Trashy NYC

stay classy rufass

Ah, the rat murals to promote the artist's new show. Your point is very good, rufie -- New York is the art capital of the world, while Chicago is the artery-clog capital of the world.

Stay lower-middle-classy, rufie.

alanhart, so new yorkers consider rat murals as "fine art." LOL! NYC is such a trashy grimy city. no wonder, it's losing jobs and wealth.

Rufus did you actually look at it? I thought it was pretty cool. There is a painted on guy who looks like he is on scaffolding painting over the rat. But the rat has a pair of scissors ready to cut the guys support lines.

Do you understand that NYC is an urban environment?
Do you understand that there are people who enjoy street art?

Have you ever even really been to NYC?

Yeah, and Chicagoans like nice pictures that would look good over a burgundy chintz sofa. What's your point?

And speaking of losing jobs, for what job did you move to NYC ?

rufus, goofus, doofus, rufass:

Link to the Banksy's (the artist) info on wiki. Knowing Banksy's work pretty well, I can attest to the veracity of the wiki article -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banksy

- though I am also a very big fan of Anish Kapoor's 'Cloud Gate' (a.k.a. "The Bean") in Chicago as well. Chicago is a very good art town. Not as good as NYC, but very good nonetheless.

Oh my lord, the stupidity of deear rufus manages to surprise me with new lows each day...

Rats are all over the place...in Chicago!

Chicago Sun Time - April 2007

BY MARK J. KONKOL Staff Reporter

'Rat Man" George Manning knows all about the little furry terrors spotted swimming in hot tubs and terrorizing posh Lincoln Park.

"Had a lady on Mohawk have a rat come up her toilet," Rat Man says.

So it's no surprise rats were a campaign issue in the race for 43rd Ward alderman.

"All over the ward people say, 'If you do anything, get rid of the rats.' They're the worst they've ever been," says Ald. Vi Daly's unsuccessful challenger, Michele Smith. "A rat the size of a small cat ran across my path while we were canvassing."

"Nope, no surprise to me. We're talking total infestation," says Rat Man, whose rat resume starts when he was 6 years old and a rat bit him.

He started killing rats for beer money as a student at Purdue University, and has been doing ever since. For a while, he left behind sewers to make a foray into politics -- failed bids for mayor in '77 and 32nd Ward alderman in '81. He certainly encountered rats then, too.

Get Rat Man talking about Norwegian rats, and his eyes get big: Whole sections of streets and sidewalks could collapse thanks to burrowing rats. Rat man says some might say that makes him sound like a nut.

"But I'm not a nut. I'm an activist."

So rats are gobbling up Chicago? Rat Man says they're digging elaborate rat mansions under busy streets, erroding sewers that are already like Swiss cheese and using them as delicatessens and "superhighways."

Despite Rat Man's prophecies, Chicago's rodent-hunters say they've got rats on the run. Mayor Daley's Dumpster Task Force tickets business owners with rat-friendly conditions like leaking grease bins and overflowing trash in alleys. Then, they go inside restaurant kitchens and grocery stores to look for indoor rats and other pests.

The city's rat-killers say that, because of such diligence, they've had fewer rat complaints, and put out more rat poison than ever before.

"We prefer to go out and kill these suckers every day," city rodent patrol spokesman Matt Smith says.

There's even a city-issued rodent-control pamphlet with Mayor Daley's picture on it that says Chicago has reduced the rat population from six million to under 500,000, leaving "four out of five blocks" rat-free. But some people who know about these things will tell you that is complete baloney.

The city's secret to controling rats is getting folks to always pick up dog poop, keep garbage can lids closed and filling rat holes with poison. Their mantra is: If a rat can't eat, a rat can't breed.

"I've heard this theory about the sewers before," Smith says during a recent rat hunt in Uptown. "But, honestly, we don't get many complaints about rats in the sewers."

After the Uptown hunt, Smith says rodent-patrol crews have started "preventative baiting" sewers this year, but again he insists the dog poop and open trash cans cause the worst rat problems.

That kind of talk riles Rat Man.

"I've seen this Matt Smith. Nice, clean-cut guy. Probably never been in a sewer," says Rat Man, who's rather dirty with white hair, grimy fingertips and a broken smile.

He says the city's baiting might work in preventing a problem from occuring but not when there's already a problem.

