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Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
National
Courtney Kueppers | WBEZ

Hey, New York, Chicago already has had a rat czar for years. Her name is Josie Cruz.

Chicago New York Kathleen Corradi
Josie Cruz, who heads the city of Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation’s Bureau of Rodent Control. (Photo illustration / Mendy Kong. Photos: Pat Nabong / Sun-Times, Courtney Kueppers / WBEZ, provided)

In New York City, Mayor Eric Adams made a splash by announcing he’d appointed a “rat czar” — former teacher Kathleen Corradi, the city’s first director of rodent mitigation. Well, New York, Chicago was way ahead, with Josie Cruz heading the city’s war on vermin for years.

Since she started with City Hall’s Department of Streets and Sanitation in 1998, Cruz has risen to head the Bureau of Rodent Control, in charge of the crews that respond to tens of thousands of rat-related calls every year.

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