Forget swine flu. Politicians have moved on to tackle a different ongoing health threat, but Purell won’t help them here.
Bedbugs are the nasty pests now bothering New Yorkers at a high rate, and many feel the city isn’t doing enough to eradicate them.
Bedbugregistry.com, an independent website that allows people to submit reports of bedbugs, has had 30 cases registered in New York City hotels and apartments in the past week. Within a half-mile of the University gates, 15 reports have been posted since September 2009.
The site allows residents and visitors of the city to report bedbug encounters publicly, perhaps to provide an outlet for the frustration about what City Council policy analyst Kihani Brea referred to in an e-mail as the “plague.”
At a January meeting of Community Board 7, which represents the Upper West Side, City Council member Gale Brewer said that 26 city agencies are tackling the problem.
In March 2009, Mayor Michael Bloomberg signed legislation creating a Bed Bug Advisory Board, and appointments followed in September. Within nine months of the appointments, the board is expected to release a report on the prevention and treatment of infestations.
The City Department of Health hosts a website with bedbug fact sheets, and the city began monitoring 311 calls related to bedbugs last April, according to the organization New York vs Bed Bugs.
Sarah Morgridge, spokesperson for City Council member Robert Jackson, who represents parts of Harlem, said that city efforts to address the problem have been “slow” and that more needs to be done. “It’s all about public education and swift eradication,” she said, adding that they plan to distribute large quantities of CDs with PowerPoint presentations about eradicating bedbugs.
This idea, she said, is much more practical than past efforts. “We had a forum two years ago in the Hall. We distributed the presentation on paper … which is not so green, not so helpful,” Morgridge said.
Education or no education, local residents say the bugs haven’t gone anywhere.
“My friend had bugs ... They ate her up, but what can you do at a point? It’s a city, it’s packed, you’re going to get bugs. It’s all about being careful and stopping the problem at the first clue,” said a resident of a building on 109th Street, who asked not to be identified to avoid trouble with her landlord.
Some residents have grown increasingly aggravated as they deal with what they think is a lack of response from the city.
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.”
The Morningside Inn, located on 107th Street between Broadway and Amsterdam, has four reports of bedbugs listed on the site.
Patrick Arroyo, manager of the Inn, said he shares the community’s frustration but added that management should not be blamed.
“The city hasn’t done a thing … The city is a joke with their approach. I take every report seriously and address each case, but the city’s going to have to do something, because bedbugs have no prejudice,” Arroyo said.
Morgridge acknowledged that eradicating the pests is not a simple process. Speaking about bedbugs spreading, she said, “They travel. They’re not passed through contact or personal interaction, but move on their own through luggage and furniture.”
Arroyo said he is trying to stop the recent outbreaks, but it’s a time-consuming task. He said, “I’ve got a guy in here the first of the month, every month, exterminating. My sheets are clean, clean, clean. I’ve done everything I can.”
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