Saturday, July 31, 2010

Report from Michigan

Below is a recent comment I found at http://www.bedbugger.com/ It mentions how there seems to be no news of the bugs, which are taking over an entire state. This is a recurring pattern. Whether it is due to lazy journalists, dishonest politicians or the influence of the exterminator companies, it cannot go on. If these pests take over it will destroy America economically. See below for comment, or click here to be taken to it as it appears on bedbugger.com

Wenona July 30, 2010 at 11:42 am
My husband works in pest control here in Michigan and has tons of bedbug jobs yet the news hasn’t covered it all around here. I found one tiny article where the Flint Job corp dorms were said to have bedbugs.
In truth homes, apartment complexes and other places around MI are infested with bed bugs. A friend of ours just realized their house was infested and it turns out their son brought them home from a friend’s house- the day he left their house they were getting treated for bedbugs by an exterminator- yet they let a kid stay with them??? And then take home bedbugs spreading the infestation, how stupid is that?
Anyway bedbugs are a major problem and normal pest control products, sprays powders, etc don’t seem to be working. It involves a lot of time intensive work including vaccuming and steaming.
What a mess!
I just pray my husband doesn’t bring home any of these nasty critters from work.

Spanish language press on bedbugs in NY

The Spanish language press was perhaps the best in reporting on bedbugs, or chinches/insectos chupasangres as they are called. On 29 July in El Diario/La Prensa they ran an article, taken from the AP newswire, about the city doing a report and taking action...or inaction. The article did give some revealing figures about how many people this affects - 400,000 - or one in 15 people, up a good deal from last year. The graph is curving upward at an exponentially increasing rate so next year it could well be a third or more are affected. And the year after, well, do the math for yourself.

Conflict of interest in NYC bedbug board

While the press still pays no attention to the building with the thousands, possible millions of bedbugs, it pays attention to non-commital hype put out by politicians. The New York Daily News on 28 July had a small article, titled "City is biting back at pesky bugs", by Samuel Goldsmith and Adam Lisberg. It said that there would be a bug czar, but when it was not clear; neither did it say how much money was going into this game, as City Coucilwoman Gale Brewer (Upper West Side) could not tell the reporters.
What was mentioned that was telling was the fact that Gil Bloom, who is an advisory board member, is president of Standard Pest Management in Long Island City. So if bedbugs persist in the thousands of apartments, this guy makes money. It they stomp out the bug, he loses out. So no wonder the city is dragging its feet. My loud and plaintive cries for them to do something about this cell of jihadi bugs on 8th Avenue are being ignored while people involved make money, and could stand to make billions out of an epidemic.

Friday, July 30, 2010

War on Bugs is a scam

The front of the Metro yesterday carried the line "New York declares war against bed bugs."
It made me think of a funny story that goes like this. Japanese planes attack US Navy base in Pearl Harbor. The president calls the military in and promises to take action. They do a 39 page report, and then decide to set up a website some time in the future to analyse the situation...
Bloomberg has allocated $500,ooo to such activities. They will have a website and a bug czar some time in the future. Meanwhile, there are lots of websites including this one. And I did not spend $500,000. And further, this site has more information on it as I am telling you where Ground Zero is. All the king's men and all the king's horses have no clue, and the hapless journalists at the New York Daily News, who have been invited to do the story, which is in their own backyard - and those of the New York Post, who also have this site close to their offices - do not respond. Is it because they don't care? Or are stupid? Or afraid of me because I say mean things about stupid journalists and stupid celebrities?
So we wait to see what this bedbug czar is going to do, and I have a feeling I will have a lot more mean things to say...
Once again, anyone who wants to contact me and take some real action about this building full of mice and bedbugs, email me at bugout77@hotmail.com

Thursday, July 29, 2010

This morning the owners and 2 guys from Superb Pest Control showed up. I had asked that they show me their registration, and I got a photocopy of one of the guys, named Steve, but nothing on the paper about Superb Pest Control. They grabbed the paper out of my hand when I said something about handing it to my lawyer, and asked why there is no record of a number for them at 411 or on the internet, started shouting at me that I had to take everyting out of my room, and shoved a cell phone video camera in my face. I told them I had most places under control but did want them to spray two spots where I had removed stuff. They then told me no, and would not get out of the way for me to leave my room. It was very uncomfortable.
Finally the two guys left, and the female owner stayed to harrass me. I told her politely to leave, but she only got louder and suddenly stubbed her toe in the hall and claimed she would call the police and say I assaulted her. Not a scratch on her, I expect if she is foolish enough to call the police she will find out that it is a crime in this city to make false statements to the police and I have notified my lawyer about this. Of course, she could just be bluffing, so I'll see.
On a higher lever, the mayor appointed a bedbug czar yesterday, and I will find out who this person is and contact them as to why a building with so many bedbugs is allowed to operate and whether this Superb Pest Control is even registered. They may be, but they sure need to have a lesson in dealing with people. No one in their right mind would let these rude guys into their room! But if they are not, then that needs to be explored.
And as to the press, they are just ignoring the building with the bedbugs...Lindsay Lohan is more important, or just easier to report on as all they have to do is cut and past AP reports, whereas a story on the bugs here in NYC demands some real time and effort; and that is a rare commodity among so many churnalists.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

