Queens Bed Bug Registry Infestation Maps, Residential and Hotel

Some subway riders itching to get home after workencountered delays thanks to bugs in the MTA system bed bugs, that is.

According to the transit agency, a control tower worker atForest Hills and 71st Street in Queens spotted two of the bothersomeinsects inside around 4:30 p.m. just as rush hour was set to begin. The towerwas evacuated and fumigated, and staff wasnt able to return until around 7:30p.m., MTA President Andy Byford said.

The worker who saw the bugs operates the switch to changelines from local to express, and because no employees were allowed to continueworking at the tower during fumigation, trains on the E, F, M, R and W lineswere delayed and re-routed, according to the MTA.

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Although M and R trains gradually resumed their regularservice, some M trains were reset to end at Chambers Street on the J line, andsome would go to the 96th Street Q station instead.

The LIRR said it would accommodate MetroCard holders in bothdirections at a handful of stations in Queens, Brooklyn and Manhattan.

We apologize for the inconvenience to our customers as weworked to address the issue and ensure the safety of our employees, Byfordsaid. The agency maintained that service should be completely back to normal byThursday morning.

There was no word of any bed bugs on any MTA subway trains.

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Bed Bugs Cause Rush Hour Subway Delays on Queens Lines ...

Transit employees are accusing the MTA of not doing enough to suppress a bedbug outbreak at a crucial subway control tower in Queens, after the bloodthirsty parasites were spotted inside the facility for the second time in a week.

The control tower was evacuated and fumigated last Wednesday, prompting widespread delays and train cancellations during the evening rush hour. As the Daily News first reported, the same complex located at Forest Hills-71st Avenue was besieged yet again on Monday.

MTA spokesperson Tim Minton confirmed to Gothamist that "one apparent bedbug" was observed inside the tower yesterday afternoon, and that two others were found last week. Minton disputed that this qualifies as an "infestation," emphasizing that the source of the problem remains unknown. The most recent bedbug has been "secured," he added.

Transit employees, meanwhile, are criticizing the agency's handling of the itchy issue.

"The MTA habitually puts service before employee safety," said Tramell Thompson, an MTA conductor and union activist. "You think MTA Chairman Pat Foye would work in his office if a bedbug was found? You think he will wait before an exterminator to come before he stops working? Why cant workers get that same respect?"

The bedbugs were actually first reported by MTA staff in December. But while bug-sniffing dogs failed to find anything, sources told the NY Post the dogged pests were spotted near a cloth chair on January 8th. Those chairs were reportedly thrown out Monday night and the facility was fumigated once again.

"We believe the fumigation that occurred January 22nd would have eliminated any bugs present in the small tower at that time," added Minton. "There were then zero bugs sighted for five days."

Local bedbug expert Bill Swan questioned this approach to bedbugs noting that a buffer period is necessary between fumigation rounds to ensure full eradication

"The standard in the city is a minimum of two visits, staged at least ten days apart," Swan, who runs NYC Pest Control, told Gothamist. "Those eggs are wrapped in fat, so sometimes if you spray an egg it just gets absorbed in there." (Enjoy more skin-crawling facts from bedbug man Bill Swan here.)

Following last week's outbreak, NYC Transit President Andy Byford issued a statement apologizing to customers affected by the delays and assuring employees that they were working to ensure their safety. A few hours later, he announced his resignation.

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Bedbugs Strike Back At MTA Subway Control Tower In Queens ...

The key MTA control tower in Queens that was fumigated due to bed bugs last week causing major delays had to be sprayed for the third time on Monday.

One creepy crawler was spotted Monday afternoon at the Forest Hills-71st Street station tower that controls turnarounds for M and R trains, an MTA spokesman confirmed.

The bug was secured and confirmed deceased, said MTA communications director Tim Minton.

The infected terminal, known as the Continental Master Control Tower, will be treated tonight between midnight and 2 a.m., Minton said.

Staffers first said they spotted bed bugs at the terminal on two occasions in December, but a dog trained to sniff them out found none.

On Jan. 8, an employee reported seeing of the bloodsuckers near some chairs and that area was fumigated.

No bed bugs were found on that day but the dog confirmed they were there.

The entire terminal was sprayed last Wednesday after a sighting of the pests.

Staffers at the tower were pulled out so the area could be treated and werent allowed back for hours, disrupting the E, F, M and R trains during rush hour.

The fumigation on Monday night wasnt expected to impact service.

Officials said they didnt know where the bugs were coming from.

The four chairs that employees had been worried were the cause of the infestation were removed and will be replaced, a rep said.

