With Rat Infestation, RTC Finally Earns Our Grudging Respect as Gritty Urban Core

Ah, Reston Town Center. With the (somewhat nearby) arrival of a mass transit system that could whisk people to a bigger shopping mall a legitimate downtown, you realized you had to "step up your game," as the kids no longer say. With a trifling garbage fire every now and then no longer a valid bonafide for urban cred, you are now bragging about a veritable "explosion of rats."

SRSLY:

As you have probably heard we have rats in the Town Square Park for the first time. What you may not know is that there has been an explosion of rats in the entire Town Center. I am not sure why except that perhaps the Avant construction provided stimulation for them to get into the rest of Town Center.

In response both Boston Properties and RUCA are taking steps to initiate a major effort on our properties to get rid of the rats. RUCA is also working with Triple “S” Pest control. They did a survey of the Town Square last week and found rodent burrows in the big planting bed on Explorer St, and in the beds facing Market St.

We have contracted with them to do intensive treatment doing 9 visits to inspect and aggressively treat the existing burrows for the first month and then follow up with monthly treatment. This will include installing 9 tamper resistant bait stations in key areas of the property including flower and shrub planting areas. These will look like a fake rock and will contain a rodenticide which I have been told will not harm dogs, but dog owners should keep their dogs away from them.

Dog owners must be very careful about cleaning up dog poop and putting it in the stations. If the stations are getting too full too quickly please let me know. Rats are attracted to the waste.

We also ask that residents be sure to clean up any food and trash and if possible take it with them out of the park for disposal.

WELL PLAYED, RTC. Well played.

There's no truth to the rumor, though, that the rats are already lining up for the iPhone 6. Or that this is the consequence of one small-town rat with big-city dreams of becoming a renowned chef at a midscale chain eatery. We could make a cute animated film... let's call it "Unotatouille" for the sake of argument.

Our favorite correspondent, the Peasant from Less Sought-After South Reston, wonders if we can blame the Metro for this, too:

See, those people who feared undesirables coming from "East of the River" were spot on! Maybe the vermin came on the Silver Line to check out the awesome RTC?

Here, courtesy of the Peasant, is EXCLUSIVE FOOTAGE of what might have happened:



Now THAT's gritty.