How bad has the bed bug situation gotten? Enough, apparently, to call for an amendment to the Pest Extermination Ordinance. On Monday, there will be a public hearing to allow residents to chime in on the matter.
In a letter to the Council, Mayor Segarra calls for an amendment which would fine tenants who either create or refuse to deal with bed bug situations:
The language of the proposed ordinance amendment can be viewed below:
The public hearing begins at 7pm in Council Chambers of City Hall on Monday, December 19, 2011. Those wishing to speak should arrive a few minutes early.
Joanna
What do the define as “creating” bed bug situations? I am willing to bet that having a messy apartment will be considered “creating” a situation, meanwhile, you can have bed bugs in the cleanest home. As for “refusing to deal with” a bed bug situation…. many tenants cannot afford an exterminator, and many of the solutions sold in stores are not entirely effective.
When I moved in, within a month I had a bedbug infestation. I have neighbors downstairs who are hoarders, and did not want to tell the landlord if they had any sort of issues with bugs. I do not know if they had bedbugs, but it is very possible, but it made it appear as if I was the only one.
My landlord never called an exterminator. I had to wait until my social security arrived to buy a product from the hardware store. It did not entirely work. I had to buy a new couch from good will and throw away the old one. I really could not afford it, but I knew the landlord believed I was the only one with bed bugs, and therefore was the one who brought them in.
Not to mention the fact that bedbugs can lie dormant for up to 16 months, inside the walls, so the previous tenant could have had them, not told the landlord, and they came back out when a new body was in the apartment.
I will be at the hearing, because I think that this whole things smacks of blaming the victim, and is putting poor people in a really bad situation. It is way to easy for a landlord to claim they never had a problem with bed bugs, and to blame the tenant.
Kerri Provost
Hoping all residents who feel one way or another show up for this. That landlords ignore tenants’ concerns is an issue in itself.
Joanna
I have not gone to many council meetings since I got here since they are just confusing for me, but this one, I need to be there for. This needlessly punishes poor people, and I know for a fact that landlords, even (or especially) the ones who kiss the Mayor’s ass… do not really pay attention to the concerns of tenants.