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Bed bugs spotted again at MTA control tower in Queens

FOREST HILLS, QUEENS A bed bug sighting reported in part of the subway system in Queens messed up commutes for thousands of straphangers Wednesday evening.

The E, F, M, R and W trains were hit by delays after an MTA worker reported seeing one of the bugs in a control tower in Forest Hills at 4:30 p.m., according to NYC Transit President Andy Byford. The towers are control centers for track switches.

The MTA immediately evacuated workers in the tower to fumigate, he said.

"We immediately took action to fumigate the tower, which resulted in an evacuation until tower staff were able to safely return at approximately 7:30 p.m.," Byford said. "We apologize for the inconvenience to our customers as we worked to address the issue and ensure the safety of our employees."

(Keep up with news in Forest Hills by subscribing to Forest Hills Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

The Continental Master Control Tower, where the bed bug sighting was reported, controls track switches at Forest Hills-71st Avenue, where M and R trains turn around and head back to Manhattan, MTA officials said.

Without workers in that tower, the MTA had to take those trains further into the subway system to send them in the other direction. As a result, the MTA re-routed some M and R trains and temporarily extended W service to Sunset Park and Bay Ridge.

Subway service got back to normal about 8:30 p.m., Byford said.

This isn't the first time the critters have been spotted in transit workers' facilities. Tramell Thompson, an MTA conductor and union activist, told Gothamist they're a "common" feature.

"The conditions that us MTA workers work and eat in, especially in subways are very decrepit and not well kept," Thompson told Gothamist. "The majority of these MTA Chiefs don't care because they don't work under the same conditions or hazards as us."

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Bed Bugs Blamed For Snarled Service On E, F, M, R, W Lines ...

NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- An MTA control tower in Queens was forced to shut down once again for fumigation after bed bugs were found on Monday night.

According to Metropolitan Transportation Authority spokesman Tim Minton "one bug"was discovered at the Continental Master Control Tower in Forest Hills.

For the second time ina week, exterminators were brought in to fumigate the tower after the evening rush.

Last week, the tower wasshut down during rush hour to be fumigated, causing major delays for thousands of riders.

Officials said they were unsure of where the bugs were coming from.

"It is conceivable that this bug originated somewhere other than these premises,"said Minton. "We cannot conclude and we do not conclude that the source was internal."

On Jan. 8, an employee reported spotting bedbugsnear some chairs and that area was fumigated.

A rep said that thefour chairs that employees had been worried causedthe infestation were removed and will be replaced.

Like1010 WINS on Facebookand follow@1010WINS on Twitterto get breaking news, traffic, and weather for New York City.

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Queens MTA control tower forced to shut down for bedbugs ...

FOREST HILLS, QUEENS The bed bugs that messed up subway service on five different lines last week were spotted again, according to MTA officials.

Transit workers told the New York Daily News they discovered even more of the pesky critters Monday in the Forest Hills control tower where they were spotted five days earlier.

That sighting prompted the transit authority to shut down the facility to fumigate and caused extensive delays on the E, F, M, R and W lines.

Tim Minton, an MTA spokesperson, told Patch that "one apparent bedbug" was spotted Monday afternoon and that exterminators fumigated the tower Tuesday morning with "no impact on subway service."

(Keep up with news in Forest Hills by subscribing to Forest Hills Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

"No other bedbugs have been observed at any time," he said in an emailed statement.

It's unclear where the bed bugs came from, Minton said.

Workers at the facility, the Continental Master Control Tower in Forest Hills, told the Daily News they've complained for weeks about bed bugs living in a set of cloth chairs there and accused the agency of trying to cover up the situation.

The MTA took the four chairs "on which no bugs were observed, but that were a concern for employees" out of the tower Monday and replaced them with smooth-surfaced chairs, Minton wrote in an email.

Exterminators previously fumigated the tower on Jan. 8 and again on Jan. 22, according to Minton. The tower is where workers control track switches at the Forest Hills-71st Avenue subway station.

The Jan. 22 bed bug sighting resulted in 236 delayed trains and 117 canceled trains, the Daily News reported, citing an internal MTA report.

MTA conductor and union activist Tramell Thompson claimed to Gothamist last week that bed bugs are a "common" feature in their facilities.

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More Bed Bugs Spotted In Queens Subway Facility, MTA Says - Patch.com

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. A big chunk of the New York City subway system was brought to a standstill the other day, stranding thousands upon thousands of riders.

No, there wasnt a derailment. Or a person on the tracks. Or a power failure. Or some problem with the ancient signal system.

