Bed Bug Blog

Bedbugs prompt closure of Hunter Plaza, and tenants must move out

2010-04-05T16:04:00.002-04:00

The Fort Worth Housing Authority is closing Hunter Plaza because of a chronic problem with bedbugs, forcing residents of the 11-story downtown apartments for the elderly and disabled to find new homes.

Housing authority officials also cited needed utility improvements.

People started moving out March 22, and officials hope to relocate all 219 residents by May, said Alice Sykes, a housing authority spokeswoman. Most are receiving Section 8 housing vouchers to move into apartments.

"First and foremost, our concern is for the health and welfare of the residents," Sykes said. "We're letting them tell us where they want to go. We are helping them locate facilities with vacancies and providing them assistance."

Some residents said they're unhappy with the decision to close. "I feel like all along they had led us to believe this was a temporary relocation. Then we find out it looks permanent," said Mary Siering, a Hunter Plaza resident for four years. "It's not that easy for some of us to go find another place to live."

Sykes said officials have communicated openly with residents throughout the process.

Hunter Plaza sits at 605 W. First St. in a building that once housed the Fortune Arms Hotel.

Constructed in 1951, it was bought by the housing authority in 1972 and residents moved in two years later.

Today, it has 234 units and mental-health services on-site, according to the housing authority Web site.

Councilman Joel Burns, whose district includes Hunter Plaza, said he was aware that the closure would separate many longtime neighbors and friends.

However, "the housing authority has been careful and deliberate in taking every action possible to eliminate the problems at this facility," Burns said in a statement. "The housing authority has assured me that every resident will be placed in a new apartment in a respectful manner."

Uncertain future

Housing authority officials say they have tried to eradicate the bedbugs since they became aware of the problem last spring. Residents were furnished with mattress encasements and free laundry service, according to a housing authority report.

In May, exterminators were paid $27,000 to use a steam treatment on the entire building, the report said. In December, $90,000 was spent to replace carpet with tile. But the bugs remained.

In some cases, management observed bugs on residents' bodies, the report said.

Bedbugs are small, flat, brown and difficult to kill because they hide in the cracks and crevices of beds, box springs and bed frames. They are commonly found in hotels and shelters.

This year, housing authority officials contracted with a pest control company for fumigation services that had proved effective elsewhere, according to a statement. The process requires that the building be cleared and sealed.

"Due to the age of the building and the need to install all-new electrical, water and utility systems; FWHA has determined that this is the only feasible way to eliminate the problem," the statement said.

Author: Alex Branch

Bed Bug Infestation Forces Hundreds Out of Texas Apartment Complex

2010-04-05T16:00:00.000-04:00

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Bedbugs are forcing hundreds of people out of a downtown Fort Worth, Texas.

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Bedbugs are forcing hundreds of people out of a downtown Fort Worth, Texas apartment complex.

The critters have infested Hunter Plaza, a complex owned by the Fort Worth Housing Authority that caters primarlily to elderly and disabled people. The housing authority is relocating all 219 residents to new homes and getting all of their belongings fumigated.

Doris Haywood, a social worker with the agency, said it did all it could to eliminate the bugs.

"They're annoying. They bite. They live off human blood (and) animal blood, and they have a long life expectancy, and they multiply pretty quickly," she said.

Haywood said the bedbug problem began last spring. The housing authority hired exterminators, got bed covers for every resident and even removed carpet throughout the building, but the bugs returned.

Resident Sherri Bass said she didn't realize there was a problem until she was contacted by the housing authority.

"'Sleep tight, don't let the bedbugs bite' -- I thought that was just a saying," she said. "I didn't know there was really bugs."

Bass did not have bedbugs, but she saw what they did to a friend.

"He had them on his leg, and they looked like third-degree burns," she said.

While Bass was happy about the relocation and her new apartment, Mary Sierin, was not.

"I'm very disappointed at the decision to permanently relocate us," she said.

Sierin, a resident for four years, said she didn't want to leave, but she said the housing authority staff had been very helpful.

Haywood said she met several times with residents to this decision to keep them informed about everything that was going on inside their homes.

"A lot of them are excited. They are very apprehensive to leave here because they have been here many years," she said.

A spokesperson for the housing authority said it's too soon to tell what will happen to Hunter Plaza. Bedbugs can appear in any home.

They live in cracks and crevices such as mattress seams, furniture, baseboards and picture frames.

If you start to notice rows of bites when you wake up in the morning, contact an exterminator and make sure that person or company has experience with bedbugs.

After staying at a hotel, don't keep your luggage close to your bed at home and dry clean or wash and dry all of your clothes on hot.

Author:Taren Reed

Phila. hotels fight back against bed bugs

2010-03-29T15:59:00.002-04:00

CENTER CITY; March 25, 2010 (WPVI) -- Compared to New York City, Seattle, and some other cities, Philadelphia hotels don't have a big bed bug problem.
However, there are isolated infestations.

And today, members of the Greater Philadelphia Hotel Association met in center city to learn the latest about detecting and elimination the biting bugs.

The seminar was led by BedBug Central, an arm of Cooper Pest Solutions of Lawrenceville, New Jersey.

They service clients, including hotels, nationwide.

Robert DiJoseph, of BedBug Central, says the problem is actually bigger OUTSIDE hotels.

"Definitely apartments, apartment buildings, universities, and definitely in New York and New Jersey, office buildings, healthcare."

Despite the "bed" bug name, the quarter-inch insects also live in carpeting, and upholstery.

They can come in with travelers on luggage or clothing, so hotels are vulnerable.

Today, managers learned about the latest ways to detect and destroy the unwanted guests.

John Cochie, innkeeper of the Alexander Inn in center city says he's taken preventive steps, such as regular inspections with a bug-detecting dog, encasing beds in protective coverings, training housekeepers on detection, and replacing fabric upholstery with leather.

Cochie and his partner also put the luggage rack out and open in the room, so guests won't be tempted to put a potentially-infested suitcase on a chair or bed.

