TV on the Radio vocalist/guitarist (and solo artist) Kyp Malone talks openly to Larry Getlen in this New York Post story about how he’s aware people in his building have bed bugs. The building?

“It’s pretty old. It’s on the bedbug list,” Malone says, complaining about the prewar building in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, where he’s lived in a one-plus-bedroom, sixth-floor walk-up for the past four years. “I’ve seen people cycle through. They spray and bomb* and all the things you’re supposed to do, but it doesn’t work.”

Despite the building’s bedbug misfortune (a bullet he’s managed to dodge), the apartment, which Malone has shared since December with his artist girlfriend, Jessie, has served him well through multiple redecorations.

It seems like a tipping point that people who haven’t had bed bugs are aware of and talking about bed bugs in their buildings — and kind of famous people, no less.

I like Kyp Malone’s music, and I really hope he doesn’t have any bed bug problems going forward (because bed bugs and musical instruments or works of art are such a bad combination), and I really hope that his neighbors get some proper help soon.

No one in New York City should be living with bed bugs.

No building should go onto “the bed bug list” and stay there.**

—

*Note: people really should not be bombing to try and eliminate bed bugs. Just FYI.

**Note: we’re not aware of any actual “bed bug list.” Perhaps this refers to the Bed Bug Registry, where people voluntarily report their own infested apartment units or hotels, to warn others. Or maybe this refers to the records NYCHPD keeps on building violations, which you can access here.
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Miss Heather points us today to a veritable “Colossus of Abodes” in Greenpoint, one of the hip ‘hoods battling it out for bed bug capital of Brooklyn. What looks like 7 different box springs and mattresses piled at curbside.

Check it out.

And hope they don’t get covered in cloth and sold to your neighbors for $50 a set next week.Similar Posts:

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A piece on Donald Trump’s new Trump International Hotel & Tower in Dubai brings us a bed bug sighting in the New York Observer’s Style section:

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.Similar Posts:

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I can’t keep up with my comrades over at New York vs. Bed Bugs!

Mangycur has a full report on last week’s bed bug seminar in Greenpoint.

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The Greenpoint HPD Bed Bug Seminar was last night.

I was not able to be there, but Miss Heather has an excellent recap on the evening.

New York vs Bed Bugs members were there spreading word on how to get some change on the bed bug issue in NYC.

The presenter was Ed Brownbear, the only HPD educator who has actually had bed bugs.

Congratulations to those who helped organize this event (Miss Heather and Ann Kansfield) and to Lou Sorkin and the NY vs Bed Bugs crowd for being there!

If anyone who was there wants to share some details, they’d be very much welcomed.

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Miss Heather of NewYorkShitty.com knows that the war on bed bugs needs a little Bill Murray, Caddyshack-style.

She also reminds us there’s a bed bug seminar coming up in Greenpoint next Tuesday.

Tuesday May 6, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.

The Greenpoint Reformed Church
136 Milton Street
Broooklyn, NY 11222
RSVP (HPD): (212) 863-8830

To our knowledge, it’s the first HPD seminar that was specifically requested by residents of Greenpoint, namely rock stars Miss Heather and her friend, Pastor Ann Kansfield of the Greenpoint Reformed Church, the host of the event.

If you can help Miss Heather by posting flyers for Tuesday’s event in Greenpoint, Bushwick, Long Island City, or Williamsburg, please click the link above to volunteer.

Helpful Hopelessnomo reminds us in the forums about the Greenpoint event, and that

. . . there is another one in Williamsburg in June:

Wednesday, June 18, 2008
6:00 pm to 8:00 pm
Lindsay Park Building 4 Community Center
31 Leonard Street
Between Moore and Boerum Streets
RSVP (HPD): (212) 863-8830

Even if you’re already hooked up bedbug-information-wise, Hopelessnomo reminds us,

. . . you can encourage your friends and neighbors to attend these seminars so that they can get a quick overview. Plus I imagine that well-attended seminars also send a message and HPD scheduling these classes in more neighborhoods can only do good.

Yes indeed.

Wouldn’t it be great to show that HPD needs to do more bed bug seminars in more neighborhoods? What better way of showing this than packing the rafters of the first “by public demand” HPD bed bug seminar?

Finally, Crawledon rightly reminds Bedbuggers in the same thread that you can bring your questions about bed bugs to the event, and ask the speakers, and that New York vs. Bed Bugs will have a presence at the Greenpoint event.

New York vs. Bed Bugs is the first and only organization that we know of which is working to pressure NYC to do more to help stop the spread of bed bugs, and get help to those who need it.

Find out some simple ways you can help with that by going to the New York vs. Bed Bugs website, or talking to some of the founders at this event! Similar Posts:

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I know the NYC Housing and Preservation Department’s bed bug seminars are not perfect.  But wouldn’t you rather your neighbors had access to one, rather than not?

I say yes, especially if you live in Greenpoint.  Greenpointers and their Williamsburg neighbors are seriously bedbugged.

So, Miss Heather of newyorkshitty.com and her friend Ann Kansfield (the Co-Pastor of the Greenpoint Reformed Church) worked together and got HPD to agree to come to Greenpoint.  So far, this is the second HPD bed bug seminar to be announced in Brooklyn.  (The first to happen will be on 3/12, next Wednesday, in Bushwick.)