It wasnt the resignation of NYC Transit president Andy Byford sending a shock wave through the system.

It was bed bugs.

Well, it was one bed bug, which a transit worker noticed at a subway control tower in Queens.

The tower had to be evacuated, affecting service on the E, F, M and R lines for hours, until the premises could be fumigated. Without personnel in the tower, the trains just couldnt be turned around in a timely fashion.

One bed bug? My gut tells me that if youve got one bed bug, youve got more. But the point is how easily a major portion of the subway system can be disrupted.

The bed bug that roared, bringing a whole transit system to its knees. Protestors and terrorists take note!

While even the cleanest places can have bed bugs, its just disgusting that any one of us could find one of those creepy crawlers on the subway. And bring it back to our own homes. Whom do I sue if the MTA causes a bed bug infestation in my house?

When we get all those billions of dollars for the subways from congestion pricing, maybe we should build some redundancies into the system, so that if one control tower goes out of service, theres another facility ready to pick up the slack.

The Queens bed bug stoppage came a day after a dead homeless man was discovered on the D train, covered in bed bugs.

So it looks like the subway has a bed bug problem. And the city overall has a problem when people are being found dead on the subway system. That speaks to a whole host of problems, in fact.

Also last week, the Patrolmens Benevolent Association tweeted out a video of a subway car entirely covered with graffiti.

Theres nothing that screams city on the wrong track more than when subway cars again become rolling canvases for graffiti vandals. Or artists, depending on your viewpoint and your age.

Its not the first time weve seen a graffiti train recently. So it looks like the trend of tagging subway cars with graffiti is making a comeback after being pretty much eradicated in the 1990s.

I know I sound like a get off my damn lawn guy here, but believe me when I tell you that graffiti always looks more colorful and artsy when its not in your own neighborhood. Or when you dont have to sit on a subway seat or ferry bench that looks wet with spray paint.

And by the way? Not every graffiti vandal was a subway Picasso. A lot of them were pretty lousy painters.

This should be a problem easy enough to address, as most of the graffiti vandalism takes place while the subway cars are at rest in storage yards, not when theyre actually rolling on the tracks. Lets increase efforts to crack down on these crimes, and to punish those caught doing it. If our newly progressive criminal justice system will allow it, that is. I have my doubts.

So, yeah, lets ring the bad old days bell again. Because its getting too darn easy to see the signs for ourselves without even looking.

Sure, the gritty, downtown, punk-rock, no-wave 1980s produced a lot of great art, music and fashion. But it was also a dirty and dangerous time to live in New York City.

We dont want to go back there again. Believe me.

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Graffiti trains, subway bed bugs more signs of a city on the wrong track (opinion) - SILive.com

You could be traveling with some unwanted passengers during your commute. Can you bring them home with you or is it a myth.

Bed bugs are one of the most resilient bugs in the country. It's no surprise that they can travel in their owners belongings and make it on board a train. Am I the only one who's mad that they don't have to pay?

According to the New York Post, MTA subway trains in Queens were delayed recently because of bed bug sightings in the control tower.

The pest control website, Rest Easy Pest Control warns about the dangers of attracting unwanted parasites on a commuter train. According to their site, yes, bed bugs can travel and live on a train but the odds of themstay permanently are not likelyas they need to feed off people to survive. However, the odds of someone transferring bed bugs on a train, bus, or any form of public transportation isabsolutely possible.

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Can You Catch Bed Bugs On the Train? - Hudson Valley Post

NEW YORK CITY Roaches and bedbugs were caught crawling through city public housing almost 60,000 times last year, attorneys announced Monday.

NYCHA residents filed about 59,770 bug infestation complaints in the first nine months of 2019, according to the Legal Aid Society.

Judith Goldiner, Attorney-In-Charge of the Civil Law Reform Unit, called the findings troubling but added NYCHA's quick response time was encouraging.

"This is a clear byproduct of more staff on the ground and resources," said Goldiner, even though, "The high number of work orders filed by NYCHA residents to remediate insect infestation within their homes is indeed troubling."

The Grant Houses in Harlem logged the most work orders with 981 roach and bedbug infestations reported, according to documents acquired through Legal Aid's Freedom Of Information Law request.

It took the Housing Authority roughly 9.5 days on average to respond to those complaints, the records show.

The Pomonok Houses in Fresh Meadows, Queens, had the most bedbug complaints with 116 work orders, which took the Housing Authority roughly 9 days to remediate, Legal Aid said.