"Let's not give these bugs a place to hide," Cochie says.

He feels ALL business operators need to be more open about the problems.

"Whether it's the hotel industry, the cruise line industry, the multi-family apartment industry, even the people that live in the mansions on the Main Line, need to understand this is something that won't just go away, " Cochie told Action News.

He went on, "This is something that the more we talk about, the easier it's going to be for all of us to do our part to minimize the problem."

Experts say bed bugs have been around for thousands of years, and are likely to be around for thousands more.

by: WPVI-TV/DT

Bed Bugs found at McKenzie School

2010-03-29T15:30:00.001-04:00

East Rutherford - Although school officials are not calling it an infestation, three bed bugs found in McKenzie School has prompted remediation and a report to the East Rutherford Board of Health.

"The first one was found on Friday," said Superintendent Kenneth Rota. "One was found on Monday and another yesterday (Tuesday)." "An inspection was conducted on Monday and pest management consultants are working to remediate the situation. They are coming back in today for a very thorough and extensive steam cleaning. Faust School will also be inspected."

Rota would not say where the bed bugs were found.

"As far as I know, the schools were kept open. Packets were sent home to the parents," said East Rutherford Board of Education member Mike Homaychak.

Debbie Dineen, spokesperson for Parsippany-based Western Test Services, the company that the school district uses for pest control, did not return a call for comment.

The East Rutherford Board of Health did not return a call at press time.

Bed bugs are transported from infested areas to non-infested areas when they cling to someone’s clothing or crawl into luggage, furniture or bedding brought into homes. Although they are not known to spread disease, they can cause allergic reactions, according to the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services.

BY KELLY NICHOLAIDES

North Adams Housing Authority gets bed bugs under control

2010-03-17T14:26:00.000-04:00

NORTH ADAMS -- North Adams Housing Authority officials say they have a so-called infestation of bed bugs at the high-rise and low-rise apartments under control, having taken multiple steps to educate the residents about the problem and eliminate the bugs.

"We’re taking a very proactive approach to this," Jennifer Hohn, the housing authority’s interim executive director, said Tuesday. "We have contained the problem to a very small area at both apartment buildings and have had extermination services in place for some time."

Problems at the senior housing complexes, located at 150 Ashland St. and 45 Spring St., are believed to have started several months ago when a tenant brought a used mattress into their home.

"We’ve stressed to our tenants that they need to make us aware of things like this," Hohn said. "We weren’t informed of the problem at first because the tenant thought it was because of unsanitary conditions. It has nothing to do with someone not being clean or unsanitary. Five-star hotels have problems with bed bugs. We’ve also advised our residents not to take anything out of the dumpsters -- no matter what condition it is in."

Beg bugs are small insects that feed on human blood and are known for living in mattresses and furniture. The insects usually feed in the early morning hours.

She said the issue, which has been identified and contained in each building, has been "blown out of proportion" by former tenants.
"If you talk with any public housing agency, I believe you would be hard-pressed to find one that hasn’t dealt with bed bugs in recent years," Hohn said. "It has nothing to do with cleanliness."

On Friday, the housing authority sponsored an educational meeting for tenants with Cat’s Eye Exterminators.

"We had about 30 tenants attend the meeting," she said. "The exterminators, who we contract with, provided preventative information about bed bugs and gave advice and procedures on what to do in an instance of infestation. It really put our residents at ease -- some were very frightened."

Author: Jennifer Huberdeau

St. Matthew's House faces bed bugs again

2010-03-17T14:24:00.000-04:00

The Collier County Health Department is inspecting St. Matthew’s House today after receiving a complaint about bed bugs, but the health department’s jurisdiction does not include the living facilities of the homeless shelter in East Naples.

The shelter’s kitchen is due for a six-month inspection and that will be the health department’s focus, said Deb Millsap, spokeswoman for the department.

Vann Ellison, executive director of St. Matthew’s, said the shelter has had the bed bug problem for 1(1/2) years and has been aggressively combating the problem. Ellison said no state agency has jurisdiction over homeless shelter dormitories.

“That’s one of the reasons why I had to get educated, there is no clearinghouse for information,” he said. “We have spent in the last year $48,000 trying to eradicate the bed bugs in our facility. It’s an ongoing thing and frustrating.”

The shelter organization houses 170 people in its East Naples and Immokalee locations and there is a turnover of 100 people a month, he said.

Bed bugs can be brought in by clothing or pillows and live in cracks of bed frames and in bedding. The shelter has had the East Naples building tented for bed bugs and termites in November, 2008, and since then bed linens are treated regularly with a high-heat dryer, mattresses have been covered in vinyl and a company comes in and sprays weekly.

“It’s a very sporadic problem,” he said. “It is frustrating because we have spent so much money trying to fix it.”

Author: Liz Freeman

No sleeping tight when blood-suckers bite

2010-03-01T15:55:00.000-05:00

It's a drab building that you've probably passed many times on First Avenue without even thinking about who lives there or why. Wedged between Egbert's furniture store and the Frontier Room, it's an easy spot to forget: a forbidding fence, a concrete courtyard and, on occasion, a person of little means lingering over a smoke.

The building is Bell Tower, a publicly owned high-rise that's home to about 120 people who are either retired or disabled. Their rent is subsidized by their landlord, the Seattle Housing Authority.

That tends to make most SHA tenants wary of saying or doing anything that would cause them to lose their housing -- even when there's a problem, people clam up. That makes it all the more amazing that tenants on the Bell Tower Resident Council are not only threatening to sue the agency, they've got a lawyer: Starbucks attorney Julie Wade, who was once the housing authority's general counsel, is representing the group for free and, on Jan. 22, sent a letter to SHA seeking four months free rent for every resident of Bell Tower.

If they don't get the free rent, says the council's chair, Ken Jennings -- who, it's no coincidence, has two separate lawsuits of his own going against the agency -- the group will file suit.

