Some Louisville tenants are trying to get their landlord’s attention, claiming their apartment building has many problems, including bed bugs. They’ve gotten 50 people from their building to sign a petition against the landlord.

A photo included in this story from WHAS 11 news shows tenants hanging a banner in their window prominently proclaiming, “these apartments have bugs!!!”

(Note: we’re not sure of the legal ramifications of hanging such a sign in your window.  Another recent victim of bed bugs in San Francisco used the discarded furniture note as another means of warning passers-by.)

WHAS 11 in Louisville reports that

WHAS11 first told you about the issue Sunday when Jesse and Jaqueline Evans hung a sign outside their home saying “this apartment complex has bugs.”

Since then, they’ve been busy collecting signatures from other residents reporting problems.

By Monday afternoon, that list grew to more than four dozen names.

Another recent article on bed bugs in Louisville, from WAVE 3, says that if you have bed bugs in Louisville,

For the most part, it’s the property owner’s responsibility to get rid of them, if there’s an infestation in multiple units. If your landlord won’t, you can report it to 311.

WHAS 11 notes some tenants had already had a visit from the housing inspectors:

Upstairs, in a nearby unit, Zachary Costantino says he’s also had problems with bugs.

He says when he tried to shampoo them out of his carpet, blue dye from the carpet got sucked up.

In another nearby apartment, Jesse says there’s black mold and a potentially dangerous wiring issue.

WHAS11 saw an I.P.L. inspector at the complex when we were there Monday.

Three weeks ago, the same inspector confirmed a pest infestation and other problems the apartment complex only has a week left to fix.

It’s worth noting that the tenants claim the building has problems with mice, bed bugs, and roaches (and let’s not forget mold); the petition in the WHAS 11 video embedded above shows different tenants have differing complaints — it is not clear how many are complaining specifically about bed bugs.

That the article and the I.P.L. inspector’s report refer to “bugs” and “pests,” rather than to specific pests, is not very helpful.  The sign, too, says “bugs” but it’s clear from the articles and video that the Evans are referring to bed bugs.

Zachary Constantino implies to reporters that he thinks the landlord dyed his carpet dark to hide bed bugs (presumably to hide bed bug fecal stains).

As the first article notes, the Evans and their property management company are are scheduled to go to court.Similar Posts:

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More on the Ballard Griffith senior complex in Lexington, Kentucky, where the 55-and-older residents have been suffering from bed bug bites for 2 years now.

Two years!

According to this news report from Lex18, 86 of over 300 units are infested. Today, two pest control firms are going door to door spraying in the complex. A second news report from WTVQ clarifies that every unit in the 317 unit complex, as well as offices, laundry rooms, and other common areas, will be sprayed. A follow-up treatment will occur in mid-December. They hope that clears the problem.

WTVQ also notes that the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Housing Authority, the Health Department and the Lexington Mayor’s office all had to get involved to make this happen. The Health Dept. has inspected the building a few times since 2007, most recently a search of every unit which found evidence in those 86 units (27% of the apartments).

The treatment is being done by All Rite Pest Control and Truly Nolen Pest Control.

I note that PCOs often tell us that a follow-up in two weeks is necessary. This second treatment sounds like it is around 5 weeks away. With so many infested units, it is hard to eliminate a problem. I really do hope the problem is solved because the tenants are suffering physically, financially, and (one guesses) psychologically, as so many do with bed bugs. And the fact that some tenants have had them for two years is shameful.

Here’s an earlier story from September on the Ballard Griffith situation, and one from last week on how the complex was used as a local polling place.

