NYC'S BED BUG ATTACK

Many of you know, I have had two bouts with bed bugs in my over ten years at this location in Carroll Gardens, so my radar is always on when it comes to the blood sucking bastards that made my life hell. I'll never forget those sleepless nights of waking up to find red bumps all over my body, very much like what you're seeing in this photo. Just thinking of them makes me itch! Happily, and thanks to my landlord and a reputable exterminator, they no longer exist.



However, Mayor Bloomberg this week signed legislation that creates a "Bed Bug Advisory Council." It's funded by the city and is made up of a team of experts. Their mission is to research New York City's bed bug problem and report back to the mayor in nine months with some guidance. Great, another fricking study, another blue ribbon panel, another commission created to stall doing anything to really eradicate these pests. In the last year alone, more than 9,000 bed bug complains were logged with the city's housing division. That's up from 1800 just three years ago. But, most people didn't file formal complaints, they just sounded off. 23,000 called in complaints to the city's 311 line. Not only that, from all indications everyone I know who had a bed bug problem in New York City made no formal complaint, which means the actual numbers must be extraordinary.



The city's various agencies are well aware of the problem. They need to sit down for a series of meetings with experts. This should take all of two days during a weekend retreat, not nine months. Put their heads together and come up with a city-wide plan of attack, setting up a pest control office in the city that can provide tenants and homeowners with useful advice and resources for dealing with the mass producing critters. I predict, thousands of additional residents will be infested with bed bugs by the time this "advisory board" reports back to the mayor with it's recommendations. Then, what? How much longer will it then take to actually carry out the panel's advice? 2010? 2011? Too long!