The issue is a $3.5 million rehab of the building that the housing authority started last August. Since then, Wade says in her letter to SHA Executive Director Tom Tierney, running water in the building has been shut off two dozen times for up to eight hours at a stretch, workers have come and gone from tenants' apartments with no warning, and the construction and its noise and fumes have not only made people sick, it's driven roaches and a much harder-to-kill pest in the building -- bedbugs -- from apartment to apartment to feed on residents.

At a meeting Wade had with Bell Tower tenants last fall, "At least ten of the residents present reported being bitten by bedbugs as well as the lack of an effective and timely response from SHA," she says in the letter. "Reportedly, it often took 2, and sometimes 4 weeks, for the pest control unit to show up after a request had been properly filed."

The conditions, Wade says, violate federal housing regulations, which call for living conditions to be sanitary and units to have a functioning sink, toilet and tub or shower.

In a reply on Jan. 29, Tierney disagrees. It's impossible, he writes, for a construction project not to inconvenience residents in some way and, sorry, but now that Seattle has a bedbug problem, "occasionally the demands on the bedbug pest control unit exceeds its capacity."

That's a little ominous: Being out of "capacity" means it's OK for bedbugs to bite and suck on tenants at night? Jennings says no and that the Bell Tower council has already filed a formal claim with the housing authority demanding the free rent -- the first step, he says, on the way to a lawsuit that the council's executive board has already OK'd.

BY:Cydney Gillis

Record Label Shuts Over Bedbug Outbreak

2010-03-01T15:54:00.001-05:00

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RIHANNA and JAY-Z’s record label was forced to shut its New York City offices last month (Jan10) following an outbreak of bedbugs.

Executives at Universal Music Group and Island Def Jam had to close their Manhattan headquarters and call in pest control officers after the parasitic insects were found in the building.

Three floors were fumigated in a bid to banish the bedbugs, but the problem returned this week (beg01Feb10) when a celebrity talent agency downstairs was also forced to close to deal with the problem. Staff at ICM, which represents stars including Megan Fox, Halle Berry and Mickey Rourke, were sent home on Wednesday (03Feb10).

A representative for Universal Music tells New York Post gossip column Page Six, “We were aware of the issue and it has been resolved on our floors.”

By: WENN

Bed bugs take up residence in Hamilton

2010-03-01T15:24:00.000-05:00

Be warned, this story will make you itch.

Bed bugs are on the rise in Hamilton.

Public health nearly doubled its number of investigations to 108 between July 1 and September 30, 2009 from 65 during the same time period in 2008.

“We definitely are seeing them move into the area,” said said Bob Hart, environmental health manager at public health. “There’s definitely more bed bug infestations.”

There is no part of the city or type of housing immune from getting the bugs. Public health gets more calls from tenants but that’s because they need help getting their landlords to exterminate the bugs and not because they’re more likely to get them.

“There is a significant increase in all urban centres in North America over the last few years,” said Hart. “It seems to be something everyone seems to be grappling with right now.”

So far, public health has no explanation for the increase.

“Nobody really knows why,” said Hart. “Bed bugs were definitely a problem 10 to 15 years ago and then there seemed to be a hiatus where we didn’t get as many complaints about them and then suddenly they seemed to be back on the scene.”

Author: JOANNA FRKETICH

Bed Bugs Infest Part of Idaho Senior Center

2010-01-20T15:14:00.001-05:00

BLACKFOOT, Idaho (AP) -- Officials with the Blackfoot Senior Citizens Center say bed bugs are infesting some apartments at the center-run Sunset Manor.
The apartments cater to low-income seniors and those with disabilities.
The Idaho State Journal reports that officials are now considering temporarily moving all the tenants to a hotel so the entire apartment complex can be treated. That could cost as much as $60,000.
Bed bugs are small, flat bugs that feed on blood and make bites similar to those caused by mosquitoes.

Author: ABC 6 BoiseTV

Bed bugs bedevil treatment center

2009-12-28T13:18:00.000-05:00

SECAUCUS - Nicole Gallo sought treatment at Straight & Narrow because of the program's reputation for helping patients overcome addiction.
But 15 days into her 28-day stay, she's checking out because of a bed bug infestation.
"I have a 15-month-old," Gallo said while standing outside the facility last week. "My sobriety is important to me, but my health is more."
A resident of the program, which rents space at Hudson County's Meadowview Psychiatric Hospital, called The Jersey Journal to report the bed bug infestation.
When a reporter and photographer visited Building 7, where the program is housed, they were not allowed in or permitted to speak with the resident.
Reached by phone, David Mactas, executive director of Straight & Narrow, said the building occasionally gets bed bugs, but an exterminator has a standing contract to visit the site as soon as a problem is reported.
"I'm not sure we'll ever have a month where we don't see a bed bug, we're doing the best we can. We always feel bad," Mactas said. "If we get a report, the exterminator is out right away."
Hudson County Spokesman James Kennelly said the county Department of Health and Human Services was unaware but will now investigate.
Gallo, of Hunterdon County, said exterminators have been out to the building and furniture has been replaced, but there is still a problem. She will likely throw away the clothing and belongings that she had there.

Author: MELISSA HAYES

Cops raid building, find bed bug infestation

2009-12-16T11:50:00.000-05:00

Hudson County Sheriff's officers who showed up at a Jersey City home this morning looking for a weapon in connection with a domestic violence incident were greeted by an infestation of bed bugs, prompting a the fire department to set up a decontamination tent in the street.
Ten residents of the building - at Wilkinson and Ocean avenues - as well as five sheriff's officers were quarantined in the two-and-a-half story building while fire officials brought people out to scrub them down in a special shower set up at the scene.
Two men were taken out of the building in handcuffs shortly before noon, even as officers dressed in full hazmat gear with oxygen masks went into the home.
Jersey City Fire Director Armando Roman said sheriff's officers were immediately bitten by the bugs when they entered the home this morning; officers also found drug paraphernailia, he said.