And remember, citizens of Lexington-Fayette County: last year, the local health department told the media it wanted residents of apartment buildings who had bed bugs to call them. Here’s the number again, in case that’s you:

If you live in an apartment complex and suspect there are bed bugs. You are urged to call the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department at (859) 231-9791

Similar Posts:

• Bed bugs at Spring Valley, NY apartment complex
• A tale of two bed bug-troubled cities: Cincinnati, Columbus
• Ohio County, WV Health Dept. official: bed bugs “public health nuisance” and “psychological disaster”
• Towels under the door: when cities abandon tenants with bed bugs
• Bed bugs in Grand Forks, North Dakota public housing

Remember the Ballard Griffith senior apartment complex in Lexington, Kentucky?  Back in September, we were told more than a hundred seniors there were living in apartments infested with bed bugs.

Nearly two months later, the building is still infested.

And on Tuesday, 600 people (including 400 who don’t live in the complex) will be voting there.  According to WKYT:

Now with the towers becoming a polling place on Election Day, the Fayette County Clerk sent letters to those expected to vote at the site.

The letters say the library inside the apartment complex, where votes will be cast, has been sprayed with chemicals and the carpets have been steamed as a precaution.

It also says that no bed bugs have been found in the library, these steps are simply preventative.

Since bed bugs can be carried on people’s clothing and in bags and other items, bed bugs can conceivably be transmitted to others anywhere.

It does not sound like this room is known to be infested, and I think the treatment was a good idea.  I am glad letters were sent out about this, and also hope that people will not skip voting in such an important election.

Personally, I would go to the polls under such circumstances, but I also probably would not sit down in the polling place, nor would I put down a bag or coat!

Keep in mind, neighbors may be in more danger of spreading or catching bed bugs on local public transportation, in stores and restaurants, and other local hangouts.  Especially if such places are not receiving treatment.

The fact that the library was being treated before it became a polling place raised some questions amongst residents of the same building suffering from bed bug bites in their homes:

Those living with the bugs, however, can’t help but wonder why the extermination is happening just for the election when they are living with the pests everyday.

And that is a very good question.

You can read the full story from WKYT, or watch the video here.Similar Posts:

• More bed bug treatments in Lexington’s Ballard Griffith senior apartments
• Towels under the door: when cities abandon tenants with bed bugs
• Ohio County, WV Health Dept. official: bed bugs “public health nuisance” and “psychological disaster”
• RainCity Housing’s “bed bug sauna” now active in new Vancouver building
• More on bed bugs in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: again with the HAZMAT showers?!?

According to WKYT.com, residents of the Connie Griffith and Ballard apartment complexes on Tower Plaza Road are suffering from bed bug bites. The buildings are run by the Lexington Housing Authority for residents aged 55 and older.

WKYT claims more than a hundred people are affected in the two buildings. The Health Department claims the management are trying to resolve the problem. You can watch the video or read the article here.
Similar Posts:

• More bed bug treatments in Lexington’s Ballard Griffith senior apartments
• Allentown’s Hamilton Street Apartments infested with bed bugs
• Large Philadelphia Seniors’ Apartment Building Gets Thermal Remediation for Bed Bugs
• New York City Housing Authority: “bed bugs = emergency” + “wait a month” do not compute
• Ohio County, WV Health Dept. official: bed bugs “public health nuisance” and “psychological disaster”

WKYT in Kentucky reports that residents of low-income housing units run by the Public Housing Authority in Frankfort, Kentucky, have to pay for their own bed bug treatment, at a cost of $500-600.

This seems to be fairly unusual for public housing. And it is not a great idea. New Jersey residents are discussing whether New Jersey landlords should continue to be allowed to pass on the costs of bed bug treatment to tenants, a situation that may cause low-income tenants to hesitate in reporting bed bugs or getting treatment. They may simply be unable to pay. The same is surely true in Frankfort, especially among low-income tenants.

But Carole Anthony, the Housing Authority of Frankfort Executive Director, argues that public housing tenants should pay for bed bug treatment,

. . . since it is, in fact, their responsibility. They don’t move into an apartment that has bed bugs. They move into a clean apartment.

Whoa, Nellie! Once again, public officials are equating bed bugs with a lack of hygiene. This is an error.

Bed bugs are not attracted to unclean environments. If you bring bed bugs home, you will have bed bugs, whether you are living in a spotless, expensive home, or a dirty shack. (Clutter makes the problem worse, but certainly does not cause it.)