An open letter to all Americans and New York City residents

Every day we are reading now about bedbugs. To some, an esoteric concept; to others, a reality they wish would be just a concept. Something they never had to deal with or think about. Or even read about.
And we are threatened with reading more and more about them, as the battle to get rid of them is being lost. As we are finding out, many sprays do not work; they are good at developing a resistance to chemicals.
In New York City, they have evolved to take over the niche of the once ubiquitous cockroach. These former insects were once public enemy #1 in our apartments, now they are starting to be welcomed as they are known to be enemies of the bedbugs. What an irony.
Soon, though, the cockroach may be gone from the Big Apple; the much smaller bedbug has usurped their role and is here to stay, it would seem. From Manhattan to the Hamptons, as noted so well in the New York Post on 9 July, they are biting us and sucking our life fluids out while we sleep; if at all we are able to do that, as in some places the infestations have reached such a point that people toss and turn all night as they feel these creatures crawling on them with impunity.
And so we complaining, and journalists write a note or two in the papers; more often, it seems, when the rich and famous are the ones who suffer, as was the case with the Post article. The hoi polloi do not get merit a full page as did the model and her family did.
Which is a shame - because this is a plague about to happen. Yesterday in the Metro as much was said by an anonymous writer, who noted their presence in the home, the theatre, the booktore, the library, the clothing shop - the list went and on.
This week and last I have spent my time alerting city authorities and the press about a building that houses up to two million bedbugs, which it has had, according to the manager and occupants, for about ten years. This year all parties agree is the worst ever, not surprising, as New York is in the grip of a heat wave and these buggers like it hot. I specifically metioned the danger of having so many in a hotel with over 100 rooms, and that each room had up to 300 in day. Collected in one jar of alcohol are 3,500, all gathered in the space of three months in one room. Other evidence, such as sheets stained with blood and tell-tale marks of their droppings, was offered to journalists. But they did not care. They took lots of time lately to tell us of the likes of Lindsay Lohan, her trip to France and her trip to jail, but for the citizens of the US and the residents of New York City, they did nothing. Calls and emails to the Post and the New York Daily Mail were a waste of time.
So I am writing to everyone to tell them that there is a danger. A place so badly kept that mice run free, their droppings collecting on the wire ceilings of rooms which are full of inescts that can multiply at the rate of 200 times a year. A place that has been run this way for years, so that the bugs have had time to develop a cell, from which a number of them hitch rides every day on the residents and then infect the city. And in which one resident has been diagnosed with scabies.
This is a disaster. And no one is taking note, for whatever reason. The most that gets done is that the landlord, after a court case goes against him, does some extra spraying - which has been observed to be completely ineffective. The measures indicated to him as necessary he has not taken. The halls are full of crevices where these creatures breed, and so great are their numbers that this place has been called the Ground Zero of bedbugs. It will destroy New York if this issue is left alone.
And it may well be left alone until all buildings in New York have these insects, which no one seems to be able to rid us of. Then it will spread from New York to other cities. At a multiplication rate of 200 a year, we cannot waste time with reluctant journalists and lazy city officials.
So I am writing an open letter to all Americans and residents of New York City, and also to the Mayor, whose ultimate responsibility this is. You cannot afford to have such a disgusting place in your country or your city.
Once, when a new resident moved in, I got to talking to him; he, like me, was in the service, so we talked shop about our days - he had tales of Khost, Afghanistan, and I told him about Gitmo, Cuba. He had been many places, some in the Third World, and he remarked that this place, right here in the US, was worse than anything he had ever seen. So he went out and bought some cleaning supplies and set about making his room habitable. Well, at 3am, the manager found him disinfecting his bed, and told him right then and there to leave.
That is how this place treats former servicemen. It is a disgrace beyond words. And it is also a disgrace that the city administration and the press in this town allow this kind of hotel to go on breeding these pests.
For anyone out there interested in helping - contact me at bugout77@hotmail.com
I am happy to meet face to face and give my real name to serious people and of course any journalists looking to do the right thing.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Bugs in the Big City

