New York vs Bed Bugs » Bed Bug Task Force

So, what will NYC do about bed bugs?

Renee Corea — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 22:08:43 +0000

I was as surprised as you to learn that the city intended to release the advisory board report after all and adopt some of its recommendations. It’s tempting to think that interesting things happen when CEOs start writing to the Mayor asking for guidance.

But there were certainly people applying pressure from all sides. I am ever mindful of Council Member Gale Brewer’s sustained leadership on this issue over many years.

Let’s set aside for a moment the recommendations of the bed bug advisory board (PDF).

What do they actually plan to do? $500K is a substantial commitment (though some do not see it that way) — how are they going to spend it?

This is the press release.

And these are the relevant passages:

Based on the Board’s recommendations, the City will develop a web-based bed bug portal for public education and awareness; work to coordinate and improve bed bug abatement enforcement practices in housing and ensure up to date and effective training of pest management professionals.

and

The Bed Bug Portal will serve as a cost-effective outreach tool for any New Yorker affected by bed bugs. It will provide step-by-step instructions on how to prevent, confirm and manage an infestation, and offer information and training videos for landlords and pest management professionals. The Departments of Health and Mental Hygiene and Housing Preservation will also create joint enforcement teams to work with property owners to conduct affirmative inspections of neighboring apartments in multi-unit dwellings to help prevent and to stop the spread of bed bugs once they have been found. City agencies will also provide more extensive training for their inspectional, pest control and social service workforces to help keep up with the developing science of bed bug control, and to help tenants understand what they can do to prevent and respond to infestations.

The most promising aspects of this plan are the “affirmative inspections of neighboring apartments” — based on what the Health Department at the press conference called “enhanced expectations” of landlords and property managers (and, in referring to expecting tenants to open their doors, of tenants as well) — and the “training of the city’s inspectional, pest control and social service workforces.”

This is a lot. It’s more than I expected.

Systematically inspecting the apartments adjoining an infested apartment, on all sides, is in my view the single most effective step that can be taken. It is a lot easier said than done. There are no details available at this time (I’ve asked) about how exactly they intend to do this. If they manage to dispel the fear and short-term concerns that prevent property managers from acting rationally (according to reasonable self-interest) when faced with an infestation, then we can expect to see many infestations contained and eradicated, for less money, less time and less anguish.

Council Member Brewer talked specifically about helping the New York City Housing Authority with its bed bug control protocols. As you know, NYCHA services the pest control needs of its buildings directly with in-house pest control staff, and their resources are severely challenged. If they manage to do this and to do it well, then we will see a huge improvement in the lives of affected NYCHA residents. This alone would be a tremendous accomplishment. Successfully training social and health service providers who work for the city (to identify infestations in the homes of affected clients and patients and meaningfully participate in helping them, to prevent transmission to places they visit and to their own homes) would also be an extraordinary achievement.

Now that they’ve started, they will keep monitoring the prevalence of infestations.

I hope you will hold them accountable to these intentions. And help the city disseminate its (constructive) messages. Remember that until last week their messages were mixed, dispiriting and sometimes just wrong. The people who said those things are still there. Educating them first would be a good thing.

The list of what they will not do is long. Chief among them is not helping to establish social enterprise bed bug services for middle- and low-income households. The problem of access to affordable bed bug control services persists, and will not go away the day everyone learns to detect infestations early (and I hope that day is achievable).

The list of what the city cannot do is perhaps even longer. The city, for example, cannot regulate the pest control profession in the city. It cannot impose higher standards and cannot require additional training. It cannot fund research projects. It cannot solve Nicole’s problem. (Or will not, at some point it is effectively the same.)

I hope you will participate in this endeavor. Having a quiet chat with the neighbors, the super, the facilities manager at work, your friends and family might be a good first step. Surround yourself with bed bug-savvy people. Think about how you would go about solving an infestation if you had to. If you are responsible for a building or facility, learn and plan and keep up with developments. “We’ve never had a bed bug infestation” is not going to cut it anymore. What people will want to hear is “we have a plan for dealing with bed bugs, and have learned the following…”

Don’t stop going to the movies. The bed bugs are going to be here for a while.