"It's all propaganda," Rat Man says. "They tell the same lie over and over and over for so long it hypnotizes people and becomes the truth."

Rat Man says that folks who don't believe him should call Robert Corrigan, a nationally respected urban rodentologist, who's was recently hired by Taco Bell and KFC to fight the rats in New York City.

Corrigan says Chicago's rat patrol does a fine job at fixing part of the rat problem, but he warns that Rat Man shouldn't be discounted.

"Can rats cause a portion of sidewalks and curbs and streets to collapse? Absolutely," Corrigan says. "I was just in New York with a reporter pointing out where sidewalks collapsed because of rats. All you need is a few rats burrowing near a sewer and a big rain that accelerates erosion and you can get massive damage to a street system no problem."

Rat Man's professional life might be titled Old Man and the Sewer -- a tale of a defeated hero doomed to forever chase rats but never kill them all.

Thanks to decades spent chasing rats from all parts of Chicago, Rat Man feels confident saying entire neighborhoods -- Lake View, Hyde Park, Wicker Park, Pilsen, Rogers Park and Lincoln Park -- are rat-infested. Aging sewers under Clark, Lincoln and Halsted, he says, are certifiable rat havens.

And Mary Boeder of Lincoln Park is a believer in Rat Man's theories. She's seen it for herself: rats scurrying around after old buildings get demolished. Rats eating potted impatiens like rabbits. And once, at a neighbor's place, five rats swimming in a hot tub.

"They looked like otters," she says. "It freaks me out . . . The rats are winning."

Rufus not only knows nothing about NYC, he knows nothing about Chicago!

Hahahahaha!!!!!

You should really stay in Hammond. You really aren't ready for NYC or Chicago. Look into Milwaukee or St. Louis. They may be more your speed.

Wayne's World!
Wayne's World!
Party time!
Excellent!

My favorites:

* "elaborate rat mansions", "certifiable rat havens" -- just like those very tall condos on LSD that rufie likes.
* "It's all propaganda," Rat Man says. "They tell the same lie over and over and over for so long it hypnotizes people and becomes the truth." -- rufie's truth
* "Nice, clean-cut guy. Probably never been in a sewer"
* the notion that rufie, US mental-health-problem poster child, is shilling for a city that's divided into WARDS!!!

what a lame article. It cites ONE person's opinions of rats in Chicago while NYC's huge rat problem has been thoroughly documented.

Hey rufie, what job?

Rufus, move to Chicago already- we aren't interested in hearing your anti-NYC comments.

LOL Chicago.

/END THREAD

Yeah, the Chicago Sun Times is a tiny little paper that puts out articles based on one person's opinion and all of the other people cited in the article aren't real either.

Rufus, you sound, pardon the bluntness, stupid when you say things like that. Your inability to distinguish between the real world and bizarro world is quite discerning. Did you not graduate high school? I ask because your thought process, ability to string together coherent factual points and rebuttals all sound eerily familiar to the idiotic lunchroom dialog of a bunch of 9th graders who are a 1/2 step away from expulsion and struggle with their basic reading and comprehension skills.

I am concerned. You may really want to consider finishing high school so that you can afford a better apartment in UWS or in Greenwich. If not, you will be stuck in Bronx....or worse yet, Chicago.

Everything waverly said, and also
What job?

and yet, lincoln park is one of the hippest and trendiest urban neighborhoods in the country. it's a more sophisticated version of greenwich village, but with hotter girls.

The only thing more pathetic than dufus is responding to him.
Please ignore him. He's like an unruly child that needs attention.
Please stop responding and he will go away. Please.

Rufus is the class clown who has found his audience. Rufus, you are so desperate for attention—I feel like you are taking things to the extreme to avoid dealing with your pathetic world & avoid your own personal struggles. You have these insane posts on this message board that make no sense— you have taken away from the integrity of this site. You really need help.

Like all class clowns, you are entertaining for about 5 minutes. Then you become annoying and pathetic. Go back and finish school and get help.

Rufus- you are very much a Dufus and your song and dance has grown old.

I second everyone....except you Rufus.

I'm out....

Texan, how have things been in Texas? How is Rick Perry? He visited NYC recently, whereas neither Michael Bloomberg nor Andrew Cuomo visited Texas. They didn't visit Chicago either.