I came across this story in the New York Sun about how bed bug disputes between landlords and tenants are piling up in the city’s courts. One example offered was of a tenant paying $7K a month for an apartment on the Upper East Side who signed a lease without knowing that several floors in the building were undergoing a massive extermination of bed bugs. Now the tenant wants out of the lease, arguing he wouldn’t have signed it if he knew about the bed bug infestation.

What I’m wondering is, why the hell hasn’t this impacted real estate values yet? I mean, everywhere else in the U.S. the mass foreclosure of homes is driving real estate values down, but in New York, people are still being charged $7,000 a month to live in a bed bug-infestation building! Many New Yorkers I know are leaving the city to live in states and buying foreclosed homes to live in because they can no longer afford to pay so much money in NYC for so little space, and no free parking to boot.

All I know is that the sky-high rents in New York City will not stay that way forever, and be bugs will definitely play a large role in the devaluing of property.

In other news, I guess I was on to something when I started writing my bed bug haikus.

I just found about this new musical called Bedbugs! Here’s the ridiculous synopsis from their website.

“80s rock excess meets the Creature Feature. It’s 2012 and Carly, an exterminator hell-bent on avenging her mother’s freak death, has accidentally mutated NYC Bedbugs into bloodthirsty killer Hair Metal Rock Gods. Sweet sidekick Burt has a plan, and troubled Canadian chanteuse Dionne Salon has stumbled onto the scene. But will Carly listen to them and save NYC—or be seduced by her own creation?”

It doesn’t exactly sound like something I’d pay to see, but apparently it has sold out in the past, so someone must like it. I seriously doubt that anyone in 2012 is listening hair metal rock. I’m glad it died in the 80s.

I wish someone would write a musical about living with bed bugs in New York City. No shortage of drama and conflict in that story!

I didn’t know what to blog about this week and I had a bit of a creative streak, so I churned out some more bed bug haikus.

***

R wants a task force

But her pleas fall on deaf ears

Bloomberg’s bed bug-free

***

R wants a task force

Can we trust the government?

Ask the Indians

***

A menage a trois!

M, a bug and me

Not very sexy

***

Caitlin’s M.I.A.

Her bed bugs, long time no see

They are just hiding

***

Bed bugs in college?

Students with bites and huge debts?

Stay home; get a job

***

Renee still insists

On City bed bug task force

But pols do nothing

***

Hey, nobugsonme!

Hablo espanol tambien!

Bed bugs just speak bite.

***

For bed bug orgies

Poor Brooklyn is Ground Zero

Thank God I’m in Queens

***

Exterminators

$300 a room

Go out and turn tricks

***

Exterminators

$300 a room

Time to sell cocaine

***

$300

For bed bug control

Where is price control?

***

Let’s get together

Start our own bed bug task force

Cuz’ Council does zilch

***

Bugs on your mattress

Bites all over your body

Which wrist to slash first?

***

Just pick up your phone

Tell 311 bed bug woes

Who promptly do zilch

Feel free to share your own bed bug haikus. Remember, the first line is 5 syllables, the second line is 7 syllables and the third line is 5 syllables! Have fun!

]]> http://www.buggedout.org/2008/09/10/more-bed-bug-haikus/feed/ 0 http://www.buggedout.org/2008/08/22/a-bed-bug-task-force/ http://www.buggedout.org/2008/08/22/a-bed-bug-task-force/#comments Fri, 22 Aug 2008 23:36:00 +0000 Bugged Out http://chiko917.wordpress.com/2008/08/22/a-bed-bug-task-force/ Apparently another bed bug blogger was so moved by my last post that she decided to offer a one-word rebuttal.

Renee has had this campaign for a bed bug task force to be established in this city for a while. Unfortunately, she’s waiting for the government to get around to it. For those of you familiar with Bugged Out, I’ve been chronicling an endless journey to nowhere as the City Council pretends to help New Yorkers. In January 2006 Councilwoman Gale Brewer introduced into the Council legislation that would ban the sale of reconditioned mattresses, ban new mattresses from being transported next to new ones and establish a Bed Bug Task Force. Long story short, the bill died in committee and is dead until further notice.