I want to end by remembering what Stephen Kells wrote in 2006 (PDF):

When considering bed bugs as a systemic pest, we need to start looking for permanent sites within society that are likely to support reservoir infestations, and for temporary sites that have frequent human occupancy and provide bed bugs with an opportunity to spread to multiple sites. We must begin considering which inspection and control measures are needed in high-risk areas, what the costs in those areas will be, and what (if any) regulatory action might be necessary. I suspect that educating the public about prevention will be the most cost-effective procedure; however, the extent to which this information will be absorbed and used by people is unknown.

There are quite a lot of challenges ahead.

The most difficult FAQ: what is happening with the bed bug task force?

Renee Corea — Thu, 27 May 2010 11:00:15 +0000

Note: The New York City Bed Bug Advisory Board report was released on July 28: New York City Bed Bug Advisory Board Report (April 2010) (PDF).

There is no bed bug task force. What the city created was a bed bug advisory board.

I have no good answers to the following questions:

what is happening with the ~~bed bug task force~~ bed bug advisory board?
what is the bed bug advisory board’s position/advice on X?
where can I read the report of the NYC bed bug advisory board?

The board met for six months and submitted its recommendations on April 1st.

At this point it is not realistic to expect meaningful action on the board’s recommendations, or even for the board’s report to be made public.

If you want to read the report of the NYC Bed Bug Advisory Board, you should probably file a Freedom of Information Law request. (You’d need to find the records access officer for the Mayor’s Office and/or City Council. The name of the document you want to request is: Recommendations for the Management of Bed Bugs in New York City, New York City Bed Bug Advisory Board, Report to the Mayor and City Council, April 2010.)

Where do I think this leaves New York City? If the question is bed bugs then the all-purpose answer is nobody cares. (The most notable and enduring exception will always be Council Member Gale Brewer.)

For now you should forget the idea of a bed bug task force.

What else is there?

There are two avenues that remain open even if they are unlikely to be productive in the city’s present administration and bed bug environment (one has to call it something).

It seems certain that lawmakers will continue to eye the contours—the ‘no fiscal impact’ contours at least—of the bed bug problem for legislative opportunities. But what is necessary for such efforts to succeed is a difficult process of broad consultation of all stakeholders. The New Jersey bed bug bill is an example of the kind of consensus-based approach that, for all its challenges, is at least grounded in a solid hearing of the issues. Efforts to date in the New York State Assembly have not been developed with this approach and are, in my view, likely to founder. Then there is the question of the need for strong public support, which cannot be taken for granted in the current environment of widespread stigma. If this were some other issue, some other pest, at this level of impact, there would already be laws and task forces galore.

Another possibility is public/private collaborative entities formed to provide advice and technical expertise. The most recently announced example is the Connecticut Coalition Against Bed Bugs. Could there ever be an analogue in New York City? For the moment I have to say there is very little chance of it.

Since you have read this far, did you catch the EPA calling bed bugs an environmental justice issue? Now there is some news, surely. Note too that in a recent article EPA officials broadly outlined what they intend to do.

Will the biggest city with the biggest bed bug problem just forego any possible assistance due to the simple fact of having no official interest? I’m not sure, presumably others could apply for any grants should they become available. But it seems a definite possibility.

Our days of asking you to write letters are over. But I felt this explanation was overdue.

Silly red circles on a chart

Renee Corea — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 07:52:07 +0000

I made this logic tree (PDF) a while back to try to figure out all possible solutions. (Because I read a book! A great book, actually, and thought I’d try its tools.)

But it’s only been 4 months and in looking at this today I find it almost painful to look at.

The only solutions that hold any promise, and they are on a scale from might never happen to don’t hold your breath, are the reintroduction of effective residual insecticides, real DIY protocols, and new technologies.

I missed the deadline to write a comment on the propoxur request because I read the NRDC (PDF) and Beyond Pesticides letters and then could not get the emotion out of my letter. Where do these people live, I wonder? (Also, I thought NRDC had NPMA on speed dial these days. Couldn’t they, I don’t know, pick up the phone and get a clue?)

