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Another suit at Presidential Towers: this one focuses on landlord’s non-disclosure of neighbor’s bed bugs

nobugsonme — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 04:49:52 +0000

A fourth person is suing Presidential Towers in Chicago: this time, on the grounds that Presidential Towers knew the neighbors had bugs, did not tell the tenant, who then got them.

This issue is relevant to all tenants with bed bugs. If landlords had to tell neighbors when one tenant had bed bugs, it might mean more people get treatment more quickly (which would be a good thing for landlords, in the end, because the problem could be treated before their entire buildings get infested). It would help tenants, because they could be warned (and as we know, some people don’t suffer from bites, and so may have no other warning.) In the end, it would lessen the spread of the bugs in a building and, by extension, in the larger community.

And though no one will want to admit their building has bed bugs, in the end, it might mean more people talk about this and the stigma is lessened. You can’t run or hide from bed bugs, so you might as well talk about them.

Previous Presidential Towers posts are here and here. And there are hundreds more on the internets.

Presidential Towers sold, with free bed bugs! Doctors and bedbugs (again)

nobugsonme — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 06:37:56 +0000

Chicago’s Presidential Towers has been sold for $470 million. This announcement comes only days after the 3 tenants filed a lawsuit against the building, which has four 49-story buildings, and 2,300 residences. It sold for $20 million more than experts expected; I wonder if bed bug homeowners can expect the same value-enhanced effects from an infestation. Remember Curbed reported that Maya Rudolph’s bed bug infested loft was turned around and re-listed fairly swiftly with the new $16,000/mo. rent up $2500 from its pre-bedbug price.

What I especially liked about the ABC report was the newsreel which included news on the lawsuit, as well as wonderful interview-let with a Chicago dermatologist (the article says “skin specialist”):

“I think I have seen a small increase,” said Dr. Clarence Brown, Rush University Medical Center.

Dr. Brown, a skin specialist, said that those who have been bittern have itchy swollen bites for days, especially along their veins. Many people have trouble understanding it’s bedbugs.

“They’re confused, actually, why do I have this rash? It itches so much. Where did it come from? They are skeptical when you convey that you are convinced that this is actually insect bites and that bedbugs might be one of the possibilities,” said Dr. Brown.

Yes folks, contrary to what many Bedbuggers have experienced (i.e. doctors who insist we don’t have bed bugs), this doctor has trouble convincing his clients that they do. I guess that’s progress.

I know Jess has a few things to say about the goings-on in Chicago, so I’ll hand over to her.

Bed bugs invade Chicago’s Presidential Towers, and another Vancouver Island detox

nobugsonme — Sat, 03 Mar 2007 05:52:25 +0000

Three tenants are suing Presidential Towers over bed bugs, according to the Chicago Tribune. Presidential Towers is an enormous complex–almost like a little village, with multiple high-rises, with its own little mall and a full-size health club inside.

Exterminators began work on the problem in January, but the bedbug infestation persists, the lawsuit said.

The plaintiffs contend Presidential Towers and The Habitat Co. failed to prevent or detect the infestation and failed to tell tenants about the problem.

We’ll see how this one pans out.

Also in the news today: remember the detox in Vancouver Island, Withdrawl Management Services that closed due to bed bugs? Well, now another detox also run by the Vancouver Island Health Authority, Victoria Detox Centre is infested and closing for a month.

Withdrawl is interesting enough, I hear, without bed bugs.

Perhaps institutions should notify people who’ve slept in rooms recently, where bed bugs are found, so they can check their own residences, or their shelters (or other accommodation) can be checked.

Update 3/6: More on Presidential Towers here.