Tenant warns of ‘brutal’ experience with bedbugs

The Chronicle Herald (2014) explained,
Student lost about $5,000 in belongings to insects
 One student back for the fall semester is warning others that long-term bedbug infestations can go unchecked in Halifax, even as unwitting new tenants move in.

After losing about $5,000 worth of belongings, Sara Lampinen says too much is at stake to allow lax pest control.

At the beginning of August, Lampinen arrived from Edmonton to sublet an apartment for seven months in Ocean Towers on Brunswick Street.

Just days after she moved in, she started getting bites.

The infestation was so bad that Lampinen, 23, could see bedbugs crawling around on her bed. She talked to building management and offered to show them her bites.

“They said, ‘No, no, we already know what they look like,’” she said.

“They said they did have bedbug problems before, but they weren’t in the unit that I was in. So they obviously knew that there were bedbug infestations within the apartment building.”

She only lasted three weeks in the apartment before giving up and moving out Friday. She said she threw out thousands of dollars worth of furniture and bedding, and her clothes needed to be specially laundered.

Managers at the building, which is owned by Toronto company CAPREIT, first arranged for Lampinen’s apartment to be sprayed, but she said the one-time treatment didn’t clear up the problem.

Bedbugs can live in walls and easily travel between apartments, and pest control experts often recommend treating a whole building or a whole section of a building rather than a single unit.
 When Lampinen told them she was leaving, and the bugs were still there, “they didn’t seem to care at all,” she said.

A CAPREIT representative did not respond to a request for comment.

The renter who sublet Lampinen the apartment eventually admitted he knew there had been a bedbug problem in the building, she said. Building management also had a chance to warn her, she said; though she was subletting, she introduced herself ahead of time.

“I just want people to know because it’s … brutal, especially when I asked questions beforehand,” she said.

Bedbug-related complaints and financial losses are often handled on a case-by-case basis in Halifax.

Tenants have the option to complain to the Residential Tenancies Board about the state of their apartments, or go through small claims court to recoup financial losses, said Tracy Barron, spokeswoman for Service Nova Scotia.

It appears some financial issues can be resolved through the tenancies board. In at least one case in 2007, the board director ordered a landlord to pay a tenant $875 because of a bedbug infestation, a decision that automatically became an order of small claims court if it wasn’t appealed.

The tenant in that case had asked for retroactive rent rebates and money to cover laundering and damaged belongings. The landlord admitted the bugs had been present when the tenant moved in.

To monitor long-term infestations, it’s up to municipalities, not the province, to ensure landlords are meeting standards for residential buildings. Halifax bylaws require landlords to keep their units free of rodents and insects at all times.

Tenants can call 311 to report infestations and request inspections at their buildings, said an operator with the information service.
http://thechronicleherald.ca/metro/1231671-tenant-warns-of-brutal-experience-with-bedbugs

Bedbugs spotted at least 21 times on subways in August, say sources — MTA hiring expert to review efforts

New York Daily News (2014) explained,
'We’ve never had sightings to this magnitude,' said Joe Costales, a chairman with Transport Workers Union Local 100. 'We’ve had isolated incidents in crew quarters, but it’s no longer an isolated scenario. It’s throughout the system.'

 Another day, another bedbug found in the subway.

Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials have been very reluctant to talk about bedbugs in the transit system. It’s a story they wish would just go away.

So we’ll rely on undercover transit sources to bring you the first-ever BugStat.

There were at least 21 reported bedbug sightings or encounters in the subway in August — including a few incidents in which a bloodsucker bit a conductor or a rider, sources said.

According to these transit insiders, there were nine sightings on N trains, three on Q trains and two on No. 6 trains.

Bedbugs are riding the subways this summer. There have been 21 reports in August.

The itch-inducing insects also were spotted once each on Nos. 3, 4, 5 and L trains, the sources said.

In addition to riding the rails, bedbugs were found in transit worker crew rooms and subway offices in Astoria, Queens, and Coney Island, Brooklyn (N and Q lines), and Euclid Ave., East New York, also in Brooklyn (A line).

“We’ve never had sightings to this magnitude,” said Joe Costales, a chairman with Transport Workers Union Local 100. “We’ve had isolated incidents in crew quarters, but it’s no longer an isolated scenario. It’s throughout the system.”

A couple of transit workers believe they have unwittingly brought bedbugs home from the job.

 The MTA has steadily downplayed the significance of its insect ridership. It’s just a small part of life in the big city, officials contend.

“The subway system has 5.5 million riders every single day and we can’t check all of them for bedbugs before letting them on the train,” MTA spokesman Adam Lisberg said in early August. “That said, when we get reports of bedbug sightings, we investigate — and exterminate. This is an interesting story but not a big problem.”