As one Frankfort housing authority tenant’s mother, Dene Jackson, says “they’re in low-income housing. How are they supposed to pay?”

And I suspect that some of the tenants do indeed “move into an apartment that has bed bugs.”

The housing authority’s protocol sounds extreme — everything is moved out of the apartments and tenants are kicked out for 72 hours. Tenants are told to remove all their stuff or have it thrown out. Carole Anthony suggests this is because some of the infestations have been quite severe; she tells WKYT they’ve opened refrigerators to find them full of bed bugs, and treatment has included replacing kitchen appliances.

Even if someone was not reacting to bed bug bites, surely they would have noticed such a severe infestation. If the housing authority is finding homes in such apparently advanced and obvious states of bed bug infestation, this tells me three things:

1) They need to be educating tenants about bed bugs and their signs,
2) They need to implement some routine bed bug inspections, and most importantly,
3) They seriously need to consider whether, perhaps, tenants are so concerned about the costs of treatment that they are not reporting the problem even when they recognize it.

If a person on a low-income is faced with a $500-600 bill, plus the cost of laundry, bagging, removing items, replacing them, and disappearing from the home for 72 hours, as well as the time and energy all of the preparations take, we have to acknowledge this is a serious disincentive towards taking action.

The article reports, “The housing authority says it will make payment plans available.” But this is hardly enough. Even spread over a year, it might cost tenants $50 a month that they simply do not have.

If I lived in Frankfort, Kentucky, I would consider the fact that as long as the public housing authority is making it hard for low-income tenants to get help with their bed bug problems, bed bugs will continue to spread quickly in Frankfort.

More and more people will discover that bed bugs do not discriminate, and are not caused by not living in a “clean” home. And they’ll discover how exhausting and expensive this problem really is.

And maybe they’ll come to realize that if anyone in your town has a bed bug problem, you have a bed bug problem too.

Similar Posts:

• Bed bugs in Grand Forks, North Dakota public housing
• Claridge Towers residents get help with their bed bugs from DC Housing Authority
• Building with bed bugs hosts polling station this week
• New York City Housing Authority: “bed bugs = emergency” + “wait a month” do not compute
• Bed bugs bite in Richmond, California public housing development

Rich Jaffe reported today for Local 12 in Cincinnati that the combined city/county bed bug task force (Greater Cincinnati in Ohio, and Hamilton County, Kentucky Ohio) has released a draft report of their plan to combat bed bugs. Jaffe also reports on one Silverton, Ohio building that is infested with bed bugs, and one tenant, who moved to flee an infestation (generally not a good idea).

Jessica Burton, who fled an infested apartment, said:

“They’re definitely in our couches, underneath the carpets, definitely in the bed, all over the bed. I was doing dishes one night, seen a couple crawling across the counter, thought it was wood tick.”  

Jessica Burton says she fled her apartment here two weeks ago because it was so filled with bugs, leaving behind virtually everything. Her baby was covered with bites. Moving in last October, Burton says no one told her the apartment had been infested previously. Downstairs from her apartment, we found the bugs everywhere.

Rich Jaffe: “The owners of this building tell me they have dealt with the bed bug problem before and they are continuing to try and get a handle on it, but it’s really tough. They even have an exterminator headed over here on Saturday.”

Unfortunately, bed bug infestations are very difficult to fight.  But they can be treated.  With such a situation, the answer will not be simple, and will need to involve landlords, tenants (including all neighbors), and professional pest control operators.  Having a city/county bed bug task force is important because the bed bug problem needs to be considered and dealt with outside of individual apartments being sprayed.  Or it simply is never going to go away. 

To their credit, local officials are very concerned about the current bed bug crisis in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky — as well as with the future projected “growth” of the bed bug problem:

In this draft report, city and county experts say, complaints about bed bugs could easily quadruple in the near future. If so, costs could reach one million dollars, locally. Problems include chemical resistant bugs and how to fund the task force attack. But for Jessica Burton, the question is where does she go from here.  