Sometimes I get emails from people in other cities and I always tell them to look to the work of the Central Ohio Bed Bug Task Force, to the planning work of the Cincinnati/Hamilton County Joint Bed Bug Task Force and to all that has been achieved in Toronto.

The New York City Bed Bug Advisory Board is writing its report. It is due in little more than a month.

New York vs Bed Bugs will end its run after its release — and if it is not released, well.

I will do my best to write about all the things I wanted to write about before then.

“We need to be aware and alert and the city needs to respond”

Renee Corea — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 03:07:48 +0000

In the Columbia Spectator today, Bedbugs spread, residents criticize city’s inaction:

Mark Quinn, a Morningside Heights resident whose building on West 109th Street, was listed on the bedbug registry, explained, “It’s so hard to get rid of these things, and you can’t ever tell where they are, but I’ve seen nothing done. We need to be aware and alert and the city needs to respond.”

In other news, an ambitious NYC public health intiative

Renee Corea — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 23:04:25 +0000

…to reduce “the amount of salt in packaged and restaurant food by 25 percent over the next five years” was announced today.

This latest example of NYC’s health activism greeted New Yorkers this morning on the front page of the NYT.

I particularly liked this telling admission:

The city’s campaign against salt resembles its push to cut trans fat from restaurant foods, which began with a call for voluntary compliance. When that did not work, the city passed a law to force restaurants to eliminate trans fat.

Emphasis added.

So. Enforcement works, mmh?

With the salt campaign, however, they will focus on public pressure:

Companies that complied would benefit from good publicity.

Education, mmh?

But back to bed bugs.

How does this make you feel?

I could tell you how this bright piece of news makes me feel.

But then you’d need to wash out your eyes with soap.

That would sting I wager.

A small business owner writes to the mayor

Renee Corea — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 05:44:46 +0000

A New York resident shared this letter.

November 24, 2009

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg
City Hall
New York, New York 10007

RE: Bedbugs, Small (and Large) Business and New York City

Dear Mayor Bloomberg,

[...]; I am a filmmaker and small business owner [...] I am writing to urge you to find a way to begin to seriously combat the bedbug epidemic that is taking over New York City.

I do not have bedbugs in my current apartment but I did have a relatively small issue with them when I lived in Williamsburg five years ago. My wife and I beat them at that time, but not without a lot of time, effort and expense.

The reason I am writing now is that I have two employees that are experiencing bedbug infestations in their homes. Neither can come into to work while they’re dealing with the issue; both are spending considerable amounts of time and money to combat it. Obviously, their issues are now costing me time and money also because the projects they are assigned to will remain stopped for a week or more while each is out.

In addition, I have had to engage an exterminator for my office as a preventative measure and I’ve spent a considerable amount of my own time assisting my employees so that their problems don’t spread to the office and the others that work here (or to myself and my family.) These efforts will have to continue for the foreseeable future.

For some time, bedbugs have been more than a simple nuisance in New York City. I believe they now are on the verge of having a major impact on the economy as well, whether through stories like mine, diminished tourism (all of the hotels are infested) or other reasons associated with business productivity. I am considering relocation in part because I don’t feel like the city is dealing with this issue in a realistic or aggressive manner. We need to see more education, laws and a real plan to attack to combat what has become a modern-day scourge. I understand that even major corporations (and Bill Clinton himself) have had to spend considerable time and money to rid their offices of bedbug infestations. It only goes to reason that if this problem is not addressed in a major way very soon, many people and businesses will simply begin to leave.

Please let me (and the rest of New York) know how you plan to attack this problem.

Best regards,

[...]

For some people — I am given to understand — the whole bed bug experience is quickly and efficiently dispatched. For others, as you see, it can be a disruptive event of great significance. I’m not sure what the secret is — if I did I would share.

New York vs Bed Bugs doesn’t have an active letter writing campaign at the moment. (We did in the past.) Nevertheless, I will ask you again in the spring, when the bed bug advisory board’s report is due.