Author: Jason Fink

Bedbugs spreading across Hudson County

2009-12-16T11:46:00.001-05:00

The tenants at Grandview Terrace in Jersey City have done everything they can think of to deal with bedbugs that began infesting the building three years ago.
Kevin Geraghty steam-cleans and sprays pesticide constantly, encased his mattress in plastic to suffocate the critters, and keeps his lights on as much as possible.
Robert High pulls the covers over his head to keep from getting bites at night, and his caretaker, Debra Armstrong, will only sit on a metal folding chair when she comes over.
"No matter what I did they weren't going away," said William Dorrity, who finally hired an exterminator. "I'd sweep and mop. All the bedding I'd throw into hot water. I did that night and day, night and day. (Finally) I figured I had to bite the bullet."
The tenants of the seniors building at 3060 Kennedy Blvd. - where there have been nearly 50 cases of bedbugs in the 240-unit building over the past three years - are not alone. Over the past three years, bedbugs have been turning up across the country at a shocking rate.
"There's a very severe outbreak in the United States," said James Lashomb, a professor of entomology at Rutgers University.
Bedbugs used to be common in the United States, but the use of DDT and other chemicals nearly eliminated them in the U.S. by the 1960s, said Lashomb. But in the 1970s DDT was banned, and over the past decade, several other anti-bedbug chemicals have been too. And that, along with increased travel to Asia and Eastern Europe where the critters are common, has led to a "hundredfold" increase over in the last decade.
The New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services doesn't keep statistics on bedbugs, said spokeswoman Patricia Cabrera, but the department has seen a "significant increase" in complaints over the past few years. Jersey City spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill says her municipality has seen a "sharp increase" as well.
Carlos M. Hernandez Sr., who has owned Pest-A-Side Exterminating Company in Bridgeton for 25 years, said he began getting calls on the bugs about five years ago. "They used to be sporadic," he said. "Now I'm getting calls several times a month."
Hernandez, who has accounts across the state, including several in Hudson County, said bedbug extermination accounts for 10 percent of his business.
The 1,400-unit Hoboken Housing Authority has treated at least eight units for the bugs since November, said its deputy director, Carmelo Garcia.
The bugs have also turned up at the West New York Housing Authority, Atlantic City hotels, college dorms, apartment buildings, nursing homes, schools and private homes across the state.
They're more difficult to get rid of than other insects, they can hide out in the walls until conditions are right to come out, said Lashomb.
"I'd rather kill roaches and fleas and ticks than have to kill bedbugs," agreed Hernandez. "They are the hardest enemy I have ever come across."
Geraghty, the Grandview Terrace resident, said the bugs have gotten so bad that his daughter once counted 26 bites at one time.
"I'm always looking on the couch, looking on the walls to see if they're anywhere," he said. "But it's gotten to the point where you just have to laugh at it."

Author: Amy Sara Clark

Jersey City school sprays for bedbugs

2009-12-16T11:44:00.000-05:00

A Jersey City public school sprayed for bedbugs yesterday after discovering a bedbug on a student last week, a school official confirmed today..
A teacher at School 14, the Ollie Culbreth Jr. School, found an insect on a preschool student, and the school nurse confirmed that it was a bedbug, said Paula Christen, a spokeswoman for the Jersey City Public Schools.
No other bed bugs have been seen at the school, but officials decided to spray the building's first floor, the only floor the child was on, as a precaution, Christen said.
Asked whether other schools have sprayed for bedbugs, Christen said "not to my knowledge at this point."
She said school officials haven't been warned to be on the lookout for the bugs, but that she wouldn't be surprised if they were, since "they're rampant all over the place."

Author: Amy Sara Clark

"Bed Bugs Bite Back"

2009-12-16T11:37:00.001-05:00

You check into a hotel for a good night’s sleep, never suspecting that you might become room service dinner for a crawly critter, an insect waiting to drink your blood.
Nancy Duke: I had welts and they were all over my legs, my arms.
That’s what happened to two women just months ago, in decent American hotels: They were the smorgasboard for bed bugs.

Author: Dennis Murphy

National infestation of bedbugs worries officials; first 'bedbug summit'

2009-12-16T11:27:00.003-05:00

ARLINGTON, Va. -- "Don't let the bedbugs bite."
Doesn't seem so bad in a cheerful bedtime rhyme, but it's becoming a really big problem now that the nasty critters are invading hospitals, college dorms and even swanky hotels.
With the most effective pesticides banned, the government is trying to figure out how to respond to the biggest bedbug outbreak since World War II.
Bedbugs live in the crevices and folds of mattresses, sofas and sheets. Then, most often before dawn, they emerge to feed on human blood.
Faced with rising numbers of complaints to city information lines and increasingly frustrated landlords, hotel chains and housing authorities, the Environmental Protection Agency hosted its first-ever bedbug summit Tuesday.
Organized by one of the agency's advisory committees, the two-day conference drew about 300 participants to a hotel in Arlington, just across the Potomac River from Washington. An Internet site notes that the hotel in question has had no reports of bedbugs.
One of the problems with controlling the reddish-brown insects, according to researchers and the pest control industry, is that there are few chemicals on the market approved for use on mattresses and other household items that are effective at controlling bedbug infestations.
Unlike roaches and ants, bedbugs are blood feeders and can't be lured by bait. It's also difficult for pesticides to reach them in every crack and crevice they hide out in.
"It is a question of reaching them, finding them," said Harold Harlan, an entomologist who has been raising bedbugs for 36 years, feeding them with his own blood. He has the bites to prove it.
Out of concern for the environment and the effects on public health, the EPA has banned many of the chemicals that were most effective in eradicating the bugs in the U.S. At the same time, the appleseed-sized critters have developed a pesticide resistance because those chemicals are still in use in other countries.
Increasing international travel has also helped them to hitchhike into the U.S.
"One of our roles would be to learn of new products or safer products. ... What we are concerned about is that if people take things into their own hands and start using pesticides on their mattresses that aren't really registered for that, that's a problem," said Lois Rossi, director of the registration division in the EPA's Office of Pesticide Programs.
The EPA is not alone in trying to deal with the problem. An aide to Rep. G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C., says the congressman plans to reintroduce legislation next week to expand grant programs to help public housing authorities cope with infestations.
The bill will be called the "Don't Let the Bedbugs Bite Act."
"It was clear something needed to be done," said Saul Hernandez, Butterfield's legislative assistant.
Bedbugs are not known to transmit any diseases. But their bites can cause infections and allergic reactions in some people. The insects release an anticoagulant to get blood flowing, and they also excrete a numbing agent so their bites don't often wake their victims.
Those often hardest hit are the urban poor, who cannot afford to throw out all their belongings or take other drastic measures. Extermination can cost between $400 and $900.
So bedbug problems increase, said Dini Miller, an entomologist and bedbug expert at Virginia Tech, who until 2001 saw bedbugs only on microscope slides dating from the 1950s. Now she gets calls and e-mails several times a day from people at their wits' end.
"I can't tell you how many people have spent the night in their bathtubs because they are so freaked out by bedbugs," Miller said. "I get these people over the phone that have lost their marbles."
Because the registration of new pesticides takes so long, one thing the EPA could do is to approve some pesticides for emergency use, Miller said.
Another tactic would be to screen pesticides allowed for use by farmers to see if they are safe in household settings.
Representatives of the pest control industry will be pushing for federal funding for research into alternative solutions, such as heating, freezing or steaming the bugs out of bedrooms.
"We need to have better tools," said Greg Baumann, a senior scientist at the National Pest Management Association. "We need EPA to consider all the options for us."

