Have your say
March 23, 2008 by NewYorkvsBedBugs
Tell us what you think about bed bugs in New York.
We hope you will be guided by the simple principles of civility and honesty. And we regret that we will remove reviews of pest control providers even if they appear to be sincere. Thanks for your understanding and support!
Okay, I’ll go first. I sent my personal letter for our campaign to my council representative today. It was painless.
I’ll follow up with a phone call next week.
http://www.bedbugregistry.com/metro/nyc
No one is talking about how bad the bed bug epidemic is in New York. Do these people work with you in your buliding?
I was bite about 1 month ago and was scared to death.
I live with 2 other roommates. They honestly do not care and say they can
live with them and they will not give you cancer. Horrified
to pass this to anyone else. They actually told my landlord and super that they
could live with the bugs, IT’s okay, after i called to complain.
thay said I can’t believe this is the first time you have dealt with this. It’s common in other coutries. They don’t just going tearing down the beutiful castles because of bed bugs. Its not like getting mugged.
They are not allergic to the bites and either don’t get them or don’t react
to them
Meanwhile, I have done everything,
I can to not spread and elimnate this bug. I am living in plastic and chemicals. 60 days now…
They go to work and just carry on like it is nothing.
THEY are spreading bugs to there friends, work place and the public.
After the second pco, I hired the K9 bb
dogs to come in an check out the apt, to make
sure they were gone.
Because before this we had not found a bug and everyone was saying its in my head
and i was still getting bit.
no bug as evidence. They multiply so fast
Any how, The dogs found 3 places in my apt and them I caught one in a trap. I thought, I had brought one home from the movie or subway. The dogs hit they were in my roommates room and the living room. i know think they were living with this and don’t feel the bites. I am exstemely allergic, so by the time they got to my end of the apt. I knew day one.
I had to threaten to take my roommates to Housing court to get them to help do the
proper prep. One has clutter stacked to the rafters and still did not get rid of one piece of old junk. She had no time to prep. Just moved some of her stuff over to friends.
One is on a work visa and wants no trouble.
Instead of letting me help them clean and inspect there stuff, because now they
are just moving, breaking the lease. Not because of the bugs, but because I have
been so angry with them.
They just packed it up tight and are bringing it with them to there new apt.
They spend the night at their friends, ride the subway, go to fancy firm and do
not have
time to clean there clothes and seal in plastic and do all the things need, to not
pass on to the public.
They are a menace to society. I want these people repramanded and educate the public.
Hi Sue,
I think that there is actually more information and awareness out there. More people have heard of bedbugs and understand how prevalent they have become in the city. But this does not mean that people will want to talk about it or believe it can happen to them. Bedbugs can be scary, gross and unpleasant. Who wants to think about bedbugs unless they absolutely have to? Many will not really understand until they or someone close to them is affected.
But sharing information and facts with people can only do good. Even if they don’t completely get it, they will remember what you say and it may help them down the road. You can try to spread of awareness, just do it calmly if you can and matter-of-factly. You can tell people how bedbugs have affected you. But lecturing will not work. Also key is to have low expectations; you shouldn’t be disappointed if people don’t understand or don’t want to discuss it.
As for your roommates, it can be hard for some people who are not allergic to the bites to help. I hope you can soon put this behind you.
More education is definitely necessary. We can work on that together, yes? Thanks for your comment. Don’t forget to write your council representative!
All the best…
One major problem with this bug is that there is no easy way to rid them. Experts state that 50% of the population do not react to the bites. Out of the 50% that DO react to the bites, I would guess only 50% of THOSE people are attempting to rid them, protect themselves and the spread. There are many thousands of people that are spreading these bugs unknowingly and knowingly. The numbers of reports are way off in that so much of the population not reacting alone….
Detection of this bug, even by professionals is very very difficult. People have hired PCO’s gotten inspections, come up with nothing and then about a month later when the infestation is really bad, the home owner finally finds a bug. At this point it’s too late, infestation is bad, spread through out the home, car and most likely their job as well. It’s a -very sad and unbelievable situation for todays time.
In severe infestations, even when you have an experienced PCO, ridding them 100% is very very difficult and many times when you think they are totally gone, they are not. This also continues the spread because by the time the person realizes the bugs are still there (due to no early detection) it’s too late.
In addition, after families spending all that they have on many pesticides in the home, still getting bit, ridding expensive furniture, belongings, living out of plastic for months and months….it would help the economy greatly IF a reliable pesticide were to come on the market, use it once and that’s it. No more mountains of plastic, furniture going to the dumps, less amounts of pesticides going into the environment. This epidemic is greatly hurting our environment due to resistance and pesticide treatment methods available.
Lastly and just as important. The psychological impact on people effected is truly devastating. I don’t think it’s just because there are bugs eating at you while you sleep. You it was possible to just treat and be done with it, that would be a God send. The bigger impact is from the living in an infested environment for a long period time during this months of repeated treatments, slowly ridding everything you own due to infestation and/or decluttering for these treatments. The experience is much like going through a fire or flood in the home but much much worse. You yourself is the one ridding, decluttering, walls, floors items get permanently damaged from mishandling from techs and pesticides. This problem sucks every penny out of you and none of it is covered by insurance. I would believe there are many families eventually on the street due to the economics of this. If having to make a choice, I would much rather lose my home, belongings to a fire. It happens in one day, you can collect under insurance and slowly recover your life.
