Reason #197,238,597,229 for not living in New York City
They have some wonderful museums but that is about it.
Even though I live in the country, I have no problem with cities. I have spent many days wandering through Mexico City on several occasions, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Vancouver, Chicago, San Francisco and Oakland. No hassles and lots of fun. For some reason, New York City creeps me out -- just too many people crammed into place.
Here is another reason for avoiding it like, well, the plague.
From
The Register/New York Daily News:
NYC hit by bedbug epidemic
The onslaught of the harmless but unpleasant creatures has seen complaints to 311 (the number for government information and non-emergency services) rise from 537 calls in 2004 to 6,889 in the fiscal year which ended in June. In the former year, 82 landlords were hit with bedbug violations by the Department of Housing, Preservation & Development (HPD), but by 2007 this had risen to 2,008.
Bedbugs hitch a ride on "clothing, luggage, furniture, bedding, bookbags, even shoelaces" and have apparently been seen moving around New York in cabs, limos, buses and subways.
Jeff Eisenberg, owner of Pest Away Exterminating on the upper West Side, confirmed that infestations were city-wide, and affecting rich and poor alike. He said: "In the last six months, I've treated maternity wards, five-star hotels, movie theaters, taxi garages, investment banks, private schools, white-shoe law firms... even the chambers of a federal judge."
The highest-profile bedbug incident was in around five apartments in the "swanky" rental tower at 220 E. 72nd St. owned by Bernard Spitzer, the 83-year-old dad of governor Eliot Spitzer.
Several tenants "described a persistent, if intermittent, infestation on the 15th, 16th and 17th floors", and one poor chap was forced to ditch "rugs, bedding, curtains, 20 cashmere sweaters, an Armani suit, a couch, a headboard, a night table, a bedframe and an exercise bike" before the exterminators moved in. Mercifully, he was able to find temporary lodging in the Carlyle Hotel while his unwelcome guests were evicted.
And the reason:
Experts attribute the plague to various factors, including the increased risk of importing bedbugs due to the "surge in global travel and mobility in all socioeconomic classes", combined with "less toxic urban pesticides and the banning of DDT".
Emphasis mine -- bedbugs can evolve resistance to toxins just like bacteria. People start to use an "All Natural" and "Safe" pesticide and it works for a month or two so they keep using it. What they fail to realize is that they are killing off the weak bugs and leaving the strong bugs. With a mix of weak and strong, assuming random mate selection, the overall population would remain fairly weak.
Now that it is only strong bugs mating with other strong bugs, the offspring will also be strong and the "Safe" pesticides just give them a warm glow in their bellies.
DDT would stomp this out in a heartbeat but the enviro-ninnies would have a conniption if DDT was proposed for use. They are ignorant of the history of DDT. True there was a problem with it but
at that time, we were marinating the ecosystem in it; using way more than was necessary. The judicial use of a minimal amount would kill the bug problem dead and hurt nothing.
And for the guy who lost all the expensive clothing, why didn't he put everything into a plastic garbage bag and take it to a commercial cold storage place and have them freeze it for a month. End of problem...
Posted by DaveH at January 1, 2008 7:08 PM