Bedbug and roach responses have improved since the city's $2.2 billion agreement (with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development) to address lead paint, mold, heating and pests took effect in July 2019, said NYCHA press secretary Rochel Leah Goldblatt.

Under the new Integrated Pest Management system, roach responses have become more thorough and bedbugs and rats are treated like emergencies, taking higher priority on the work order list, added Goldblatt.

"NYCHA is working closely with the Federal Monitor on Integrated Pest Management techniques and a Pest Action Plan," said Goldblatt. "NYCHA lacked the resources to adequately address many issues in its aging housing portfolio, including pests, due to years of federal disinvestment."

The public defenders group echoed these sentiments and called on state legislators to continue to increase funding for NYCHA in 2020.

"Public housing is critical to so many New Yorkers," Goldiner concluded. "We must ensure that residents live safely and with dignity."

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Bedbugs, Roaches Infest Thousands Of NYCHA Homes - New York City, NY Patch

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Bedbugs are small, oval, brownish insects that live on the blood of animals or humans. Adult bedbugs have flat bodies about the size of an apple seed. After feeding, however, their bodies swell and are a reddish color.

Bedbugs do not fly, but they can move quickly over floors, walls, and ceilings. Female bedbugs may lay hundreds of eggs, each of which is about the size of a speck of dust, over a lifetime.

Immature bedbugs, called nymphs, shed their skins five times before reaching maturity and require a meal of blood before each shedding. Under favorable conditions the bugs can develop fully in as little as a month and produce three or more generations per year.

Although they are a nuisance, they are not thought to transmit diseases.

Bedbugs may enter your home undetected through luggage, clothing, used beds and couches, and other items. Their flattened bodies make it possible for them to fit into tiny spaces, about the width of a credit card. Bedbugs do not have nests like ants or bees, but tend to live in groups in hiding places. Their initial hiding places are typically in mattresses, box springs, bed frames, and headboards where they have easy access to people to bite in the night.

Over time, however, they may scatter through the bedroom, moving into any crevice or protected location. They may also spread to nearby rooms or apartments.

Because bedbugs live solely on blood, having them in your home is not a sign of dirtiness. You are as likely to find them in immaculate homes and hotel rooms as in filthy ones.

Bedbugs are active mainly at night and usually bite people while they are sleeping. They feed by piercing the skin and withdrawing blood through an elongated beak. The bugs feed from three to 10 minutes to become engorged and then crawl away unnoticed.

Most bedbug bites are painless at first, but later turn into itchy welts. Unlike flea bites that are mainly around the ankles, bedbug bites are on any area of skin exposed while sleeping. Also, the bites do not have a red spot in the center like flea bites do.

People who don't realize they have a bedbug infestation may attribute the itching and welts to other causes, such as mosquitoes. To confirm bedbug bites, you must find and identify the bugs themselves.

If you wake up with itchy areas you didn't have when you went to sleep, you may have bedbugs, particularly if you got a used bed or other used furniture around the time the bites started. Other signs that you have bedbugs include:

If you suspect an infestation, remove all bedding and check it carefully for signs of the bugs or their excrement. Remove the dust cover over the bottom of the box springs and examine the seams in the wood framing. Peel back the fabric where it is stapled to the wood frame.

Also, check the area around the bed, including inside books, telephones or radios, the edge of the carpet, and even in electrical outlets. Check your closet, because bedbugs can attach to clothing. If you are uncertain about signs of bedbugs, call an exterminator, who will know what to look for.

If you find signs of infestation, begin steps to get rid of the bugs and prevent their return.

Getting rid of bedbugs begins with cleaning up the places where bedbugs live. This should include the following:

If your mattress is infested, you may want to get rid of it and get a new one, but take care to rid the rest of your home of bedbugs or they will infest your new mattress.

While cleaning up infested areas will be helpful in controlling bedbugs, getting rid of them usually requires chemical treatments. Because treating your bed and bedroom with insecticides can be harmful, it is important to use products that can be used safely in bedrooms. Do not treat mattresses and bedding unless the label specifically says you can use them on bedding.

Generally it is safest and most effective to hire an experienced pest control professional for bedbug extermination.

SOURCES:

University of Kentucky College of Agriculture: "Bed Bugs."

Ohio State University Extension Fact Sheet: "Bed Bugs."

The New York City Department of Heath and Mental Hygiene: "Stop Bed Bugs Safely."

University of Nebraska--Lincoln Extension Lancaster County: "Managing Bed Bugs."

CDC.

Pagination

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Bedbugs - WebMD