Bedbugs like cities; lots of warm bodies to snuggle up to I suppose. In India, they are taking over the dorms of the Indian railway men, who are complaining to their bosses. They collect the insects to show them proof, but it was not clear from the article, posted at bedbugger.com - if these are live or dead.
The Indians are wise to collect the bugs - I have 3515 in a bottle of alcohol, so they are not getting out. The press in NY has ignored my pleas for them to do this story - NY Post is a pathetic joke, with Amber Sutherland, who is noted for her plagiarism, and a receptionist who just wasted my time yesterday.And no word from Juan Gonzalez at the NY Daily News whom I emailed. On Thursday, my hotel will send in exterminators, but I can find no listing for them - Superb - so I suspect they are unregistered. Who knows what they are spraying. We can all lose our tourism industry due to these bugs.And oh, got a reply from the DHCR on Sat., 24 July, telling me that the landlord claims the mice, roaches and bedbugs were taken care of. It was dated 21 July and said I had 5 days to respond if this was not the case. It sure wasnt't. But getting up there on such short notice was a pain - I tried to get their # off the net, but a real person does not answer the phone, so my hope of faxing them was out. Had to take the train to Harlem, and proceed to 133rd and B'way and find 94 Old B'way, which is an obscure street that only exists between 131st and 133rd. Got them just before 4pm, which is the deadline, and they looked at the form like they'd never seen it before...probably they haven't had anyone make this last minute deadline which is slanted towards the landlords in an age of new laws giving away much to landlords. But I got it in, and made them give me a copy with their seal as proof of delivery.So we will see. If anyone out there gives a damn - including any journalists, get off your butt and get in touch with me. But then, some say I bark too loud; so you may just prefer to sit there and do nothing and have the bite of the bugs.
( you can contact us at bugout77@hotmail.com )

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Bedbugs set to ravage Manhattan while Mayor and DHCR sleeps

New York City is on the verge of having a massive infestation of bedbugs - and the only press we seem to get is when a rich model gets a few bites. Then she runs to the ER and gets prescriptions.
This site is for real information - and BTW, no ads, as it is not set up for me or anyone to make money. I have a serious complaint that affects everyone, and I hope to share information so that the city will take real action against landlords that are the problem.

For instance, there is a hotel that allows hundreds of bedbugs to exist in a single room. It have over 100 rooms. Garbage cans in the halls at the time of this writing are not covered, so rodents rule. They defecate on the wire ceilings of the rooms. One person has been diagnosed with scabies from this place.

Judge Kaplan in Housing Court signed an order for them to fix things, including the ceiling of the complainant, on 10 June 2010. So far no action has been taken, other than to occasionally cover the garbage cans on the third floor.

What does all this mean to New York? It means that hundreds of thousands of bedbugs roam free every year. One female lays up to 400 eggs in her lifetime. 400 x hundreds of thousands and you get the picture. Every day dozens of bedbugs are transported by the residents to other places in NY. 365 x dozens. You get the picture. 400 x dozens x 365. You get bedbugs.

So what is the city doing? NOTHING. The 311 calls so far only result in this being logged - but the only action taken is that the owner hires a pest company to spray. The next week we get more bugs. Superb Pest Control is the company he uses, and one resident complained the staff were threatening and rude and did not tell him the name of the chemical they were using. Maybe it was water. The bedbugs did not seem to mind.

DHCR, the NYC agency charged with keeping us from getting nasty epidemics from bad buildings, has not solved the problem. It has been clearly pointed out that the bugs reside in the thousands of cracks in the walls and ceilings, and that the wire screen ceilings are especially bad. One resident painted his room to seal the cracks, but since the ceilings and door allows vermin to come in, he was fighting a losing battle. They bite him all night and it makes bloodstains all over the sheets.

This is the future of the city unless Bloomberg and his crew get off their butts and do their job. We will continue to attack any slack city officials on this site until they do their job completely and quarantine such buildings.

But what about the press? Are they going to only report on rich people and their hangouts - like Abercrombie & Fitch - or are they going to pry a journalists off the Linsday Lohan watch and get them to report on something that is serious for a change?

The Post ignored this so far. We will continue to report on the lack of reporting, if we have to stand outside their offices and hand out fliers. And that goes for the mulit-billionaire Mike Bloomberg who is too busy playing golf - we pay him to take care of the city, not play all day like a child. He wants $100 million for new offices downtown? Get real. Stop supporting only your rich friends and do your job.