EVANSVILLE — Despite a local 6-month-old baby nearly dying as a result of rodent bites earlier this month, a question about rats got a lighthearted reaction during a mayoral forum Saturday afternoon.
The moderator asked an audience submitted question: “Do you have any ideas about how you would handle the rat problem,” to Libertarian Michael Daugherty and Democrat Stephanie Terry during the forum hosted by the Indiana Democrat African American Caucus.
Republican Natalie Rascher was not in attendance. Rascher told the Courier & Press she received a call about the forum but never received confirmation details, and that party chair Mike Duckworth told her he had not signed off on a forum with IDAAC. Her picture appeared on the flier for the event with Daugherty and Terry.
The question was met with titters from some of the crowd, which turned into laughter as Terry clarified that the moderator had said “rats” before answering.
“I think it speaks to neighborhood development. It goes back to areas in our communities that have been disinvested in over the years,” Terry said.
A report from WFIE-NBC14 Thursday evening addressed rat issues in the area of Linwood and Covert avenues, with residents speaking to how the neighborhood is “overrun” by the pests. This was a follow-up to the near death of the 6-month-old child on Sept. 13.
As the Courier & Press reported, an infant living at a home in the 1600 block of Linwood sustained more than 50 rodent bites, some of which exposed bones in their hand.
Paramedics stabilized the infant and transported him to an Evansville hospital. According to medical records reviewed by Evansville Police Department detectives, the child’s temperature was just 93.5 degrees upon his arrival, and he had a blood-oxygen level of just 69%. He was stabilized and later moved to an Indianapolis hospital, the police said. The 6-month-old also required a blood transfusion.
The child was not brought up in the question, nor in either candidate’s answers.
Terry said the city also has water and sewer problems that need to be addressed.
“Our infrastructure is aging, so in some areas of the community we’re going to see rats. We’re going to,” she said. “But again, with adequate resources to make those needed repairs underground, those will help.”
Code enforcement also plays a role, Terry said. Property owners need to understand there is a higher standard and expectation for how properties are kept and for landlords in how they treat their tenants, she said.
“We’ll be working with code enforcement office and our building commission to ensure we are doing what we’re supposed to do as it relates keeping our neighborhoods at the best level and quality they can be,” Terry said. “But also make sure we’re investing in need repairs in those neighborhoods so they don’t feel neglected over time.”
Daugherty also agreed the water and sewer need addressed. He started his answer off with a joke.
“We just go pick Joe Exotic out of jail and have him bring some big cats into Evansville, right,” he said, which brought additional laughs from around the crowd.
“Poor maintenance, it’s gone to the wayside in the last 12 years of our city’s infrastructure,” Daugherty said.
Daugherty said the city has to maintain its current infrastructure.
“As Stephanie said, code enforcement. We have so many houses that are just sitting there and we’re doing nothing about them,” he said. “Our current administration is doing nothing about them.”
The city needs to say when a house is dangerous to the city and the residents, Daugherty said.
“That also ties into affordable housing since we have all of this property that is just sitting vacant and not being utilized,” he said. “We need community impact in certain neighborhoods. We need to find out where the biggest problem is or where the nests are of the rats and we really need to focus on that.”