I feel that no matter how many times Councilwoman Brewer re-introduces her bed bug bill, it will meet the same fate. I responded to the post titled “Bugged Out Thinks We’re Wasting Our Time” and suggested that Renee is not wasting her time by calling for a bed bug task force in New York City, she’s just wasting her time if she’s going to wait for the government to establish one. The City Council had two and a half years to get this going; it seems a bed bug task force would have to come from the private sector, in the form of a nonprofit organization.

I’d really like to discuss launching a nonprofit bed bug task force, but I have no idea what it takes to start a nonprofit organization, or specifically what social services could such an organization offer to those suffering from a bed bug infestation.

Any suggestions?

That’s the only good news here. The bad news is that according to 311, Bushwick is the “bed bug capital of Brooklyn”, logging 550 complaints of bed bug infestations from that neighborhood only in the first six months of 2008. Stay away from those benches in Bushwick Park!

The runners-up for the title are Flatbush, Midwood and Prospect Park South. Other honorable mentions include Brooklyn Heights, Downtown Brooklyn, and Boerum Hill with Mill Basin and Flatlands coming in dead last in number of bed bug infestation complaints.

The article also contains a few personal testimonies and a few basic tips I’m sure we’re all familiar with by now. Pretty well-written and reported.

The article made me wonder how my own neighborhood ranked in regard to bed bug complaints so I Googled bed bug 311 complaints. As a result, I came across this interesting bed bug blog which featured 311 bed bug complaints for every neighborhood in New York. Actually, the areas are not categorized by our city’s vague neighborhood boundaries but rather by Community Districts, which may encompass more than one neighborhood (you have to scroll down a bit to find the chart).

According to the chart, which only tracks up to June 19, 2008, Bushwick, with 550 complaints logged, is not only the bed bug capital of Brooklyn but of all five boroughs as well. The runners-up citywide are Washington Heights/Inwood (477 complaints), Flatbush/Ocean Parkway/Midwood (364), West Harlem/Morningside Heights/Manhattanville/Hamilton Heights (332), and Central Harlem (330). Given these statistics it’s hard not to determine that the bed bug infestation in New York is concentrated in Brooklyn and upper Manhattan.

But I have to question the accuracy of 311 complaints as an indicator of which neighborhoods are have the highest rates of infestation because I don’t think that most New Yorkers think to call 311 about a bed bug infestation. I certainly didn’t call 311 about my problems, but that’s only because I don’t expect the government to do anything about it. But I’ve had a lot of people suggest I write my Congressman or my Councilman or my Senator. As if that will do anything.

Despite all of its most expensive efforts, the government can’t keep people from getting high, it can’t stop racism or sexism in the workplace, it can’t prevent gun violence, it can’t combat poverty, can’t bring democracy to Iraq, can’t keep illegal aliens out of this country, it can’t keep jobs from going overseas, it can’t teach children basic skills, it can’t provide health insurance for everyone who needs it, it can’t respond to emergencies in a timely fashion, it can’t rebuild Ground Zero even after seven years, it can’t provide adequate health care for its soldiers, it can’t help people who are losing their homes, it can’t balance the national deficit, it can’t prevent terrorist attacks, it can’t adequately equip its troops, it can’t find Osama bin Laden, it can’t rehabilitate criminals, it can’t keep politicians from accepting lobbyist “gifts”, it can’t control who or what passes through its borders, it can’t keep teenagers from having sex, it can’t guarantee its citizens guaranteed Constitutional civil rights, it can’t keep prostitutes off the streets, it can’t put out a bunch of forest fires at once, it can’t protect the public from trans fats or second-hand smoke, it can’t lower gas prices, it can’t figure out whether or not a foreign country has weapons of mass destruction, it can’t adequately protect its own nuclear energy facilities from terrorist attack, it can’t facilitate a remotely democratic electoral system, and it can’t protect the environment.

Given all the ongoing and historic failures of government, why the hell would I ever think my government could do a thing about a bed bug infestation?

If anything, government may actually be the problem. Two words: DDT ban.

Bed bug sighting have been confirmed at the following subway stations:

• Fordham Road, Bronx
• Union Square, Manhattan
• Hoyt-Schermerhorn, Brooklyn

While only three out of the dozens of subway stations in New York City have had confirmed sightings, there’s no doubt in my mind that the others are just as contaminated.