The Greenpoint bed bug seminar will be on May 6th from 6-8pm.  This announcement comes from Ann Kansfield, via Miss Heather’s blog, so I would not call HPD to sign up just yet.

But just so you know, the location will be:

Greenpoint Reform Church
136 Milton Street
Brooklyn, NY 11222
(718) 383-5941

And if you want to thank Miss Heather for helping rid her ‘hood of crazy bed bugs, visit her blog and leave a comment.  There’s a request for people to put up flyers for the event in the neighborhood too, so if anyone local wants to vounteer, go and let Miss Heather know.

To thank Pastor Ann Kansfield for making this possible, Miss Heather says you can email her at pastor (at) greenpointchurch (dot) org.

I hope that others will consider lobbying for bed bug seminars in their neighborhoods, and help publicize those that are happening.   Thanks to Miss Heather and Ann Kansfield for their hard work!Similar Posts:

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Remember this guy?

Well, he’s back. And it’s hard to believe, but he sounds even less charming than last time. He updates the world that his dorm bed bugs have come back, and he is now moving to a non-bed bug-infested apartment in Greenpoint.

(Dude, no bed bugs in Greenpoint?!? Maybe that old landlord has a bridge he wants to sell you next.)

He writes,

OK, so I HAVE bedbugs; what if you have herpes? – m4w – 29
Reply to: pers-502210415@craigslist.org
Date: 2007-12-07, 7:31PM EST

Yeah, the little buggers came back. Oh how I wish there were something like valtrek that you could use to keep them from biting, but the last group must have hatched a new batch of eggs with their dying breath (do bugs breathe?), deposited them in the cracks of the linoleum beneath my bed, and so here I am, arms covered in welts, looking like a fool while you look so elegant and kewl. But does that make me any less interesting, any less handsome, any less good in bed than the next guy you let have you? The odds are that this next guy has some crummy, there-for-life STD (herpes? hep-abcd?) that bug killer can’t get rid of, and he is going to give you something that insecticide won’t fix. So if you don’t have herpes, I am definitely the kind of man you should want to meet, even if I do have bedbugs. And by the way, I am out of the dorms soon enough. I’ve got a sweet deal from some old Polish dude on a nice sunny apartment in Greenpoint, and I’m going to be moving in with a new bed and new bedding, sterilized clothing and not much else. My new place will be as clean as a whistle and bedbug free. So why not give me a second chance, stuck up hipster girl, and let me show more of the man whose blood bedbugs covet.

Again, I think there is something there between us worth pursuing, and we should not let talk of bedbugs or blisters get between us.

* Location: Williamsboard/Greenpoint
* it’s NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

PostingID: 502210415

What a difference ten days makes.

This may not actually be the same guy. In the first post, he spells valtrex correctly, but he botches it up in the second. And was he really a mutual fund manager living in SoHo per the first post, or a dorm-resident as per the second?

Or maybe it’s all a joke?  If so, it’s pretty lame.

You can see the original post until Cragislist pulls it like they did the other one. Or you can click the photo above to see my screenshot.Similar Posts:

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Slightly delayed news round-up:

newyorkshitty.com » ‘Tis The Season: Don’t Let The Bedbugs Bite!

miss heather of newyorkshitty.com shares a current photo of suspected bed bug refuse at the Astral Apartments in Greenpoint, and shares an article from exactly 121 years ago, decrying the need for “quality affordable housing”, free of vermin.

Glenwood Springs Post Independent – Valley News (Colorado)

“Tom Cornwell, president of the Colorado Pest Control Association, will be speaking to representatives from hotels and motels, … and public and housing personnel from 11 a.m. to noon Friday, Dec. 7.” Public education is the key to beating bed bugs.

Stamford, CT: The Advocate – Flooding and failing health leave residents seeking help (flood evacuees get bed bugs in hotel)

“During the spring nor’easter, a Stamford senior housing complex was flooded, and residents were forced to move to a hotel temporarily. Upon returning home, residents discovered their building was infested with bed bugs.”

Some Crazy Garbage: Away, ye critters

A blogger’s first-hand account of a Pest Control Operator’s visit. Yes, google alerts sends me multiple such posts a day from various “newbites” around the world. But this one was entertaining to read, even as it conveyed the tale of woe you have come to expect.

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Bed bugs in Brooklyn. Well, I’d guess they were. You can never be sure. But I have lived in New York for many a year, and one did not used to find the sheer volume of mattresses one does today.

Many of them look shiny and new,
Others are streaked with bed bug pooh!

(These kinds of scenes just put me in a poetry kind of mood.)

Two Williamsburg mattress photos courtesy of Miss Heather, our Brooklyn native informant.

What’s the opposite of eye candy?

Miss Heather directs our attention to the luxury condos in the background. For itchy young urban professionals.

Or there’s this one, on North 11th Street, Williamsburg:

Okay, the futon on the far right looks like something peed on it. But the mattress second from right, in the bag, looks new.

Bucolic with the snow, no?
I thought so.

Mattress photos above courtesy of Miss Heather of newyorkshitty.com, who does not run a bed bug blog, though, being in Greenpoint (also next door to Williamsburg), the topic does come up again and again.Similar Posts:

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