With this epidemic and how much it has spread, it takes months to rid the bug, then you go to a movie, restaurant, or child comes home from school and it starts all over again. How is a family to recover financially from something that doesn’t end? Having peace and safety from this is now at an end.
Now for some rambling….How is one to treat non treatable items? Computers, toys, etc…the answer is, unless you get fumigated with vikane, you cannot. You bag these items of 18 months or rid the item. This effects how children learn, people work, everything one does in a normal environment. Shame on the US for having let this get so far and so many people suffering.
Many “signs” show that my family may have gotten these bugs once again. If this shows to be true, then we are all in big trouble because all I’ve done is shop at the mall and go to eat at some restaurants. I believe that if major steps and changes aren’t made soon, unless we live in a bubble, everyone will be living out of plastic and will have bedbugs unfortunately. The bugs are already in thousands of work places and now even reported on public transportation. In other countries it’s reported to have bed bugs out scurring during the day on trains. How to people NOT bring these things home. They just do, like it or not.
Yes awareness is critical. Unfortunately, that is just the tip of the iceburg due to politics and the all mighty dollar. I hope there’s a day when some one with the political capabilities is man enough to do the right thing and resolve this.
-Paula
—Oh and for those wondering, I’m not in NYC but live in Sussex County NJ. We are in a single family home. The spread of this is wasy out of hand, not just in NYC and major cities. Homeowners don’t have it any easier…Between loses and professional treatments it has cost many many thousands of dollars for single family homes, and then to find after six months of treating, structural fumigation, to get re-infested????? If the government did rescue their own people from a hurricane, what’s the possibility of them doing anything about this????
Hi Paula,
Thank you for your comment. I’m so sorry that you suspect you may be experiencing a reinfestation. I sincerely hope that you will emerge from this fight very soon and I hope that you are receiving the best pest control advice and assistance.
We are committed to our work in advocating for change in this very complex problem, and we are very mindful of experiences like yours.
Thanks for sharing them.
Paula said: If the government did rescue their own people from a hurricane, what’s the possibility of them doing anything about this????
Hurricane Katrina: The government was way too slow to respond to this disaster. And now, those people, almost 2 years after the fact, are living in squalor in crime-rampant trailors gated by fences. These people have no money and nowhere to go. Their communities, after 2 years, are still not rebuilt. This is the government’s response to the crisis. They are forgotten by us, the public, and the government.
I’m afraid it’s going to be a looooong time before the government does something, if anything at all. Waiting for the government to do something is a waste of time. And the harsh reality is that this is going to get a lot worse before it gets better. I’ve read articles where there are increases of 600-700% of bb cases each year. And these are the ones that people know about.
Actually, we don’t think it’s a waste of time or we wouldn’t be doing this. And we’re doing “this” because other cities have shown us that it can be done.
Don’t lose hope. It may take a while but change will come.
It’s also important, in order to be effective, to be measured and positive in our approach and keep the focus on what can be done.
I hope you’ve sent your letter(s) to your representatives, PrettyGirl. Please don’t think it’s a waste of time because we need your help.
I’m sorry you got the wrong impression from what I wrote. I never said that what you are doing is a waste of time. I think what you are doing is great. I think ‘waiting for our government to do something’ is a waste of time. I hope you see the difference. I’m not being sarcastic here and never was. I was just trying to be realistic
And I’m sorry. But I do feel that writing our representatives is a waste of time. For me anyway. I’m just a little nobody, one person. Who is going to listen to me? This is the way I’m thinking and feeling. I’m really all for these blogs and forums on bbs…..really!
I just wanna say “thank you” for starting this blog. You are trying to do something and that is great.
No worries, PG. We’re all in the same community and have the same concerns.
But, here’s the thing, NYvsBB is not a blog or a forum really. We’re not just here to talk about bed bugs. We’re an advocacy group, and you can be a part of our efforts.
It is not a waste of time to write. The letters that we are asking people to write for this campaign for a Bed Bug Task Force are being tracked. And, yes, unless there are really a great number of letters, there will be no results. There are legislation proposals out there but they will never make it out of committee until people start to demand action. If everyone takes your view, then we will be here forever trying to make change and getting nowhere. I’m not prepared to be here forever and not get anything done.
So, why don’t you write a letter anyway, even if you don’t really think it will make a difference? It will take two minutes of your time, it will add to the number of letters that we are tracking, and it will matter. It will matter to us.
To Whom It May Concern, I can’t seem to locate anywhere on your site where you can JOIN your group. Could someone please let me know what criteria you’d be looking for for new members? I’d be interested. Thanks, Monroe
Oh no, that’s not good. I’m so sorry!
You can just contact me for anything at all!
We’ve started a google group to make it easy for people to join us:
http://groups.google.com/group/newyorkvsbedbugs
But no one is taking me up on the offer.
Send me an email, monroe!
renee at newyorkvsbedbugs dot org
By the way PG, I’ve been told personally from someone at Gale Brewer’s office they they need more letters, that it will make a difference if we write. That’s part of why this group exists, to help mobilize New Yorkers.
You say you feel like a “little nobody, one person.” Imagine though if we all joined together, we could be a force to be reckoned with!
So many laws that are in place today are a result of grassroots organizing. Why not us?