Comments on: Article in LA Times: bed bug press is good press, with a few reservations http://bedbugger.com/2007/01/29/article-in-la-times-bed-bug-press-is-good-press-with-a-few-reservations/ bed bug news, information, activism, and support Tue, 06 Jan 2009 11:37:23 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: jessinchicago http://bedbugger.com/2007/01/29/article-in-la-times-bed-bug-press-is-good-press-with-a-few-reservations/#comment-1089 jessinchicago Wed, 31 Jan 2007 03:15:55 +0000 http://bedbugger.com/2007/01/29/article-in-la-times-bed-bug-press-is-good-press-with-a-few-reservations/#comment-1089 Bugzinthehood- I have missed your humor. Good to see you! Bugzinthehood- I have missed your humor.

Good to see you!

]]> By: nobugsonme http://bedbugger.com/2007/01/29/article-in-la-times-bed-bug-press-is-good-press-with-a-few-reservations/#comment-1085 nobugsonme Wed, 31 Jan 2007 02:26:35 +0000 http://bedbugger.com/2007/01/29/article-in-la-times-bed-bug-press-is-good-press-with-a-few-reservations/#comment-1085 Hey bugz-- I am glad to see you back. I noted the boingboing connection in the article above, when I found it last night, and you're absolutely right, it's a good thing they're spreading the news. Hey bugz– I am glad to see you back. I noted the boingboing connection in the article above, when I found it last night, and you’re absolutely right, it’s a good thing they’re spreading the news.

]]> By: Bugalina http://bedbugger.com/2007/01/29/article-in-la-times-bed-bug-press-is-good-press-with-a-few-reservations/#comment-1090 Bugalina Tue, 30 Jan 2007 23:59:10 +0000 http://bedbugger.com/2007/01/29/article-in-la-times-bed-bug-press-is-good-press-with-a-few-reservations/#comment-1090 bugzinthehood...good to have you back...I thought maybe you fell into some cracks and crevices with a strong residual !!! Bugalina bugzinthehood…good to have you back…I thought maybe you fell into some cracks and crevices with a strong residual !!! Bugalina

]]> By: bugzinthehood http://bedbugger.com/2007/01/29/article-in-la-times-bed-bug-press-is-good-press-with-a-few-reservations/#comment-1082 bugzinthehood Tue, 30 Jan 2007 23:18:49 +0000 http://bedbugger.com/2007/01/29/article-in-la-times-bed-bug-press-is-good-press-with-a-few-reservations/#comment-1082 Yeah, the article was pretty mediocre but an interesting side note. I picked up on it on http://www.boingboing.net/, which is a website for the young, hip, technically minded and nouvelle culture cats. There are actually a couple of links to BB articles. Yeah, the article was pretty mediocre but an interesting side note. I picked up on it on http://www.boingboing.net/, which is a website for the young, hip, technically minded and nouvelle culture cats. There are actually a couple of links to BB articles.

]]> By: nobugsonme http://bedbugger.com/2007/01/29/article-in-la-times-bed-bug-press-is-good-press-with-a-few-reservations/#comment-1088 nobugsonme Tue, 30 Jan 2007 17:12:55 +0000 http://bedbugger.com/2007/01/29/article-in-la-times-bed-bug-press-is-good-press-with-a-few-reservations/#comment-1088 Another thing: this is NOT something I'd expect this article to include, but it is crucial for anyone who is thinking about the scope of this issue to understand this: the LA Times article cites NYC's 4600 comlaints in one year, but this really misrepresents the scope of this problem. According to the Village Voice Article last month, Pest Away (a NYC PCO) claims to get 100 bed bug calls per day, 85 of which are actual cases. Multiply 85 x 5 days a week x 52 weeks a year, and that one pest control operator is seeing 22,100 homes with bed bugs per year. And there are HUNDREDS of PCOs in the NYC area, most of whom treat bed bugs. The reason the city's statistics are so woefully inaccurate is because they're based on calls to 311 to report housing violations. But most tenants and all homeowners do NOT call 311 to report pests. They call their landlords or they call a pest control operator. The local government needs to keep a registry of infestations which isn't tied to reports of housing violations, so we can see how this is spreading and where. For now, our mayor has his head in the sand. Again, I don't fault the article for not knowing about this, but we need to keep spreading the word on that every time we see the "4600-something in one year" statistic. (Which, amusingly, the city says is a gross overstatement, since most of the 4600 calls do not pan out to be actual cases.) I've said it before and I will say it again, if Pest Away is truly getting 85 legit cases a day, then add their 22,100 per year to the hundred(s) of thousands more per year that PCOs in NYC must be seeing as a whole. Another thing: this is NOT something I’d expect this article to include, but it is crucial for anyone who is thinking about the scope of this issue to understand this: the LA Times article cites NYC’s 4600 comlaints in one year, but this really misrepresents the scope of this problem. According to the Village Voice Article last month, Pest Away (a NYC PCO) claims to get 100 bed bug calls per day, 85 of which are actual cases. Multiply 85 x 5 days a week x 52 weeks a year, and that one pest control operator is seeing 22,100 homes with bed bugs per year. And there are HUNDREDS of PCOs in the NYC area, most of whom treat bed bugs. The reason the city’s statistics are so woefully inaccurate is because they’re based on calls to 311 to report housing violations. But most tenants and all homeowners do NOT call 311 to report pests. They call their landlords or they call a pest control operator. The local government needs to keep a registry of infestations which isn’t tied to reports of housing violations, so we can see how this is spreading and where. For now, our mayor has his head in the sand.