“To me, I was proud of this. I woke up every day like I’m on top of the world, pay my bills by myself, don’t need to rely on anybody, then all of a sudden, you’re like …. Wow… That’s what I feel like, wow… Like I’m walking in another world every day cause we don’t have a clue how we’re going to redo it.”

We hear stories like this every day in the Bedbugger forums — stories of people, like Jessica Burton, who are seriously knocked off-kilter by the losses incurred in treating (or in this case fleeing) a bed bug infestation.  

Cincinnati still has a lot of work to do.  But they have already held meetings for residents, declared war on bed bugs, implemented a bed bug hotline, implemented a system for picking up infested furniture, and changed their laws to class bed bugs as “vermin” (local laws about pests did not name bed bugs among pests it was against the law to harbor).   They’ve held multiple meetings of local officials, worked together with their counterparts in adjacent localities; officials in Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana also held a tri-state meeting about bed bugs.  

The Cincinnati Health Department’s website features bed bugs on the main page, with links to both a 2-minute public service announcement on bed bugs (download), and a 27-minute video (misleadingly dubbed an “infomercial” in the credits) on bed bugs from Tom Hooper, a Registered Sanitarian (!) from the Cincinnati Health Department (download).  

The latter is much more informative, and (in my opinion) contains better quality information. It begins with an explanation of why people need to be worried about bed bugs (citing, among other cases, the Winnipeg 73-unit building that had been infested and treated for three years straight).  It also goes through bed bug habits, identification (including photos of German cockroach nymphs and dog ticks, which people may mistake for bed bugs), inspection, prep, and treatment.  

I don’t agree with absolutely everything in the video, for example, I’ve learned to tell people to get a professional’s or housing inspector’s inspection before they attempt to thoroughly clean and/or declutter their homes. Nothing should be moved until a professional is consulted. Also, many viewers will be mislead by the photos provided of the inspection process, since many — if not most –people will not see such glaring evidence. The information on treatment is also necessarily limited by time constraints, and sometimes a little information is a dangerous thing. I’d like to see more emphasis on professional treatment.

Despite these beefs, and the fact that it may not be the most exciting film ever shot, the bottom line is that landlords, homeowners, institutional managers, and tenants all need to be aware of this kind of information, and I applaud Cincinnati for providing it, prominently, on their Health Dept. website. I assume it is also being shown on television as PSAs generally are, but maybe someone local can confirm this.  

Interestingly, the two videos’ credits tell us they were produced by the Cincinnati STD/HIV Training Center, suggesting that resources previously used to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS are being employed to help stop the spread of bed bugs.   This use of resources implies that bed bugs are being taken seriously as a health problem.

Still, people like Jessica Burton are still experiencing the problem acutely — and it is seriously affecting their physical, mental, and financial well-being.  Bring on the bed bug plan, Cincinnati and Hamilton County! Similar Posts:

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Three weeks ago, building management of Bowling Green Towers — a low-income housing building in Bowling Green, Kentucky that houses elderly and disabled tenants whose rent is subsidized by the government (via HUD) — claimed the building had only “four” units infested with bed bugs. You can read an earlier story we did on this here.

Apparently there was at least one professional bed bug treatment a few weeks ago. But bed bugs have now apparently spread more widely.

According to this article from WBKO News on Thursday, one man thinks they started in his unit (though it would be interesting to know how he knows; people are often wrong about this):

“The bed bugs started in my apartment and was not dealt with right away and the bed bugs started migrating to other apartments on that side,” explains Bowling Green Towers Residents’ Association Vice President John Baize.

“From what I know, it’s on five different floors now,” adds Bowling Green Towers Residents’ Association President Debbie Bell. “I believe it started on the A tower and it spread four floors on that tower and then spread to B tower on one of the floors.”

