Which brought us to the host, developer Donald Trump. “The building is going to be something the likes of which has never been done before,” he said of the soaring, sailboat-style glass tower, which recalled to this reporter the Cooper Square Hotel now looming over the Bowery.

Donald Trump Jr., meanwhile, suggested the posh accommodations would be “very comparable to the best you have in New York, and vice versa.”

Any fear of bedbugs in Dubai? (See The Observer’s Summer Phobias report on page C1.)

“Everything’s brand new out there, so I’m sure they don’t have bedbugs,” his lovely wife, Vanessa, interjected.

“Most of it didn’t exist five years ago, so there’s probably not too much of an issue with bedbugs—and certainly not the places we’re staying,” the younger Mr. Trump said.

“No, you won’t have any—I promise,” Trump père said with a wink.

Phew!

They probably don’t have any right now, if the place is brand new. But then people move in and in time, even in the poshest environment, someone is going to bring in a bed bug.

As for the future, hopefully Mr. Trump has his bed bug prevention and management plan ducks in a row.

Meanwhile, over in the Culture section of the same issue:

Among NewYorkers’ summer phobias such as public urination, lightning, and bolting carriage horses, the Observer identifies a fear of picking up bed bugs:

Speaking of Duane Reade, my girlfriend and I were there on a recent Saturday afternoon, buying a can of Pronto bedbug-killing spray. We’d just scored a couple of end tables at a sidewalk sale, and despite the fact the sellers lived in an immaculate brownstone, we couldn’t help shake the thought that any secondhand goods purchased in or around New York might be a vessel for those tiny, blood-sucking vermin that have induced psychological terror across the five boroughs.

How did it get to the point where some of us can’t even go to a flea market without worrying that it might have, well, actual fleas?

Um, well, maybe because it’s now true that they might have bed bugs!

Picking up bed bugs in an end table from a Park Slope stoop sale is not an irrational fear, and has got to be much more likely than being run down by a runaway horse in Central Park.

(If it were not so, you would be reading horsecarnage.com).

The article goes on to try and reassure us with the latest HPD statistics:

According to Neill Coleman, a spokesman for the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, it’s hard to assess the true threat. He said there’s been an increase in the number of bedbug complaints and violations over the past several years (in fiscal year 2004, HPD had 537 complaints, versus 8,840 complaints and 4,243 violations so far in fiscal year 2008, records show), but he also noted that bedbugs make up only a fraction of the more than 500,000 violations the department issues each year.

There are over 16 times as many official bed bug complaints as there were four years ago, and nearly half result in violations. It seems like bed bug cases are multiplying fast.

Of course, for those who assume someone with bed bugs would call 311 to report them as a housing violation, those numbers might seem “manageable.” My own observations suggest the vast majority do not call 311.

But the Observer clearly thinks there’s no cause to adjust your behavior in order to avoid bed bugs.

Still, people like Emilia Rich, 28, of Greenpoint aren’t taking any chances. Her phobia started last year when two small red bumps appeared on her arm, and a co-worker suggested they could be from bedbugs (false alarm). Now she gets freaked out whenever she sees mattresses on the curb on garbage night, so much so that she walks to the other side of the street. As for furniture, she’s sticking with IKEA.

“Buying furniture at a stoop sale?” Ms. Rich said. “That’s not even an option!”

Smart thinking, Emilia.

You don’t have to live in a state of constant panic, but avoiding New York City stoop sales during the current bed bug crisis is probably a good idea.

Not having bed bugs when you think you do is good luck, but it hardly means you should not have some concerns about picking them up.

• Eliminating Bed Bug Phobia - yeah, right
• Hotel Pennsylvania Settles Bedbug Suits for Nearly $100,000 | The New York Observer
• Columbia Spectator on bed bugs, again with the HPD statistic soup
• Lexington, KY vs. New York, NY: a tale of two bedbugged cities

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But what I found intriguing was the following comment:

Used and freebie couches are breeding grounds for these pests and a center-piece in many college students’ living rooms. Many apartment complexes warned tenants of the commingling of on-campus and off-campus Aggies, with reference to spreading bed bugs. The Luxor Management Group told tenants to avoid visiting residence halls and “if someone who lives in the dorms must come to visit you in your residence, [we] strongly recommend that they do not sit or put their belongings on your beds or even enter your bedrooms and to just stay in your living or dining rooms.”

This management company is warning residents of off-campus apartments that they should avoid visiting students who live in dorms, and treat visitors from dorms with caution, keeping them in the living room and dining room, and their belongings off the beds.

Bed bug awareness is a good thing, but this advice is a bit off.

Yes–I would absolutely advise people to avoid putting guests’ belongings in their beds. The whole party “coat pile on the bed” (or coat pile anywhere) concept is a bad idea, and aversion to it is a litmus test for whether people have experienced bed bugs or not.

And taking in used couches and other items from the street, Craigslist, or other sources, is a bad idea. (Though surely some of the students in private accommodation have done this too?)

On the other hand, you should realize that if your friends have bed bugs and bring them to your home on belongings or on their clothing, they can infest other rooms as easily as the bedroom. Keeping friends to the living and dining room is not going to do it. Sofas and upholstered furniture are common targets, but bed bugs do also move into rooms themselves, and wooden furniture items.

Better advice for Texas A&M students is to talk about bed bugs. Make sure your friends know about them and know that experts claim as many as 50% of people may experience no bite marks and no itching–that means you can have them and not know it.

Make sure they know what unfed first instar nymphs look like (1 mm or 1/32 inch, white or translucent; not 6 mm or 1/6 inch and brown), since–as Lou Sorkin keeps reminding us–this is not what the media usually tells people to look for, but they may be all you see.

Talk to your friends about avoiding curbside furniture, lawn sales, flea markets and the like.

While Luxor Management may have the idea that students in a dorm are more prone to bed bug outbreaks than those in private accommodations, it is true that anyone can get bed bugs anytime.

And you do not have to share your bed with a student who lives in a dorm–or trash-pick furniture–to get them, as most of us will attest.

You can read thebatt.com’s article here.

• Stanford still fighting bed bugs
• Bed bugs at the University of Vermont
• Eastern Nazarene College: students cannot bring in ANY used furniture
• Spring break bed bug warnings!

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