New York vs Bed Bugs co-founder Lisa wrote a letter in support of Lou Sorkin’s appointment to the New York City Bed Bug Advisory Board:
BY MAIL AND FAX
July 6, 2009
Eddie Bautista, Director
Office of City Legislative Affairs
253 Broadway, 14th Floor
New York, NY 10007Re: New York City Bed Bug Advisory Board
Dear Mr. Bautista,
I am writing to urge your consideration of Lou Sorkin for appointment to the New York City Bed Bug Advisory Board. No entomologist or pest control expert in New York is as qualified or as dedicated and generous of spirit as he.
Mr. Sorkin is both an entomologist with an independent institution, the American Museum of Natural History, and a licensed pest control professional. He can approach the problem of bed bugs with an understanding of the nature and biology of the bed bug as well as with practical experience and insight.
In the trenches since the beginning of the bed bug resurgence, Lou Sorkin has advised pest management professionals, elected officials, and New York City agencies. He has lectured on bed bugs and other insects to housing officials, parents and students at various universities, to landlords and building superintendents, to dermatology residents at NYU School of Medicine and to other entomologists, professionals and the general public at the New York Entomological Society; as a forensic entomologist, he has shared his expertise with the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. He advises bed bug sufferers in online support communities and he assists an ever-growing stream of people who call upon him for identification of bed bug specimens and for personal consultations. His extraordinary generosity has earned him the deep affection and trust of pest control professionals, advocates and bed bug sufferers.
During the course of our own infestation, my husband and I were the recipients of his generosity. He always took our calls and answered our many questions. I heard Mr. Sorkin give a lecture to supers, for Go Green East, and he is clearly a very gifted teacher. Lou Sorkin’s long dedication to educating New Yorkers about bed bugs must be viewed as a vital asset if our city intends to develop a comprehensive bed bug control strategy amid such challenges as we presently face.
I respectfully urge you to appoint Lou Sorkin to the Bed Bug Advisory Board. He is loved and respected in our communities and essential to this endeavor.
Sincerely,
[New York vs Bed Bugs]
You can read our April interview with Lou here.
When i was in Washington, Lou approached me to say hello and introduce himself. I really didn’t know who he was, but he gave me a bit of an education on Forensic Entomology indicating that it was not only about crime scenes, but could be focused on other types of investigations.
He contacted me to see if we could meet when he was passing through Toronto, but i guess his connections didn’t enable that. I do look forward to meeting him again and learning more about his work.
The ability to communicate across the world through the net and to share information such as the excellent and wide resources on NewYorkvsBedbugs enables the sharing of knowledge in a way that was never possible just a few years ago (for some of us, 20 or so years seem like a few).
An update on his being appointed to the board would be great news.
I know that some action committees on this hot issue are very political, so it is good to have knowledgeable people like Lou whose main interest is getting things to work in the best way.
Sam