On Friday, the chief spokesman pretty much said the same thing, although the math was slightly different.

“More than 5.8 million people ride 8,000 subway trains on an average weekday, but the MTA has found no bedbug infestations on any trains, and has found and treated bedbugs on only 16 trains,” Lisberg said.

Bedbugs were found on the N line.

Still, there is some evidence to suggest the MTA is getting a bit uncomfortable.

The agency is hiring “a recognized expert” to review its anti-bedbug efforts, Lisberg said Friday.

And it is responding to rider complaints with surprising speed.

Laura Cohen, a lawyer who regularly rides the Lexington Ave. line, complained by email of being bitten by a bedbug on Aug. 25.

The bed bugs found riding the N train got a free ride to an MTA cleaner's home - and now the employee's infested with the little critters. The 54-year-old MTA cleaner, who wished not to be named, said she first noticed the bedbugs in her home on Aug. 3.

“This is disgusting and frightening,” she wrote.

Cohen received an automatic reply stating a response would come — but could take up to 15 days.

“I was furious,” she said. “Fifteen days. That’s worse than a slumlord.”

But she need not have gotten angry; a customer service manager wrote back less than three hours later.

“Please be assured that pest control will continue to be dispatched to trains and employee crew rooms where bedbugs have been reported. They will inspect . . . and fumigate as necessary.”

It’s good to know the MTA is listening. But if this story doesn’t go away soon, officials are going to keep getting bitten.

PDonohue@nydailynews.com

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/bedbugs-spotted-21-times-subways-august-sources-mta-hiring-expert-tackle-issue-article-1.1923375#ixzz3CZxSWLuc

New York City Subways Invaded by Bedbugs

Guardian (2014) explained,
Train cars have been fumigated in the New York City subway system, but officials with the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) say that the problem is not a big one. Trains on the N and 5 lines have seen bedbugs in conductor cars and four or more trains were later released from service and fumigated. In addition, bedbugs have been seen in passenger cars on the Lexington Avenue line and also in the homes of at least two MTA workers.

The latest reports indicate that the MTA expanded its investigation by looking into reports of sightings on the 7 train. However, no evidence of bedbugs on that train was found. Nevertheless, one rider recalled a bedbug-ridden ride Monday morning on the 7 line, saying that he saw them exiting “from under the seat to feed on people’s legs.” Another rider on the 4 train said he smashed a bug on the floor, turned it over and “There was blood everywhere.” He said “I … was like ‘Whoa! It’s a bedbug alright.’”

An anonymous New York City subway cleaner said she noticed bedbugs in her home two days before her employer fumigated a locker room on August 6 where she works at the Ditmars Boulevard Station. She said she and her home had not had signs of bedbugs before then but now “they’re all over me” and have infested her home.

The anonymous cleaner said she cannot afford the cost of having her home fumigated and MTA policy dictates that it cannot help. An MTA spokesman said that his organization cannot fumigate property that it does not own.

Billy Swan, who works for NYC Pest Control, said that an actual infestation of bedbugs on a subway train is not likely because of the way they travel, which is by moving from host to host, in this case, rider to rider. In Swan’s opinion, he would expect “one, maybe two or three bedbugs max” on subway cars.

Bedbugs are parasites, relying on human beings for food, hydration and shelter. If a bedbug is seen on the floor of a train the chances are good that it recently fell off another person.

Swan pointed out that any bedbugs seen on trains are “likely” to be pregnant females trying to get away from males because … males  pierce the abdomen of females during the mating process, ultimately leading to the female’s death. Attracted to body heat, pregnant female bedbugs “are like hitchhikers,” Swan said, trying to hang onto a subway rider, eventually landing in a new home where they can begin a new colony.

Adam Lisberg, who is a spokesperson with the MTA said that the issue is not a big one, noting that his transportation system sees 5.5 million riders each day so, clearly, all of them cannot be checked for bedbugs prior to getting on a train. “This is an interesting story but not a big problem,” he said.

New York City has received reports of bedbugs in its subway system before. They were seen in a booth in a station in Brooklyn in 2010, which was subsequently fumigated. That was the year the bedbug problem throughout New York City peaked. Reports throughout the city are now 50 percent below what they were.

On the other hand, Swan argues against this statistic, saying that people have simply become more complacent about bedbugs and therefore are not filing reports. He remains convinced that “they are spreading like wildfire.” He reports that his company gets more calls for bedbug service every month than the previous month.

To avoid a personal invasion by bedbugs as a result of riding on a New York City subway train, Billy Swan says that diligence is key “… and look around” to avoid getting infested.

By Gregory Baskin

Read more at http://guardianlv.com/2014/08/new-york-city-subways-invaded-by-bedbugs/