I don’t know how many units are known to be infested today — it’s now three weeks after the first treatment — but Debbie Bell, President of the building’s Residents’ Association, told WBKO news (in a second article on Friday) that “five floors” are now infested and that every unit on those five floors is to be treated:

“With the bedbug issue, we are having exterminators come out on a regular basis, and they will be spraying all the apartments, all the affected floors,” Bell explains.

I hope they also pest control operators professionally inspect the floors above and below those five affected ones.

Apparently, the tenants’ group met with Kentucky Housing Corporation, which runs the building, between the times the two articles appeared on Thursday and Friday, according to these two sources.

No matter how many units on those five floors are now known to be infested with bed bugs, this seems like good progress, and a reminder that tenant organizing can go a long way towards getting real help from landlords.

The reporters said traditional methods did not work, but I suspect that what appears to have not worked in this case was that (a) spraying must be done repeatedly at approximately 2 week intervals until all bed bugs are gone, and (b) all affected units must be treated (and this requires all units adjacent to, above, or below affected units to be professionally inspected, in every bed bug case).

Thursday’s story also has associated video content. Similar Posts:

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Jim Gaines Reports for the Bowling Green Daily News (Bowling Green, Kentucky) that

A few of the roughly 200 residents in Bowling Green Towers at 1149 College St. have had restless nights due to a pesky problem. Several apartment-dwellers have reported an infestation of bedbugs – but health officials say trouble is being squashed before it spreads.

Barry Turner of the Barren River District Health Department said his office has gotten a few recent calls from Towers residents, so he called property manager Jennifer Mitchell, who gave him the impression that it wasn’t widespread. She told him managers were dealing with it and had contacted an exterminator, Turner said.

“We haven’t dispatched anybody over there, and probably don’t plan to,” he said.

(Well, as long as they said they were dealing with it.)

This is another situation of bed bugs spreading in housing for the elderly and disabled. Remember Halcyon House in Denver? The Hillrise Apartment Building in Cincinnati? Warren Towers in Moline, Illinois? The Phyllis Wheatley YWCA in Washington, DC?

Like Halcyon House, Bowling Green Towers is privately-owned and subsidized by HUD:

The towers are privately owned by Germantown, Tenn.-based TESCO Properties, but rents for the elderly and disabled residents are subsidized by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. HUD exercises some oversight through that financial relationship.

Since the property manager has told the health department that the problem is not widespread, we might ask how this was determined.

A spokesperson for HUD’s Louisville office said the agency contacted the Towers’ management Friday after learning of the problem from media inquiries. Building managers said the infestation was limited to four units, the HUD spokesperson said. HUD was told that an exterminator had been called and that employees were inspecting all the apartments one at a time, looking for any more problems.

It is not clear to me whether this means that employees of the Towers, or employees of the exterminator hired by the Towers, were doing these inspections, but it does sound like the former. If this is true, it is worrisome. We’re told by pest control operators how difficult visual inspections of properties for bed bugs can be, even for experienced PCOs. Employees of the building are very unlikely to be trained to spot all but the most advanced infestations.

A bit of sleuthing would not go amiss. Are the infested units physically connected (next door, above one another)? If the four infested units are all attached, then perhaps they and other adjacent units could be treated, and that may be it.

If the four units are not attached, then further investigation is worthwhile. I would then investigate whether there were any connections between these that can be traced. Are the residents with infestations friends who visit one another? Does a particular staff member assist those residents? Do they go for weekly outings using a particular car service?

That may all seem like an exhausting process. What I would not do, however, is assume that four non-attached units just happened to become infested with bed bugs simultaneously (if this appears to be the case). Bed bugs spread, and it is likely such cases would be related.

In any case, it is likely others have bed bugs too, but do not notice. (If they do not react to bed bug bites, they can have bed bugs and not know it.) It would be worth trying to trace a trail of some kind between the infested units, and trying to figure out what other units may have been exposed.

Detecting bed bugs can be really tricky for anyone, and elderly and disabled people can be at a disadvantage in many cases, due to sight and mobility limitations. They need all the help they can get to avoid having to suffer from this problem.