Apparently, a bed bug workshop held in Greenpoint, Brooklyn last Thursday by the Department of Housing and Preservation Development slipped my radar; sorry about that. It’s detailed in most of the news articles and it seems this declaration by media is based on what was discussed at that workshop. Fortunately, a blogger in Greenpoint attended the event and provided details.

Just for fun I thought I’d start another poll asking readers to tell us which borough’s subway stations they have encountered bed bugs, if they have done so at all. Please, join in on the fun.

I couldn’t decide which news item to write about, so I figured I’d write about both. First up, a New York Times article from November 2005. It illustrates the dramatic increase of numbers of bedbug reports in New York City.

Last year (2004) the city logged 377 bedbug violations, up from just 2 in 2002 and 16 in 2003. Since July (2005), there have been 449. “It’s definitely a fast-emerging problem,” said Carol Abrams, spokeswoman for the city housing agency.

wow is all I can say.

In other news, Cincinnati, Ohio’s Department of Health has accomplished something New York Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) could not, despite all the token gestures made and lame duck hearings held by the New York City Council last year: form a bed bug task force.

According to WLWT Cincinnati and WCPO Cincinnati, the Ohio State Legislature formed the Bed Bug Task Force after Cincinnati’s Council On Aging logged 500 different clients in one month who had complained about a bed bug infestation in their homes. The task force held their first public meeting last Monday with residents, politicians and exterminators to discuss the city’s bed bug problem. The task force has already lobbied members of the Ohio state legislature for stricter guidelines in a bed bug eradication strategy.

So Cincinnati has their act together, but what about New York? Well, there’s this quote from the 2005 New York Times article to keep our spirits up:

“People come in here and cry on my shoulder,” said Andy Linares, the owner of Bug Off Pest Control, in Washington Heights. “They feel ashamed, even traumatized, to have these invisible vampires living in their home. Rats, even V.D., is more socially acceptable than bedbugs.”

Check out this scary statistic:

Last January and February, there were 72 reports of bugs at 43 schools, according to the Department of Education.

Schools are a great place for bed bugs to spread especially elementary and junior high schools, where students have to keep their coats together in a large closet all day long, the perfect place for bed bugs to jump from one garment to another. The only question I have is what the principal or the more appropriately, the DOE plans to do when once bed bugs have been found in one of their schools.

Also, I wanted to add to a comment a person made about the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s bed bug pamphlets I wrote about in my last entry. The poster grumbled that the general one was kind of lame as opposed to the one for hotels. Unfortunately, I have to agree with this poster’s opinion. I didn’t want to give a critique of the pamphlets because I didn’t want to discourage anyone from viewing them.

In any case, if you haven’t already viewed these pamphlets paid for by your tax dollars, feel free to do so and offer your own opinion.

Later.

Back in August I wrote about how to more accurately identify if the insects in your home are in fact bed bugs by using glue traps to catch them and then calling 311 to find out how to send them to the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) laboratory.

I came across this web site yesterday owned by entomologist Richard Fagerlund, who calls himself “the Bugman“. He seems to be offering to identify bed bugs and other insects so long as you’re willing to pay the postage to mail them to him and a small donation. Here’s the text from his site if you don’t like clicking on links.

I will be happy to identify insects or other arthropods (bugs) from anywhere in
the country. If you want a bug or bugs identified, please put them in
alcohol, pack them securely in a box and mail them to me at PO Box 2427,
Edgewood, NM 87015. The only exception to the alcohol would be
moths. They need to be shipped dry, placed in cotton and packed in a film
canister or something similar so they will arrive intact.
Please include $10
(Cash, check or M.O.) for any bugs you want identified. If you send more
than one species of bug for identification, include $10 per species. All
the proceeds from this service will go to animal welfare.

He’ll probably do a faster and better job of identifying bed bugs than the City will.

The other update is that the DOHMH has released two bed bug pamphlets, a general one and one for those in the hospitality industry. Both publications are available only in PDF format.

Later.

“If a committee is to be formed, it must not only gain accurate field
information but it must be able to evaluate it and turn it into an effective
multi cultural information and educational program. And of this program, an
important target group must be children, as they are the bridge to many parents,
they tend to see things on a micro- managed level and finally they have the
patience and interest to look for bed bugs as they themselves are all too often
the victims of these vampires of the night.”

The article can be read in its entirety here.