assuming that it is even possible to reasonably measure such a thing) to not more than X, where X is an actual number.

Next step is not limit the program to only one element. Has there been any discussion about using a multi-element program? One that involves the use of both poison to achieve short term results, and birth control to impact the longer term population growth. The relative volumes of both elements could be shifted up or down depending on the results. Note to council – this means that money needs to be set aside to perform these measurements – forever.

Therein the next problem lies. The city chooses not to measure the results of its programs. Why? Is it because measuring the effectiveness of a program may create the problem of being held responsible for the outcome. Accountability is a term that is only embraced during an election campaign. Instead, the city chooses to deem the mere existence of the program as sufficient.

Ron Benn, a finance executive, has been a member of the Centrepointe Community Association for the better part of three decades.

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