Residents fed up with an on-going rat problem in their neighborhood took their concerns to the street Wednesday afternoon.
It's an update to a story only News 5 continues to follow.
People who live at and near North Pointe Apartments in Euclid protested outside the complex that's currently facing criminal charges.
The protestors want to keep the pressure on both the city and property management as they battle it out in court. They feel both are failing the hundreds of people who call North Pointe home.
They were walking in front of the massive complex holding signs with giant rats on them. The rodent problem at North Pointe is not improving as quickly as they want -- and is now actually expanding to neighboring homes and apartment communities.
New dumpsters were supposed to be part of the solution to rid the property of its rat infestation.
"There's still a huge number of rat burrows," said protest organizer Thomas Cooke.
They've been in place just a few weeks, but in photos obtained by News 5, it looks as if they're not doing much to curb the issue.
"We knew right from the get go they weren't going to work and right now they're no proving themselves not to work," said Cooke.
Turns out, the new dumpsters that originally took weeks to get into place are not rodent proof. The bottoms and sides are not sealed.
"Rats are climbing through the sides and through the top. It's as if they never replaced the old ones," said Cooke.
The Cuyahoga County Board of Health says the dumpsters will have to be modified or replaced to cut off the rats' food source.
"The burrows do have to be dealt with. Just dealing with the dumpsters is not a solution," said Cooke.
The Board of Health is also now telling North Pointe management the pest control company it's using needs to step up its efforts. It needs to re-bait the area more frequently than once per week until the rats are completely eliminated.
"This is America. We are not a third world country we should not be living like this," said Cooke.
Meantime, a judge is again giving North Pointe more time to tackle a laundry list of other health and safety violations.
The city told the court it feels the property management company is making progress.
Wednesday, News 5 asked the city to provide us with a specific list of where that progress is occurring, but that information was never provided.
We were told the goal remains compliance. Currently the issues are not fixed to the adequacy of the city.
Late Wednesday, one of North Pointe's attorneys contacted News 5 inviting us to the property to see the improvements they've made first hand. We've been told the Mayor of Euclid, along with other city representatives who previously denied our requests for on camera interviews, will also be in attendance.
The city and property management company will be back in court Sept. 14th.
