Lexington, KY vs. New York, NY: a tale of two bedbugged cities

nobugsonme — Sun, 15 Oct 2006 06:24:29 +0000

Let’s consider, again, the differences between New York, NY and Lexington, KY:

According to the Lexington Herald-Leader of 10/14/2006, Lexington, KY had a huge increase in reported cases of bed bugs in the last few years:

Complaints about bedbugs in Lexington have almost tripled since 2005, the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department said yesterday, and it warned residents to take precautions against a problem that is growing here and nationwide.

Public health officials said they’ve investigated 19 complaints about bedbugs in various areas of Lexington so far this year, compared to seven complaints in all of 2005. In response, the health department has formed a task force, in cooperation with the Urban County Government, to start distributing educational pamphlets, spokeswoman Jessica Cobb said.

Meanwhile, much larger New York, NY also had a huge increase in reported cases of bed bugs in the last few years:

In the last fiscal year, the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development received 4,638 complaints about bedbugs in rental housing – nearly five times as many in the previous year.

Lexington: 19 complaints last year; NYC: 4,638 complaints last year. In New York, it is notable that these 4,638 cases only represent tenants who reported cases to the city. Homeowners with infestations would not call 311 to report bed bugs. And most tenants wouldn’t either; the normal course of action when a tenant has a pest, is for the tenant to call the landlord or superintendent. I would never think of calling 311 unless my landlord did not respond to a complaint. In short, 4,638 is the tip of the iceberg. I’d be surprised if there were not 10 times as many tenants with infestations who did not call 311. And many more homeowners, who would never have call to report their home’s infestation to a city agency.

Lexington 2000 (human) population: 260512; NYC 2000 (human) population: 8008278.

There are almost 31 times as many people in NYC as in Lexington.

There were 244 times as many reports of bed bug infestations in the last year in NYC compared to Lexington.

New York’s reported infestations are up five times in one year.

Lexington’s are up three times in one year.

And yet the New York City government, after 4,638 reported cases, is not doing anything; our short-sighted city officials recently claimed poor people should have the right to save money by purchasing used mattresses, a known cause of the spread of bed bugs.

And the government in Lexington, after 19 reported cases, is spearheading a leafleting campaign, to educate the populace.

Discuss.

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Lexington, KY vs. New York, NY: a tale of two bedbugged cities