Bedbugs continue to plague local schools and homes, and they might be here to stay in light of recent extermination budget cuts.
Within the first two months of the school year, the number of bedbug cases in city schools jumped to 336, according to a Nov. 8 press release from Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer. That’s more than double the 135 cases reported during the same time period last year.
Local bedbug complaints from residents have also increased. Residents from areas of West Harlem represented by Community Board 9 made 390 complaints through the 311 call hotline during the 2010 fiscal year, up from 369 complaints in the 2009 fiscal year, according to data from the Department of Housing Preservation & Development.
Community Board 7, which represents the Upper West Side, also saw an approximate six percent increase in bedbug complaints, which jumped to 249 from 235 during the 2010 fiscal year.
“These statistics are chilling, they’re unacceptable,” Stringer said in a press release. “What’s even worse is that at the exact moment we’re experiencing this invasion, the city has cut the ranks of its exterminators by more than half—from 77 active members in 2001 to 33 in 2010—and reduced pest control aides from 149 members to just 28.”
Budget cuts have led to a 75 percent decrease in pest control agents, which poses some concerns for local residents and those with children in a city public school system of 1.1 million.
“Thank God I don’t have bedbugs, because they are all over the place,” said Deborah Smith, a Grant Houses resident.
Others haven’t been as lucky.
“I live in St. Nicholas Projects and we also have a problem with bedbugs,” said a woman visiting her friend at the Grant Houses, who wished to remain anonymous because she feared retribution from her landlord.
“Bedbugs are a serious problem all the way from Morningside Drive to Broadway,” said another Grant Houses resident, who was also concerned about punishment from those in charge of the buildings. “They just closed off the fourth floor of the building to fumigate it. ... Grant Housing is filled with bedbugs. However, local city government is taking their time to combat the problem.”
Some said the Department of Education isn’t doing enough to respond to bedbug problems. “Schools should get swift professional help if bed bugs are discovered in classrooms or other areas,” Stringer said in the press release. “Forcing principals to become CSI inspectors and bag their bed bugs—then send them via snail mail for testing—makes about as much sense as fighting a building fire with a garden hose.”
According to a CBS News report, the Department of Education denied that there was an epidemic, saying that bedbug specimens must be provided before allocating large amounts of taxpayer money to exterminate them.
The Department could not be reached for comment, and the principals of P.S. 175 and P.S. 180 in West Harlem could not comment on whether they have had bedbug problems.
City council member Robert Jackson has been issuing educational DVDs over the past few months in order to spread awareness on the issue.
“The initiative was very successful—we have very few DVDs left,” said Sarah Morgridge, spokesperson for the office. “However, we’re not trying to reinvent the wheel. We are just putting the information out there. Not everyone has access to the internet or a computer, but most people tend to have a home entertainment system in which they can play a DVD.”
Their office is unable to allocate resources to concerned locals, and instead Jackson’s office only has the power to address the issue through education, Morgridge said.
“Socioeconomics impact the ability to address the issue,” she said. “When families have the means to call an exterminator, the problem is fixed correctly. However, not everyone is able to do this. Resources are the biggest thing in addressing this huge problem.”
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