Roaches Ahoy!

Agreed. The bedbug story is much more significant as is the growing number of rat sightings (although I have not heard of rat sightings in an apartment)

Agreed. I think that roaches are par for the course in New York. I find them in the bathroom sometimes and think they must come in the open window because I have the razor blade disposer gizmo in the cabinet sealed off. Roaches just come and go - you get rid of them for a while and then they show up again, especially if a nearby apartment is vacated and painted. On the other hand, rats, while also being a common occurrence in New York, are a much more serious pest. I have seen rats running around in the shrubbery outside my building when I've come home at night. Those imitation rocks they put out that are supposed to be rat traps just don't work. I guess it's feasible that a rat could get into an apartment. Once they manage to get into the building they can go anywhere. I've noticed that the doors to my building are often propped open right next to where the rat-infested shrubbery is. It's like inviting them in - and with all the garbage left by the recycling bins, well, the rats must think it's the welcome waggon! Who could blame them!

You got a vantz problem in your building? ;-)

I thought it was rotting garbage, but the power, hit-me-in-the-face odor should have told me better...
Maintenance pulled 2 dead rats from my basement last night- one from the ceiling in the recycle/bike storage area and another behind the washers. In the ceilings above the dropped tiles and between walls may be 'acceptable' by NYC standards...but the fact that one was behind the washer means there's a gaping effing hole somewhere on the ground level unless someone let the furry rodent in through the door.
I'm on the 10th floor and pray roaches and their rodent friends don't make it up that high.

girl, I agree with you 100% that an infestation where there wasn't one before is unacceptable and that this is no doubt due to the landlord's sloppy handling of maintenance. However, when I moved in here almost 30 years ago there were roaches in my apartment and I had to get it exterminated. They have come back intermittently over the years and seem to be especially prevalent when someone moves or gets their apartment painted. But roaches are hardy bugs; nothing ever eliminates them permanently, unfortunately.

Now THAT is gross. Didn't this just happen a week or so ago in 18-20?

Incidentally, once I was entering my building an a mouse took advantage of the occassion and sped past me at like 90 miles per hour! It was fleeing the cold.

Then one time I found a Bod Dylan record cover with the corner chewed off. I played it the night before. The missing area was the size of a human chomp. Having dealt with mice I knew this was not a mouse job! The perp must have split because I never saw it or any further evidence. Had I I would have moved into a hotel!

Rodents aren't as big as they look. Their size is mostly fluff which makes it very easy for them to slide through cracks and under doors. I don't know about rats but any maintenance guy will tell you that mice are sighted on windowsills. Frankly, if rats do that--I don't want to know!!!!!!!!!!!

A point in maintenance's favor is that they didn't just spray some odor-cover, for a change.

And yeah, we will have an ongoing problem as long as the frat kids think paper recycling is Chinese food cartons with food still inside. I've lived here a long time and I am still shocked by what is considered recycling these days--these "market rate"/luxury days...

"What a dump!"

Not in my building but I have seen a bedbug exterminator truck parked on PCV Road several times this year

Bed bugs scare the shit out of me! Even the idea of getting them makes me want to pray and I'm an atheist. While another citywide problem like rats and roaches, I hope TS is very aggressive on that one. After an apartment is hit it is probably uninhabitable.

I am clearly avoiding work this eve. Nite!

Welcome, Ed...
Question: are you crazy for allowing tish-spey to be your landlord?
Roaches, as Beulah states, are hardy, and can survive under almost any circumstance. All it takes is a single egg in the right environment. I got an email from an obviously bored paralegal downstairs that had images of someone who licked an envelope to seal it, cut her tongue, and thought nothing of it. Big deal.
Days later she presents at the E.R. with a swollwn tongue, x-rays show nothing. It got worse, a dr. cut in to drain the swelling, and bam, out of the tongue came a matured effing roach. The envelope adhesive must have had just ONE egg which got into the cut in her tongue when she licked away and grew off the warm dar, moist tongue :) GROSS!!!!!!!!

THAT is the worst "urban legend" story I have heard to date. It's up there with UFOs and alien abductions. Do you write for "The Globe" by any chance?

Oh and give my regards to Elvis and JFK when you see them.

Be careful or he'll start calling you a sock puppet too!

Beulah writes: "girl, I agree with you 100% that an infestation where there wasn't one before is unacceptable and that this is no doubt due to the landlord's sloppy handling of maintenance."

I believe that was the point of the T&V article. My guess is that's why Lux decided to post it on this site, not as further proof that roaches are "hardy bugs," a fact that we all know, but because the article implies (at least that's how I interpret it) that the "increase in reported problems" is due to the ongoing deterioration of maintenance, thanks to TS.

He can call me what he likes!

My point was that it's no good getting bent out of shape over roaches. They are everywhere in New York. Bed bugs and rats are a much more serious problem.

Roaches wearing big sunglasses, flip-flops.. screaming into their cellphones.

I've never had bed bugs or rats in my home and never worry about those. But if I suddenly saw 20 disgusting roaches each day in my apartment and never had a bug problem before, yeah, I might get a tad "bent out of shape." Especially if I was living in one of the buildings where one of the Oval so-called "amenities" were installed, and their bad karma was responsible for the infiltration.

Don;t be such a doubting Beulah! It's true...I saw the pictures and cool hospital forceps and gloves don't lie!

Riiight!

I posted that yesterday, but I guess it doesn't hurt to see it again.

Bear, don't worry too much. Everyone in the country has a legal right to appeal a court's decision at least once. It works on anything from a parking ticket to murder. So let's be fair- TS appealed their decision regarding one case, and now has a re-match this fall. With all the evidence seemingly not in their favor, I would find it hard to believe the decision will be overturned- again, they're merely excercising their right to appeal hoping to drag it out as long as they can while doing so.
Yes, TS has some pretty big guns (Skadden Arps is named on the Defense, but having been an associate there at one point, the alarming turnover rate there tells me it's already seen about 3 different young JD's who have come and gone again...- makes it for a very weak foundation, no?).
Nevertheless, the law does have limits on the number of times you can appeal (unless under extremely extenuating will a judge allow for yet another appeal). They can, however, request extensions for the appeal while they 'gather new evidence.'
My fear is that they request extention after extension after extension...get it?