Again, I don’t fault the article for not knowing about this, but we need to keep spreading the word on that every time we see the “4600-something in one year” statistic. (Which, amusingly, the city says is a gross overstatement, since most of the 4600 calls do not pan out to be actual cases.)

I’ve said it before and I will say it again, if Pest Away is truly getting 85 legit cases a day, then add their 22,100 per year to the hundred(s) of thousands more per year that PCOs in NYC must be seeing as a whole.

]]> By: buggedinbrooklyn http://bedbugger.com/2007/01/29/article-in-la-times-bed-bug-press-is-good-press-with-a-few-reservations/#comment-1087 buggedinbrooklyn Tue, 30 Jan 2007 16:38:00 +0000 http://bedbugger.com/2007/01/29/article-in-la-times-bed-bug-press-is-good-press-with-a-few-reservations/#comment-1087 I too like it for the same reasons Jess likes it. buggedinbrooklyn I too like it for the same reasons Jess likes it.

buggedinbrooklyn

]]> By: nobugsonme http://bedbugger.com/2007/01/29/article-in-la-times-bed-bug-press-is-good-press-with-a-few-reservations/#comment-1083 nobugsonme Tue, 30 Jan 2007 05:19:45 +0000 http://bedbugger.com/2007/01/29/article-in-la-times-bed-bug-press-is-good-press-with-a-few-reservations/#comment-1083 No disagreement there, Bugalina. No disagreement there, Bugalina.

]]> By: Bugalina http://bedbugger.com/2007/01/29/article-in-la-times-bed-bug-press-is-good-press-with-a-few-reservations/#comment-1084 Bugalina Tue, 30 Jan 2007 05:00:17 +0000 http://bedbugger.com/2007/01/29/article-in-la-times-bed-bug-press-is-good-press-with-a-few-reservations/#comment-1084 He did mention the Malibu director...but here is the title of the article- Badgered by bedbugs: It's hard to sleep tight in N.Y. - I think its hard to sleep tight in Calif. too, as a matter of fact I think one of our bloggers pinpointed their infestation to a hotel in Glendale Calif. . I am curious as to why he thinks its mainly a NY problem...it doesn't matter...since I am a New Yorker this is where I will wage the public awareness war/campaign ...Bugalina He did mention the Malibu director…but here is the title of the article-
Badgered by bedbugs: It’s hard to sleep tight in N.Y. - I think its hard to sleep tight in Calif. too, as a matter of fact I think one of our bloggers pinpointed their infestation to a hotel in Glendale Calif. . I am curious as to why he thinks its mainly a NY problem…it doesn’t matter…since I am a New Yorker this is where I will wage the public awareness war/campaign …Bugalina

]]> By: nobugsonme http://bedbugger.com/2007/01/29/article-in-la-times-bed-bug-press-is-good-press-with-a-few-reservations/#comment-1086 nobugsonme Tue, 30 Jan 2007 04:01:54 +0000 http://bedbugger.com/2007/01/29/article-in-la-times-bed-bug-press-is-good-press-with-a-few-reservations/#comment-1086 Hi Bugalina and Jess, Jess--I agree it's not a bad article! Those were just minor annoyances. You're absolutely right about the range of sufferers being portrayed (actually, in this case, only the higher end of the economic range, but it's a nice change). Bugalina--to be fair, the author did not claim it was only a NYC problem--but I agree the Malibu director as an aside hardly represents the scope of the west coast problem. Hi Bugalina and Jess,

Jess–I agree it’s not a bad article! Those were just minor annoyances. You’re absolutely right about the range of sufferers being portrayed (actually, in this case, only the higher end of the economic range, but it’s a nice change).

