Rat Patrol

Inflatable rats certainly brighten up the day. So it is with this photo of Northside Piers on Kent Avenue from an on-the-scene Curbed correspondent and the email that came with it:

"I woke up to more workers than usual milling around Kent Avenue. Then I saw the inflatable rats. I didn't ask any questions, but it seems some of the union workers on the Toll Brother's new building in williamsburg aren't very happy."

There are said to be five rats on the scene, which may mean a rat shortage for non-Toll Brothers construction-related issues today. For instance, this one and this one and, well, this one. How many inflatable rats are there in the at any one time in the five boroughs, anyway? We may never know.

Ahh yes, the Giant Inflatable Rat, a favourite tool of pro-union protestors around the city. Now all of you rat fans can unite at The Rat Patrol, a group for Giant Inflatable Rat enthusiasts at Flickr.


Truly a New York Icon!


The union guys got a particularly good spot for the rat on this occasion, as he looks menacingly over the construction site from his back-of-the-truck vantage point.


Union Rat at a midday protest in front of the Avalon Hotel at 16 E 32nd St. The union cited unfair treatment of hotel employees trying to unionize.


The Rat in D.C. parked at 19th and N St NW in DC - it was helping draw attention to the Mid-Atlantic Regional Council of Carpenters who were protesting poor wages and benefits provided by Tricon construction


the elusive golden rat!


SCABHUNTER at Columbia University


The Rat contemplats going to Studio 54 for a drink