Let’s hope the Bowling Green Towers and the Barren River District Health Department take this seriously–clearing it up quickly and avoiding further infestations.Similar Posts:

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The Kentucky Post and WCPO (ABC9 in Cincinnati) reported that there was an “Emergency Meeting” held behind closed doors last Friday to discuss the bed bug problem in the tri-state area of Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana. (Indiana was not mentioned by name in any of the articles, but we can assume it’s the third state in question since it borders Ohio and Kentucky near Cincinnati.)

WCPO noted that the meeting was hosted by Ohio State Representative Dale Mallory and that “state representatives, the Cincinnati Health Department commissioner along with several city councilmembers and county commissioners will try to find solutions” to the bed bug problem. Another source, kypost.com, said the meeting attendees also included Hamilton County (Kentucky) Coroner O’dell Owens. (The Coroner! If the coroner is involved, surely bed bugs must be a health concern? I see from the Hamilton County Coroner’s Organizational Flowchart that Toxicology is the likely interest here. Or perhaps Forensics: bed bugs are criminals–guilty of stealing our blood.)

Owens said, “In 2005 there were five to seven complaints on bed bugs. They’ve already had 19 the month of January. And last year I think they had 180. So this is an issue that is growing to cross neighborhoods. This is not just for poor people. Other people need to understand that bed bugs is not from people being unclean. You can have a home in Indian Hill and have bed bugs.”

There is no mention of whether local bed bug experts were involved, but I truly hope they were.Similar Posts:

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The press release for the New York HPD bed bug seminars is here. It includes dates and times, addresses, and a phone number for more information. Seminars will be in English and Spanish. Please do call the number listed below to reserve a spot.

The first seminar is scheduled to take place on Monday, January 28 from 6PM to 8PM at the Russ Berrie Medical Science Pavilion, 1^st floor conference room, Columbia University Medical Center, 1150 St. Nicholas Avenue (at 168^th Street) in Manhattan.

The second seminar is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, February 5 from 8PM to 9PM at Ricardo’s Catering Hall, 21-01 24^th Avenue in Astoria, Queens.

The final seminar is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, March 12 from 6PM to 8PM at the Hope Gardens Senior Center, 195 Linden Street in Bushwick, Brooklyn.

Anyone interested in attending any of these seminars is encouraged to call (212) 863-8830 to reserve a space. Translation services will be provided for Spanish-speaking members of the public.

New York Times blogger Jennifer 8. Lee also reported on the seminars. She also gave a helpful insight into what happens after you call 311:

Bedbug complaints are listed as an “emergency,” which means they go to the top of the priority list. The department sends out inspectors at night, when bedbugs tend to be more active. Typically, bedbugs are listed as a Class B violation, which gives the owner 30 days to correct the problem. The least severe violations, Class A, have to be fixed within 90 days. Class C violations, for emergency conditions like no electricity or hot water, must be corrected within 24 hours and completely dwarf the bedbug complaints.

Although we knew something about what happens when bedbuggers call 311, we had not previously heard that inspections were made at night. (I’m not sure how big a help this is, since I assume inspectors aren’t coming to call at 2 am, but still, it can’t hurt.) Lee also provided an interesting quotation from a City Councilperson who had had bed bugs:

Robert Jackson, a city councilman who represents parts of northern Manhattan, said at a news conference that his family had been plagued by bedbugs when he was young.

“They used to bite us all,” he said.”We used to wake up trying to kill them at night.”

Incidentally, Jackson was born and raised in Manhattan, according to the City Council’s biography, linked from his name above. I suspect someone in the New York City Council will soon have a contemporary story of bed bugs. I hope that when they do, they will speak out.

Lee continued,

Awareness has made people paranoid of bedbugs, which is why calls to 311 have skyrocketed, though only a part of those have ended up with violation notices.

“I think a lot of people are convinced they have bedbugs when they don’t,” Mr. Aragon said.