The NYC Health Department regresses

Renee Corea — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 18:37:04 +0000

This year we saw small signs of what I thought was a new empathetic and knowledgeable grasp of the bed bug issues by NYC public health officials.

But the reality of our problems is as ever complex and good work in building trust is easily undone by careless remarks.

This is what New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene spokesperson Jessica Scaperotti told the New York Post Friday about bed bugs in the department’s tuberculosis prevention unit at 346 Broadway:

“It’s fairly common to have a couple of bedbugs brought in by an individual,” said department spokeswoman Jessica Scaperotti. “It’s not an infestation.”

What a way to lose the public’s trust that the department understands the city’s bed bug problems.

Maybe there is a single and spectacularly misguided bed bug PR playbook that Ms. Scaperotti and Jim Grossman from Jay Jay College are both working from.

And yet Ms. Scaperotti’s statements must be distinguished from the statements last week from various officials at John Jay College because while they too earned the mockery they received, John Jay officials in fact communicated fully about the actions they were taking, held an information session for students, faculty and the public to answer questions, and disclosed the extent of the infestation (yes, of course, not their word).

The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene is represented in the recently convened Bed Bug Advisory Board.

I remain hopeful about the work of the advisory board. But what I hope is clear to you is that the board is charged with making policy recommendations.

Decisions about implementation or even whether to implement the recommendations of the board will be up to the Mayor and the City Council. Therefore, it will be up to the public to keep up the pressure for action.

We are not yet where we need to be. As you well know. It’s not like we needed Ms. Scaperotti to remind us.

Please do not lose hope in this process, though. Not yet.

New York City Bed Bug Advisory Board

Renee Corea — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 00:47:54 +0000

The members of the Bed Bug Advisory Board have been appointed and will meet this week.

The Mayor appointed Gil Bloom of Standard Pest Management, Richard Cooper of Cooper Pest Solutions, and Jody L. Gangloff-Kaufmann of the NY State IPM Program, Cornell University. The Speaker appointed Ray Lopez of Little Sisters of the Assumption Family Health Service and me.

There are various city agencies that will serve on the board, including the five agencies contemplated by the legislation, the Departments of Health and Mental Hygiene, Housing Preservation and Development, Sanitation, Consumer Affairs, and Information Technology and Telecommunications; and, in addition, the Department of Youth and Community Development and the Human Resources Administration.

I look forward to the opportunity to share in the work that lies ahead to “make specific recommendations to the mayor and council for the prevention and treatment of bed bug infestations throughout the city,” in the words of the bill creating this advisory board (PDF). Please feel free to contact me via email if you have thoughts. I look forward to hearing from you, but I am also always grateful for any comments that you can make publicly as they further the public conversation about bed bugs. We will of course share with you any news of public events in connection with this process.

New York vs Bed Bugs thanks Council Member Gale Brewer and her staff for working so long and so hard for the creation of this board and the Speaker and the Mayor for creating and convening this group to help the city adopt prudent measures to achieve control of the escalating bed bug infestations in our city.

I am overwhelmingly grateful to all of you who wrote letters or made calls or who testified in support of the City Council legislation that created this board. I hope your interest and support will now be repaid with effective policies that benefit the entire city.

Lou Sorkin: loved, respected and essential to this endeavor

Renee Corea — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 21:11:55 +0000

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 10007

Re: 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.

One more letter

Renee Corea — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 15:51:47 +0000

Do you remember our old bed bug task force letter writing campaign?

Would you write one more letter?

The City Council Speaker has a contact form that you can use to send a simple (and polite) note asking her to appoint the members of the bed bug advisory board without further delay.

If you are up for it, would you also write to the Mayor’s Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, to Mr. Eddie Bautista, at this address:

Eddie Bautista, Director
Office of City Legislative Affairs
253 Broadway
14th Floor
New York, NY 10007

And/or by fax, (212) 788-2647.

Thank you for your help. I’m not entirely sure that this will help, but I’m asking anyway.

I will update this with my own letter to Mr. Bautista.