Author: Pzicari

Newark Apartment BedBugs

2009-12-14T13:15:00.003-05:00

Ella Reed walks through her Newark apartment with an oxygen tank that helps fill her lungs damaged by chronic emphysema, then slowly lifts her twin-sized mattress to show where the bedbugs live.
Exterminators have been to Reed’s apartment, and although she lives in low-income housing, she has bought two new mattresses with her own money.
But the bugs, she said, keep coming back.
"I live on a fixed income," Reed, 60, said through short breaths, "I can’t afford another mattress."
Reed and dozens of other residents say the bug infestation is part of a pattern of neglect at New Community Corp., one of the city’s largest providers of housing for the elderly and disabled. Since July, residents have gathered at Newark City Council meetings to protest the infestation of bedbugs and mice, poor maintenance and shoddy treatment they say they receive from management.
New Community’s staff admit to a myriad of problems, including bedbugs, equipment failure and issues with staff members. But with limited resources, the staff of the $20 million not-for-profit agency said they’re doing the best they can.
"New Community is really committed to trying to do the best job they can," NCC special projects coordinator Richard Cammarieri said during a recent city council hearing. "There are flaws we need to correct."
The unhappy residents are the latest problem for New Community, which has long been under mounting financial strain — from cuts in government funding to delays in Medicaid reimbursement to its own management problems.
The community development corporation — one of the largest such entities in the country, which won national acclaim for its involvement in the state’s largest city — continues to spend more than it brings in through government grants and contributions. It has millions on the books in outstanding loans that have left it cash-strapped, according to its most current federal tax returns.
Community development entities like New Community are essentially neighborhood-based nonprofit groups, typically created to provide affordable housing or develop local businesses with the assistance of federal grants or private donations. New Community, though, has a far larger footprint, with 1,800 housing units in Newark, Orange and Jersey City.
Despite its problems, most say New Community is vital to Newark, providing services the city cannot, including medical services, job training and literacy programs.
Still, residents who live in the two high-rise buildings on South Orange Avenue for the elderly and disabled in Newark said the agency’s response is inadequate, that their living conditions have deteriorated and their grievances have been largely ignored.
"The elevators are broken almost every day. There’s bedbugs, rodents, we can’t get stuff fixed," said Dyran Thomas, 56, who has lived in a one-bedroom apartment at 140 South Orange Ave. for the past four years. "It’s constantly one thing after another."
BEDBUGS AND RODENTS
The bedbugs top their list of complaints. The Star-Ledger was invited by tenants to the building at 140 South Orange last week and saw several mattresses that appeared to be infested with bedbugs and roaches and holes where rodents had apparently eaten through the walls. Residents showed arms and feet peppered with small red bruises they said had resulted from bedbugs.
New Community spokeswoman Angela Stewart said in an e-mailed statement that management, including the agency’s founder, Monsignor William Linder, is actively pursuing resident grievances.
"It is the goal of New Community to work cooperatively with its residents," Stewart said. "Monsignor Linder holds monthly meetings with the tenant leadership of our residential properties."
Linder declined to comment for this story, directing Stewart to speak for NCC.
Central Ward Councilman Charlie Bell, who called special council hearings after hearing complaints from residents, said New Community has been making improvements, albeit slowly.
"I feel personally that they could do much better," Bell said.
New Community Corp, was the first community development group to provide affordable housing for Newark residents following the 1967 riots. Since 1968, it has grown into the largest development corporation in the city and provides more affordable housing than any agency outside of the Newark Housing Authority.
The two buildings on South Orange Avenue are among six New Community buildings dedicated to the elderly and disabled. The group’s mission is, "To help residents of inner cities improve the quality of their lives to reflect individual God-given dignity and personal achievement."
After residents complained that the agency’s mission isn’t being met, Bell held two days of special council hearings in September for tenants, New Community management and city inspectors.
TENANT-MANAGEMENT STRIFE
Transcripts provided this week to The Star-Ledger reveal deep divides between residents and New Community leaders, with speakers on both sides engaging in acrimonious debate. The dominant complaint in the hearings was the infestation of bedbugs, but talks turned to accusations of mistreatment by New Community managers.
Residents accused one manager of intimidation and harassment calling tenants "ignorant," "illiterate," and "troublemakers."
The manager, Emuobosan Newkirk, responded at the hearing by saying "that’s not the true story," and accused the residents of "cussing and bumping on my door and saying all kinds of stuff."
Other residents say tenants’ complaints are exaggerated.
"She’s the best manager we’ve ever had," said Larry Coley, 77, president of the tenants association at 140 South Orange. "I don’t know why they’re saying all this."
Bell said New Community has told him that the concerns of residents are legitimate, and the agency will provide sensitivity training for managers.
INSPECTIONS IMPASSE
On the second day of council testimony, a spokesman for the Department of Neighborhood and Recreational Services said city inspectors had been barred from entering at least one of the New Community buildings when following up on resident complaints.
"Lately, our inspectors have been turned away either by security or by management, or they’re getting the runaround to some degree," said Thomas McDonald, spokesman for the department, which is in charge of inspections and code enforcement.
"I don’t want to get messages from our inspectors saying, ‘They won’t let us in,’ because that’s not acceptable to the city, and it appears that you’re hiding something by not letting us on your property."
The building manager at 180 South Orange Ave. said no one told her the inspectors were turned away. She said it would not happen again. "I will assure that you will have access," said Fonda Porter.
Before September’s hearings, 180 South Orange Ave. passed an inspection by the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency, of which Linder is a board member.
Throughout the hearings, residents said the most important problem is poor maintenance, specifically the infestation of bedbugs.
City health officials said bedbugs must be treated holistically and exterminating in one apartment does little good if the bugs move to multiple apartments. During the hearings it was established that only certain clusters of apartments were being treated on a case-by-case basis.
According to Bell, the problem also lies with residents.
"Some people will deny that they have a bedbug problem," Bell said this week, adding that others are reluctant to admit exterminators into their apartments.
Bell said all the residents should be temporarily relocated in order to fully eradicate the bugs and their eggs. "It’s just having the will and the financial wherewithal to do the job."
Stewart, of New Community, says management is spending $200,000 on bedbug extermination — up from $152,000 last year — and that they are not alone in battling the pestilence.
"The problem of bedbugs is by no means unique to New Community and has been a problem in other apartment complexes within the city of Newark," Stewart said. "It is also a national issue that has impacted facilities ranging from hotels to college dormitories and is not easily eradicated."
OTHER MAINTENANCE ISSUES
While bedbugs top the list of many residents’ complaints, some say the infestation is part of a lax approach to resident concerns.
Vincent Heyward, 53, and his wife have lived at New Community for two years. He said a bullet hole in his bedroom window has not been fixed since he moved in. Two months ago, Heyward’s kitchen faucet fell off the sink. Despite numerous requests, no one has come to repair it, Heyward said.
Thomas said that last week paramedics were called to attend to a resident on the 15th floor of 140 South Orange but became stuck in a faulty elevator and had to be rescued by the fire department.
"I was waiting for the elevator on my floor and they said we couldn’t get on because they had to get the EMTs out of the elevator that got stuck."
The New Community spokeswoman did not deny the incident occurred and said they have intermittent problems with their elevators.
"New Community recognizes the importance of elevator service to our residents," Stewart wrote in her e-mail. "Commons Senior, or 140 South Orange Avenue, has two elevators and it is a rare occasion when at least one of the elevators is not functioning."
Bell said part of the agency’s problem is its lack of resources. Financially, "they’re in serious trouble," he said.
The conundrum for city leaders and residents is that New Community is one of the only organizations that is still dedicated to providing housing, medical care and job opportunities for Newark’s poorest residents.
"Father Linder is one of the last hopes in the city of Newark for poor people and housing for poor people," Bell said this week. Citing a new direction by the Newark Housing Authority to provide more mixed-income housing, Bell said, "The government is getting out of the business of providing housing for poor people."