That is another reason they are holding the seminars, he said, so that people with skin rashes know when not to call 311.

This is certainly important– people should not panic, and should rule out other causes of itching. Knowing what different stages of bed bugs look like is key.

However, I have to admit that– having heard some 311 stories myself, and knowing how difficult it can be to find bed bug samples– I would suspect at least some of the 5000 people who called 311 last year and who were told they did not have bed bugs, did have them. Although some of the 7000 calls were doubtless panic reactions, I would not be surprised if more than 2000 were actual bed bug cases. I would like to know what constitutes evidence of bed bugs for the inspectors, and how they are trained to detect infestations. We’re told some PCOs do not visually inspect for bed bugs, finding this too difficult, time-consuming, or pointless.

Hopefully anyone who did have bed bugs, but whose HPD inspection turned up nothing, eventually found evidence and called again. However, we know that when people call for help and don’t get it, they often try other means the next time–like paying for their own treatment, or self-treating. (If neighbors are infested, both methods can fail miserably.)

The Times Ledger community newspapers also reported this week on the planned seminars.

The meetings, one of which will take place on Feb. 5 in Astoria, are a response to the rise in complaints that city residents have filed against the insects, according to City Council Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Astoria).

“It’s a problem that until recently even I wasn’t aware of. You expect something like this in a third world country but not in the capital of the world,” he said.

They cited incorrect statistics on the number of complaints citywide:

In 2005, there were only 62 bedbug complaints, which soared to 366 last year, according to the city. Astoria had the third highest number of complaints, Vallone said. Although bedbugs do not transmit any diseases, they are still pose a health crisis for city residents according to the councilman.

“Other cities don’t consider bed bugs a crisis but when people aren’t sleeping they can develop physical and mental problems,” he said.

Perhaps the paper meant to cite statistics for Astoria? The city reported much higher numbers of complaints in 2007 city-wide. The press release about the seminars says,

In Fiscal Year 2007 alone, the City’s 311 hotline received nearly 7,000 bedbug related complaints and HPD housing inspectors issued over 2,000 violations to building owners all across the City. By comparison, Fiscal Year 2004 saw only 1,800 complaints and less than 400 violations issued.

We should remember these are only the people who called 311 to complain about bed bugs, which it appears most tenants and no coop or condo owners do. The numbers also leave out the NYC housing authority residents who had bed bugs last year. Douglas Feiden’s December report in The Daily News reported that there were

… 1,708 verified bedbug cases in 277 public housing projects this year [2007], the city Housing Authority says.

The city and the media leave us to do the math: New York City knows of approximately 3700 tenants who had bed bugs last year. They have no data on non-NYCHA tenants who reported bed bugs to their landlords directly, nor those who called pest control operators themselves, nor on co-op, condo or other homeowners.

From where I sit, hearing the stories of New York bedbuggers daily–and knowing only a small percentage call 311 about their bed bug problem–this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Vallone is also wrong that other cities don’t consider bed bugs a crisis. Lexington, Kentucky, Cincinnati, Ohio, and San Francisco, California, are all US cities that are taking bed bugs seriously. Though responses have been limited so far, some of these cities have expended more money and energy per capita on bed bugs than New York has, by far.

And outside the US, Vancouver is also taking bed bugs seriously with a number of responses. Toronto is currently figuring out what to do.

Also this week, the New York Press blogged about the bed bug “education campaign”, and used one of Bedbugger mangy_cur’s excellent bed bug photos. Congratulations, mangy_cur!

They also linked to a thread in our forums, which we do appreciate (thanks, Emily Meredith of nypress.com!) though it’s always a little embarrassing when people arrive first via a forums thread, like a new guest coming to visit for the first time off the fire escape and through the kitchen window. But we welcome them nonetheless.

Update 1/21: CBS on the bed bug seminars; includes interview with Lou Sorkin who stresses that people need to look for the tiny, translucent nymphs which will be more common than rust-colored adults.Similar Posts:

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