Bugalina–to be fair, the author did not claim it was only a NYC problem–but I agree the Malibu director as an aside hardly represents the scope of the west coast problem.

]]> By: jessinchicago http://bedbugger.com/2007/01/29/article-in-la-times-bed-bug-press-is-good-press-with-a-few-reservations/#comment-1091 jessinchicago Tue, 30 Jan 2007 03:38:37 +0000 http://bedbugger.com/2007/01/29/article-in-la-times-bed-bug-press-is-good-press-with-a-few-reservations/#comment-1091 I kind of like the article, Nobugs. Maybe that's because I'm not from New York, and because I know that bedbugs are NOT just a New York epidemic. They're everywhere. I think I like it because I'm tired of bedbug victims being portrayed as complete lunatics, and I think the author does a good job of conveying the realities of bedbug infestations and the tolls those realities take on human lives. At least in the majority of the article, anyway. I was happy to see that the article focuses on the universality of bedbugs- that they don't care whether you're filthy rich or just plain filthy, so long as you have blood pulsing through your veins. And I am relieved to read these words from Bonnie Friedman, which ring so true: "People in New York are used to cockroaches, where you have the exterminator come once but it doesn't lay siege to your life. This does. Having them turns your life upside down." In fact, people EVERYWHERE are used to other kinds of bugs, from cockroaches to carpet beetles to earwigs to ants, all of which are eliminated with a simple spraying by Joe PCO. Not so with bedbugs, and it's refreshing to see a reporter quote a sufferer so poignantly. I like, particularly, that the author mentions the Hollywood director who begged the PCO to come from NY to California to treat his infestation. There is a distinct sense of urgency in that quote, one that captures what most of us feel when we realize that we have bedbugs. We want them out. Now. And we'll pay the price, if we can. Yes, there are some downsides to the article. I found the quotes from the Long Island sufferer to be examples of the extreme, at best. I'd venture to guess those quotes were taken out of context, but they do not help our cause, in any case. Fortunately, though, this author chooses not to focus on the extreme, as many of us are trying to live normal lives- and that should overshadow the rare cases of self-inflicted isolation and social withdrawal, if those cases exist at all. I like it. I think the article is immature, in terms of information and scope, but it is a step in the right direction. It's a hell of a leap from the Village Voice article, no? Jess I kind of like the article, Nobugs. Maybe that’s because I’m not from New York, and because I know that bedbugs are NOT just a New York epidemic. They’re everywhere.

I think I like it because I’m tired of bedbug victims being portrayed as complete lunatics, and I think the author does a good job of conveying the realities of bedbug infestations and the tolls those realities take on human lives. At least in the majority of the article, anyway.

I was happy to see that the article focuses on the universality of bedbugs- that they don’t care whether you’re filthy rich or just plain filthy, so long as you have blood pulsing through your veins.

And I am relieved to read these words from Bonnie Friedman, which ring so true:

“People in New York are used to cockroaches, where you have the exterminator come once but it doesn’t lay siege to your life. This does. Having them turns your life upside down.”

In fact, people EVERYWHERE are used to other kinds of bugs, from cockroaches to carpet beetles to earwigs to ants, all of which are eliminated with a simple spraying by Joe PCO. Not so with bedbugs, and it’s refreshing to see a reporter quote a sufferer so poignantly.

I like, particularly, that the author mentions the Hollywood director who begged the PCO to come from NY to California to treat his infestation. There is a distinct sense of urgency in that quote, one that captures what most of us feel when we realize that we have bedbugs. We want them out. Now. And we’ll pay the price, if we can.

Yes, there are some downsides to the article. I found the quotes from the Long Island sufferer to be examples of the extreme, at best. I’d venture to guess those quotes were taken out of context, but they do not help our cause, in any case. Fortunately, though, this author chooses not to focus on the extreme, as many of us are trying to live normal lives- and that should overshadow the rare cases of self-inflicted isolation and social withdrawal, if those cases exist at all.

I like it. I think the article is immature, in terms of information and scope, but it is a step in the right direction. It’s a hell of a leap from the Village Voice article, no?

Jess

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