Author: David Giambusso/ The Star-Ledger

What do Bed Bugs look like?

2009-12-14T11:28:00.003-05:00

What do Bed Bugs look like? Adults are small, brownish insects, just under a 1/4” long and are relatively flat. They are nearly as wide as they are long, and oval in shape. Immature bed bugs (nymphs) resemble the adults, but are much smaller and lighter in color. Newly hatched nymphs are translucent and are no bigger than a pinhead (1 mm). After feeding on a blood meal the immature bed bugs may appear bright red in color. Bed bugs lack wings and therefore they do not fly, but they are capable of moving swiftly on both horizontal and vertical surfaces. The eggs are very small (approximately 1mm), whitish, and very difficult to see on most surfaces without magnification (individual eggs are about the size of a dust speck).

Author: Richard Cooper

Bedbugs are back in Michigan

2009-12-09T10:50:00.001-05:00

Detroit -- It started in February when Debra Miller, who works as a caregiver, noticed dozens of red welts on the body of a man she cares for in the Griswold Senior Apartments complex.
"We didn't understand what was going on," Miller said. "At first we thought it was the soap. Then we thought it was the fabric softener. Finally, I held up a magnifying glass and saw that something was digging into his skin."
It was bedbugs. And the man's apartment was infested with them The minuscule blood suckers -- once essentially eradicated in the United States -- have made an explosive comeback. Evidence of their return first showed up in coastal cities of New York and Los Angeles more than a decade ago and, since then, they have spread throughout the nation. Living in walls and mattresses, they can go a year without a blood meal. They come out at night, feasting on blood and leaving ugly welts.
The good news is they don't carry diseases, but they're resistant to modern pesticides and are adept hitchhikers, stowing away in suitcases, pant seams or inside the keys of laptop computers.
State health officials put together a task force this year because of the growing number of complaints.
"It's the biggest can of worms I've ever set my foot into," said Erik Foster, medical entomologist with the Michigan Department of Community Health. "Education is a huge issue. A lot of people still don't know they're out there and how they're transmitted. By the time they know they have bedbugs, they've got a pretty healthy infestation."
The first guide for residents, apartment managers and health officials on how to identify and treat the problem is expected to be issued in about a month. Foster expects it to be around 70 pages thick.
"The message we're trying to share is it's not a pest anyone should feel embarrassed or any shame about," said Missy Henriksen, vice president of public affairs for the National Pest Management Association. "If people would immediately bring in a trained and licensed professional at the first sign of the infestation, it would really help eradicate the problem."
No community is immune
Miller, who lives in the Griswold apartments, has been battling the pests, the apartment management company and sometimes even other residents for months. She's not alone.
The bugs are now just about everywhere, said Mark "Shep" Sheperdigian, an entomologist with the extermination company Rose Pest Solutions in Troy. Back in 2002, the company may have received three or four calls, Sheperdigian said. Now, it's in the hundreds. And the numbers continue to grow.
"It's not just the big communities," Sheperdigian said. "Smaller communities as well are starting to feel the pinch. There's no real explanation why they're spreading so rapidly."
Increased international travel and the 1972 ban of DDT are considered the two main reasons for the resurgence of the bedbugs, Henriksen said.
"We are hearing of significant bedbug infestation in every state. It's become a prominent global issue as well," she said.
The infestation has led to some creative detection and eradication efforts. High-end New York hotels have brought in trained bedbug-sniffing dogs and their handlers to identify infected rooms.
Heating method works best
Last month, the Ohio Department of Agriculture asked the federal government for an emergency exemption to allow the use of Propoxur. The insecticide is used in commercial buildings, on crops and in flea and tick collars for pets. It was removed from home use in the 1990s and can cause nausea and vomiting if swallowed.
Here in Michigan, a few companies are using heat to blast the bugs into oblivion. Heaters brought into rooms raise the temperatures of everything in the room to around 130 degrees -- enough to kill all the life stages of the bedbugs but not hot enough to damage items. The process takes about six hours and can cost $1,000 a room.
