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THE C I TYOF NEW YORK
OFFICEOFTHE MAYORNEW YORK, NY 10007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 28, 2010 www.nyc.gov
DEPUTY MAYOR GIBBS AND SPEAKER QUINN ANNOUNCE COUNCIL FUNDING
FOR
WEB BASED BED BUG PORTAL AND OTHERINITIATIVES RECOMMENDEDBY
EXPERT COMMISSION
New Online Portal and Additional Staff Will Help New Yorkers
MitigateBed Bugs
Deputy Mayor Linda I. Gibbs joined City Council Speaker
Christine Quinn today to announce
$500,000 in City Council funding to create a new bed bug web
portal and a dedicated staff to help NewYork residents and
businesses mitigate bed bug infestations. The new resources were
allocated based onthe recommendations of the New York City Bed Bug
Advisory Board which found that the lack ofeducational materials
and the dissemination of inconsistent information were impeding the
ability oflandlords, business owners, and residents to prevent and
manage bed bugs. The Deputy Mayor andSpeaker were joined at the
City Hall announcement by City Council Member Gale Brewer;
DeputyCommissioner for Environmental Health, Dan Kass; and Chair of
the New York City Bed Bug AdvisoryBoard, Dr. Jody L.
Gangloff-Kaufmann.
While bed bugs may not carry disease, they are a serious issue
for any family that has them. Bedbugs can affect your physical and
mental wellbeing, and significantly hamper your quality-of-life,
said
Deputy Mayor Gibbs. By taking this step, we will make sure all
New Yorkers have the information theyneed to protect themselves and
their families.
When New Yorkers came to the Council and told us how big of a
problem bed bugs were, weknew that we had to do something, said New
York City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn. Wepassed a law to
create the Bed Bug Advisory Board, which spent several months
looking into the issueand developed numerous recommendations for
addressing all aspects of bed bug infestations. Im thrilledto
announce that the Council has committed $500,000 to ensure that
many of its recommendations will beimplemented by the Department of
Health and Mental Hygiene. Im confident that this initiative
willprovide New Yorkers with the information and resources they
need to prevent and treat bed buginfestations in their homes,
places of business or other locations. I want to thank the Bed Bug
Advisory
Board for its comprehensive report and specifically express my
gratitude to Council Member GaleBrewer, whose work on this issue
has been invaluable to the Council and all New Yorkers affected by
bedbugs.
The first step in safeguarding the public health is to know the
extent of the problem you face.Today marks the beginning of the
Citys commitment to understand bed bug infestations, to
identifywhere and when they are occurring, and to coordinate an
effective response, said Council Member GaleBrewer. Our goal is a
simple one: to get the bed bug epidemic under control, and provide
effective helpwhen they strike. For the City employees whose
workplaces are infested, shoppers who fear buying
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infected merchandise, parents whose children bring bedbugs home
from school, apartment dwellers wholive in infested buildings, and
all other New Yorkers the City is committed to help you.
The Bed Bug Advisory Board was convened in 2009 to identify
workable solutions to prevent andtreat bed bug infestations
throughout New York City. The Board was comprised of industry
experts,entomologists, advocates and representatives from numerous
City agencies who evaluated a number ofissues pertaining to bed
bugs including: improving public education, awareness and early
detection of
infestations; effective treatment and remediation techniques;
and the importance of monitoring newdevelopments and crafting
responsive policies. Based on the Boards recommendations, the City
willdevelop a web-based bed bug portal for public education and
awareness; work to coordinate and improvebed bug abatement
enforcement practices in housing and ensure up to date and
effective training of pestmanagement professionals.
After decades of relative quiet, bed bugs are on the rise in
cities throughout the world, said Dr.Thomas Farley, New York City
Health Commissioner. Controlling bed bugs may be difficult, but its
notimpossible. This report shows that more can be done to address
this issue. The Health Department iscommitted to giving people the
information they need to secure their own homes and businesses. As
Cityagencies develop new guidance for residents, tenants and
property owners, we encourage the public to
learn more about bed bugs by consulting New York Citys Guide to
Preventing and Getting Rid of BedBugs. You can obtain a copy by
calling 311 or visiting nyc.gov/health.
Bed bugs are a pest like no other in their resilience and the
financial, emotional and legal impactsthey have upon people, said
Dr. Jody L. Gangloff-Kaufmann. They make us think differently about
pestcontrol. The good news is they can be controlled and increased
awareness and cooperation are the keys tosuccess. With the
formation of the Bed Bug Advisory Board, the City of New York has
taken a stronginitiative to address bed bugs.
The Bed Bug Portal will serve as a cost-effective outreach tool
for any New Yorker affected bybed bugs. It will provide
step-by-step instructions on how to prevent, confirm and manage an
infestation,
and offer information and training videos for landlords and pest
management professionals. TheDepartments of Health and Mental
Hygiene and Housing Preservation will also create joint
enforcementteams to work with property owners to conduct
affirmative inspections of neighboring apartments inmulti-unit
dwellings to help prevent and to stop the spread of bed bugs once
they have been found. Cityagencies will also provide more extensive
training for their inspectional, pest control and social
serviceworkforces to help keep up with the developing science of
bed bug control, and to help tenants understandwhat they can do to
prevent and respond to infestations.
New Yorkers interested in learning more about how to prevent bed
bugs should visitwww.nyc.gov or call 311.
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Contact: Jessica Scaperotti (Deputy Mayor Gibbs) (212)
788-2958Jamie McShane (Council) (212) 788-7124Susan Craig (Health)
(212) 788-5290
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