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While New York city has seen an explosion of tourists under the stewardship of Mayor Bloomberg, with a staggering 8.76 million visitors in 2007, so too have we witnessed a whopping increase in cases of bedbugs. According to Salon dot com, from 2000 to 2005 the problem increased by 71%. And Iain Mackenzie of the BBC, reported that the rate of bedbug complaints has risen 34% over the past year now standing at 10,000 cases. Mr. Mackenzie visited a home in Brooklyn, along with a local exterminator who stated that the main reason for the outbreak of pests, including bedbugs, was due to the changing of chemicals used to get rid of bugs. But those who live in buildings which are being used as illegal hotels would strongly disagree that the removal of harsh chemicals is the only reason for the rapid proliferation.
At the now infamous Dexter House, a residential SRO on west 86th where the campaign against Illegal Hotels first began, many residents believe that the tourist traffic in residential neighborhoods is the reason for the spread of the bed bug problem. Prior to the start of tourist rentals the problem was nonexistent. Shortly after the building became a youth hostel in 2004 infestations sprang up throughout the building and have remained a problem ever since. Posting on the bedbug registry a tenant notes, " The problem here already became an infestation spreading from room to room. I reside in this location and since the Dexter House Hotel started bringing tourist into the building and having hostel room available. I saw a couple and I looked at her arm and she was biting (sic) in more than a hundred places…" Not far from Dexter House "Hostel" the Imperial Court, another residential SRO also being used illegally as a transient hotel, is facing similar problem. Here too, the rate of infestation seemed to have risen along with the rate of international visitors renting rooms throughout the building on a transient basis.
One now former resident of Imperial Court notes, "In early 2008, just before I moved out, the owner was arranging for building-wide inspections and treatment with an extermination company. The building operates about half if its rooms as a "hotel" (which is not exactly legal for an SRO building, I might add), and I believe that new transient traffic is the root cause of the bedbugs."
In building after building the claims are identical: tenants did not have bed bug problems until their landlords implemented transient rentals. Tourist traffic cannot be singled out as the only reason for this problem, but it does seemed to be a major contributing factor. The Columbia Spectator reports "The Bed Bug Registry, online infestation tracker, shows that bedbug reports continue to be filed in buildings up and down the Upper West Side" some of the most extreme hot spots for illegal hotels.
According to medical dot net, while some 40 human diseases have been linked to bedbug bites, the transmission of said diseases are said to be rare. The most common problems caused by the bug bites are itching red welts and the fact that repeated exposure to bites can lead to increasingly severe allergic reactions. How to exterminate the pests seems to be the real problem. Many exterminators agree that harsh chemicals are the best way to remove the infestation. DDT, now illegal, had all but wiped them out in the 1950's. although there were signs that the bugs were becoming resistant even to this highly toxic poison. Medical dot net reports that there is no clear way for a proper removal of the pests.
According to Liza Weingarten of the Columbia Spectator, "In a city where housing consists primarily of large, multiple dwelling buildings and where tourism thrives, an infestation left alone will likely continue to worsen." The problem has gotten so out of hand, since the first of the 2000's that the City Council pushed for the creation of a Bed Bug Advisory Board and is reintroducing legislation similar to that adopted in Boston, to combat the problem. For starters, all mattresses discarded because of an outbreak must be clearly marked with a sign that warns those of the bugs. Sales of used mattresses will also be prohibited. One common way that bed bugs are transmitted to some homes is through new furniture which is infested with eggs. The authors of the new bill would help curb this problem also. For the time being, NYC residents are being encouraged to bag up and discard items that they believe to be infested with insects.
Until next time…
http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/health/newsid_7967000/7967531.stm
http://nycgo.com/cms/uploadedFiles/thricenycvisitcom/assets/pdf/History%20of%20International%20Travel_2007.pdf
http://www.examiner.com/x-6452-NY-Progressive-Examiner~y2009m3d26-Illegal-hotels-In-NYC
http://bedbugregistry.com/hotel/NY/New-York/Dexter-House-Hostel
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2006/10/25/bedbugs/
http://www.news-medical.net/?id=47712
http://www.columbiaspectator.com/2009/03/04/new-legislation-says-dont-let-bedbugs-bite
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11823244/
http://bedbugger.com/2009/03/19/new-york-mayor-bloomberg-signs-bed-bug-advisory-board-legislation/
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