It's the eradication method being used at the Griswold and, starting about six weeks ago, at Wayne State University apartment buildings when the need arises.
"We've been successful in keeping them out of the residence halls, but we do have them in our three apartment buildings," said Tim Michael, director of housing at Wayne State University.
University officials established a protocol about three years ago involving monthly inspections and treatments.
About two months ago, the university switched from chemical sprays to the heater method of eradication. Michael is optimistic and said the heater method has been 100 percent effective.
"It's become one of those things that university housing has to deal with," he said. "We have people coming from all over the country. It comes in their luggage. Everywhere people go, they go with you. We're just battling them."
Apartments and dorms are at the biggest risk for growing bedbug populations, Sheperdigian said. Hotels are too, because of the frequency of travelers coming in and out of rooms.
Proper disposal required
Recontamination is common. Miller has seen residents whose apartments were recently treated open up a sealed bag filled with bedbug contaminated clothes and take items back into the apartment.
Wholesale dumping of infected items can further compound the problem. When cases first came up at Cathedral Tower, a Wayne State University-area high-rise, residents' items were thrown out into bins. People would then fish them out.
"The management was just throwing stuff in the Dumpsters," said Ted Phillips, executive director of the United Community Housing Coalition, a nonprofit providing housing-related services to Detroit residents.
"We were begging them not to do that."
"I've seen people take mattresses out of the Dumpster and bring them right back in the building," Miller said.
The coalition works with people such as Miller on rent and housing issues, helping people set up escrow accounts, into which they deposit rent money until management companies address the bedbug problem.

Author: Steve Prado/ The Detroit News

Bedbugs in NJ's new psychiatric hospital

2009-12-09T10:42:00.001-05:00

PARSIPPANY, N.J. — Exterminators are battling bedbugs in New Jersey’s new $200 million psychiatric hospital.
The bugs have been found in a patient’s bedroom and in staff areas of Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital in Parsippany.
The nearly 500-patient state facility opened last year.
Human Services Department spokeswoman Ellen Lovejoy says the first bedbug sighting was on Nov. 11. When a few more were found days later, Lovejoy says an extermination company that employs dogs to sniff out the bugs was brought in.
Lovejoy says no patients have been bitten.
Lovejoy says the hospital has responded by aggressively cleaning affected areas.

Author: ASSOCIATED PRESS

Bed bug invasion in NJ senior complex

2009-11-25T15:39:00.000-05:00

MORRISTOWN (WABC) -- A bed bug invasion had some New Jersey residents worrying they were going to be forced out of their homes. The bed bugs were found at 31 Early Street in Morristown in a building dedicated to seniors.

But as it turns out, only one resident may be forced to leave.

"To think that someone would threaten to shut down this building and put a group of seniors at risk, it's ludicrous," tenant Julia Kersey said.

She and several other tenants were hot over rumors the 100-unit senior citizens building was being evacuated because of bed bugs. The Morristown Housing Authority says that was never a plan.

"There is no truth to this story, and I'm very upset because...our residents are all gathered out here, and they're scared," Vera White said.

"We have one tenant in this building who has a serious infestation of bed bugs in her unit," Marion Salley said.

They blame the rumor on the tenant in 1H, Barbara White, whose apartment the Housing Authority says is the source of the bed bugs.

"We went to exterminate her unit yesterday, and she would not allow entry," Salley said.

Outgoing Morristown Mayor Donald Cresitello knows White and, this afternoon, took issue with the blame game.

"We have other people suffering in the building," he said. "I don't like the comments being made that this particular person may have carried them from another unit."

White says she has no bed bugs and refuses to let them spray her apartment because of her medical problems. But in the middle of agreeing to disagree on the cause, the solution may cost White her unit.

Salley says she can't abate the problem in the building and that the Housing Authority will be forced to pursue legal action.

Author: Toni Yates Eyewitness News Team

N.J. lawmakers approve 'bed bug bill'

2009-11-25T15:34:00.001-05:00

The state Assembly passed Thursday passed the "bed bug bill," a measure whose main objective is to get landlords to take care of bed-bug infestations, according to a report in the Press of Atlantic City.

