NorthEndWaterfront.com reports on a two-hour neighborhood meeting about trash and rats; says Councilor LaMattina has made some calls to particularly offensive property owners to get them to clean up their property. Other offenders get a "Letter from the Councilor" with tips on making their refuse less rat-happy.

Ya know, we haven't had a good horrifying rat story recently. Chris Faraone to the rescue, with a look at Boston's rat rampage, from the North End to Allston/Brighton. With bonus fun fact on how male rates mate with up to 20 other rats a day.

Imagine getting your mail and finding a large photo of an angry rat staring at you. Michael Pahre posts a copy of a palm card from Allston/Brighton City Council candidate Alex Selvig that features one rat's grim, beady visage on one side and Selvig's anti-rat plan on the other.

Today's Boston election roundup:

Chris Kulikoski, running against District 1 (North End, East Boston, Charlestown) incumbent Sal LaMattina, says the city needs to find new ways to combat rats. He said "rats as big as cats" scurry around near his Charter Street home after dark and that the city might have to take steps such as banning leaving trash on the street overnight: "Presently, trash sits out all night for next-day collection. Since rats are nocturnal, it only makes sense not to leave trash out overnight for rates to feast on. These are not the feasts the North End should be known for."

Kerry posts video of a rat army demolishing a trash bag in Allston Rat City, reports he was forced to flee when some of the rats noticed him and charged him.

Only complaint: He should have used this as the background music.

Wednesday's rat summit (in which city officials met with Allston residents about the rats), didn't come soon enough for one resident, who reports on a recent incident:

... [J]ust the other day when I was driving on my street in the
evening, I actually had to stop to let three of them cross the street in
front of my car. They were just strolling leisurely in front of my eyes. I
had to brake for rat pedestrians! ...

She goes on to explain why she doesn't think lids on garbage cans will be enough to save Allston from the rat invasion.

ISD is meeting with increasingly disgusted residents on May 13 at the Jackson-Mann School to discuss "a mass rodent extermination plan" for the Willardesque hoards of rats now roaming the neighborhood.

A nearby resident says the destruction of the old WGBH building unleashed thousands of rats:

... So here is the fun part. What does the City of Boston do? They send out a fleet of City Inspectors to hand out fines and demands to hire Professional Rat Catchers to homeowners. ...

Takes a good bite as girl tries to throw something in the trash at Clement Morgan Park.

At first, Marcy thought the thing on the inbound side of the Red Line at South Station was a gray mitten. Then she realized it was a dead rat. Today, she reports on RatWatch, Day 11.