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“Everyone here has a story with rats,” Ricky Meinke says.
In Allston and Brighton, rats aren’t just a fact of life. These rodents have become central to the neighborhood’s identity, spawning art festivals, tours, and earning the area its nickname — “Rat City.” A play on Allston’s “Rock City” moniker, “Rat City” reflects more than just a pest problem. For many, it captures a deeper story about housing, community, and resilience.
Allston resident Meinke, who organizes the Rat City Arts Festival, Allston Rat Walk, and the Rat Rangers, emphasizes that “this name has been around” long before he began organizing rat-themed events. “I moved up here in 2016, there were already people before calling it Rat City,” he says.
“I would say the progression of Rat City started as families and residents moved out, and landlords started purchasing spaces in the neighborhood,” Meinke says. “This combination of a younger population plus a range of absentee landlords and developers that don’t maintain their properties allowed for the influx of rats to come into Allston,” he adds.
Personal incidents with these rodents form the daily fabric of life in Rat City. Meinke vividly remembers his first rat encounter: “My first rat died in the walls of my apartment,” he says. Though Meinke does not own a pet rat, one’s first rat encounter is a rite of passage in Allston.
“My first landlord here said the smell will just simply go away,” he adds.
Unfortunate experiences with rats and slow-to-act landlords are commonplace. Meinke also recalls his wife’s first rat experience. “Her first apartment here had a rat that died in the stove, and the landlord took a significant amount of time to do anything,” he says.
Gustavo Barceloni, who helped organize the Reclaim Rock City campaign in part to combat the rat problem, says that Allston residents are often “joking around about the time a rat scared you in Allston, or the size of a rat that you saw in Allston, or the gross rats that got squished by a car.” For the Reclaim Rock City initiative, Barceloni won the Rats City Arts Festival’s first Mr. Rymkus award. Given to Allston residents who take action against rats, the eponymous award honors the late Mr. Rymkus — who won a city-wide rat-killing competition in 1917.
According to Meinke, the rodent problem exemplifies a deeper system of neglect within Allston-Brighton.
“In terms of development and developers and landlords, I don’t think anything is strongly being done to hold them accountable,” he says.
Meinke argues that developers’ and landlords’ inadequate waste management and slow responses exacerbate the crisis. But rather than highlight these problems, city messaging regarding rat prevention seems to target the human residents themselves.
“If a landlord gets back to you in two weeks about a rat in your stove, that’s two weeks that you cannot make dinner for your family,” Meinke says.
Part of the problem, according to Meinke, can be traced to Boston’s view of Allston tenants. Allston’s status as a neighborhood in the greater Boston area with many transient residents means it is often overlooked.
“Our city views renters as a very young population, as a very scrappy population that is okay with mismanagement or just subpar standards,” he claims.
Allston houses a large population of students, and more than 90 percent of houses are rentals. Currently, the area’s home prices also lag behind the Boston city average, and some realtors believe that the neighborhood’s reputation as a Rat City has forced prices down.
“Homeowners don’t want their neighborhood to be called Rat City, because in their mind, they don’t want to be a part of that reputation that might draw their property values down,” Meinke says.
For Meinke, part of the solution “should be led by the city of Boston.” Specifically, he suggests expanding inspection services and hiring more city staff members with “dedicated efforts solely on rats.”
Barceloni agrees that the city should take action. He calls on the city to make “landlords do their job in preventing rat infestation,” and to find “what businesses need to be supported” in eliminating rats.
Yet, despite the many obstacles, the residents’ common rat struggles have brought the neighborhood closer. For example, the annual Rat City Arts Festival celebrates local artists. By highlighting Allston talent and bringing people together, the festival fosters a system of mutual support.
“There is something really unpleasant and maybe some pleasantness that comes out of it, such as our way to come together through things like the festival,” Barceloni says.
Inspired by the festival’s success, Meinke also helped start the Allston Rat Walks, which invite people to tour the neighborhoods and witness the rodent problem firsthand. Many now see the name “Rat City” as an opportunity for local pride.
“It takes all of those experiences and it gives all those communities an anchor to rally behind at times,” Meinke says.
“We’re choosing to be proud of this situation, because I think it’s the only way we could get by actually living amongst it,” he adds.