The report said under the bill approved by a 74-3 vote in the Assembly, landlords of multiple-dwelling units must have bed-bug infestations removed as soon as they learn about them. Landlords who don't take appropriate actions would face fines of $300 for each infested bedroom and $1,000 for each infested common area.

Author: The Star Ledger/Paul Cox

New York bedbug complaints increase 34% in a year

2009-11-25T15:27:00.002-05:00

New York's bedbug infestation is getting worse, with almost 10,000 complaints to the city last year - one-third higher than the year before.

"There are lots and lots of people who are having a devastating experience with bedbugs," said Renee Corea, who helped start the coalition New York vs. Bed Bugs after being bitten. "We are already regarded as the most highly infested city in the Untied States."

New Yorkers called 311 with 9,213 bedbug complaints in the last fiscal year, up 33.7% from the year before, according to records that Corea's group obtained through a Freedom of Information request.

That probably understates the problem, Corea said, because uncounted numbers of New Yorkers call exterminators instead of phoning 311.

Bedbugs are tiny insects that live in mattresses and other furniture but can travel on clothes or luggage. They come out at night, feasting on blood and leaving ugly red welts.

Killing them may require people to disinfect or throw away thousands of dollars worth of furniture and clothes. The bugs often just slink into neighboring apartments, ready to return.

"It's a huge problem," said CityCouncilwoman Gale Brewer (D-Manhattan), who is sponsoring a City Council hearing next Tuesday on bills to ban the sale of used mattresses, train exterminators to handle bedbugs and force all city agencies to come up with a united strategy.

The city Health Department doesn't consider bedbugs a health issue, but at least three other city agencies track bedbug infestations separately in Housing Authority projects and school buildings.

Not all exterminators know how to spot and treat bedbugs, and critics say the city doesn't do enough to stop infected mattresses from being reused. Some victims may be too embarrassed to seek help, and some small landlords may not be able to afford a competent exterminator, advocates say.

The worst hot spots are in central Brooklyn, where the number of complaints in a cluster of six community boards doubled from 566 to 1,132 in just one year, the data show.

Other spikes appeared in the northern and eastern Bronx, in midtown Mahattan, in the Rockaways and a section of eastern Queens, and on the North Shore of Staten Island.

"If you look at other cities, their local governments have taken a big step to try to educate people and deal with the problem," said Louis Sorkin, a bedbug expert at the American Museum of Natural History.

Author: Adam Lisberg

BedBug Infestations Is Getting Worse

2009-11-25T15:17:00.002-05:00

New York's bedbug infestation is getting worse, with almost 10,000 complaints to the city last year - one-third higher than the year before.

"There are lots and lots of people who are having a devastating experience with bedbugs," said Renee Correa , who helped start the coalition New York vs. Bed Bugs after being bitten. "We are already regarded as the most highly infested city in the United States."

New Yorkers called 311 with 9,213 bedbug complaints in the last fiscal year, up 33.7% from the year before, according to records that Corea's group obtained through a Freedom of Information request.

That probably understates the problem, Corea said, because uncounted numbers of New Yorkers call exterminators instead of phoning 311.

Bedbugs are tiny insects that live in mattresses and other furniture but can travel on clothes or luggage. They come out at night, feasting on blood and leaving ugly red welts.

Killing them may require people to disinfect or throw away thousands of dollars worth of furniture and clothes. The bugs often just slink into neighboring apartments, ready to return.

"It's a huge problem," said CityCouncilwoman Gale Brewer (D-Manhattan) , who is sponsoring a City Council hearing next Tuesday on bills to ban the sale of used mattresses, train exterminators to handle bedbugs and force all city agencies to come up with a united strategy.

The city Health Department doesn't consider bedbugs a health issue, but at least three other city agencies track bedbug infestations separately in Housing Authority projects and school buildings.

The worst hot spots are in central Brooklyn, where the number of complaints in a cluster of six community boards doubled from 566 to 1,132 in just one year, the data show.

Other spikes appeared in the northern and eastern Bronx, in midtown Manhattan, in the Rockaways and a section of eastern Queens, and on the North Shore of Staten Island.

Author:

State asks for bedbug help

2009-11-25T15:14:00.001-05:00

COLUMBUS — Ohio wants the federal government to allow an industrial insecticide to be used in homes to fight bedbugs, tiny bloodsucking insects that continue to be a problem here and in other states.

The Ohio Department of Agriculture is seeking an emergency exemption that would allow the use of Propoxur, which is used in commercial buildings, on crops and in flea and tick collars for pets, said Matt Beal, the agency’s assistant chief.

“We are in dire straits, and we need help,” he said.

The request was filed Oct. 23 with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Propoxur, which can cause nausea and vomiting if swallowed, was removed from home use in the 1990s. Walmart Stores Inc., the world’s largest retailer, asked its suppliers in 2006 to phase out products made with Propoxur.

But Propoxur may be worth revisiting because bedbugs are becoming resistant to many products used today, said Richard Pollack, a public health entomologist at Harvard University.

“If used wisely and against the right kind of pest, then I think it will probably offer far more benefit than risk,” he said.

A message seeking comment was left Wednesday for the EPA in Washington, D.C.

Locally, Cole Manor’s 152 apartments, which are run by the Springfield Metropolitan Housing Authority, were treated for bedbugs in August.

Bedbugs are nocturnal insects about the size of an apple seed. Though the bugs are not known to carry any diseases, their bites leave behind itchy red bumps.

The creatures have become a growing problem in recent years, most notably in dormitories on college campuses, including Ohio State University and the University of Florida.

Health officials in Franklin County, which includes Columbus, say they have collected reports of hundreds of infestations in the past year.

About 70 percent of hotels in the county have had bedbug infestations, said Paul Wenning, special projects coordinator with the Franklin County Board of Health.

Bedbugs are generally controlled by washing sheets, thoroughly cleaning infested rooms and use a powerful vacuum to remove bed bugs from cracks and crevices. In some cases, exterminators use pesticides.

Author: Springfield News-Sun Associated Press