You may have noticed The Upper East Side has become infested with rats. Not those rats (although they live here too)- I mean large balloon rats.

On April 19, a giant inflatable rat stood anchored next to the awning of 1040 Fifth Avenue at 85th Street. Two workmen stood nearby in front of a parked van, facing the building. I asked one of them where one goes to get one of these rats for such an occasion. He said, “We own it, we own five rats, every union has them.” He pointed out a small label on the back of the balloon which read bigskyballoons. He told me they also sell balloons for kids’ parties and other occasions.

The man I am speaking to is from the Laborer’s Union, which he says has “jurisdiction over asbestos removal in this area.” Looking at 1040 Fifth Avenue he says they’ve hired a substandard company that has a bad track record.

I asked him to tell me more about the flyer I had taken from a pile by the rat’s feet which had a story about a girl who died. “That wasn’t here, that was actually in Ohio - her dad was a plumber and he would come home from work with asbestos on his clothes, and his daughter would hug him and the fibers would stick to her. She died of mesothelioma at age 23.”

I asked if he thought the building would have the company stop work today. The man answered that there was actually no work going on in 1040 Fifth Avenue today, but that the real estate manager, Douglas Elliman (one of the biggest realtors in the city) hires this substandard firm to work on all of his buildings, and that the union has posted rats outside several Douglas Elliman buildings throughout the city including 911 Park Avenue, Madison and 74th: He asks if I know of Tommy Mottola- there’s one outside his building on the West Side.

I asked this union member how long he would be out here with the balloon. He answered “Days, months, years, whatever it takes.”

-R.S.

A note from the future: It’s July now and I haven’t seen a rat baloon in several weeks. My main curiosity as to where you get those rats has been satisfied.