Bed-bug infestation haunts A-B

Bed bugs are biting Allston-Brighton residents and landlords’ responses have been drastically lacking, area residents said at a community meeting Tuesday night in Brighton.

Representatives from the Inspectional Services Department, the Boston Public Health Commission and the Boston City Council met with members of the Allston-Brighton community to address the growing bedbug problem that has been plaguing residents.

About 80 concerned residents attended the event to voice their growing distress with the bed bug problem, which they said seems to be getting worse even though the ISD issued a bed bug advisory last April to alert residents about a growing infestation problem.

Juan Gonzalez, director of community organizing for the Allston-Brighton Community Development Corporation, which sponsored the event, told the audience that there are numerous infestations in the Brighton community.

“In our office, we have confirmed reports from 43 places where we know bed bugs have infested in Brighton,” he said.

A number of tenants at the event said they complained to landlords but that their landlords are unwilling to deal with the bedbug problem and instead place the blame on residents. While some tenants and landlords have gone so far as to go to court to settle the disputes, lengthy litigation processes are neither a practical nor cost-effective means to address what has become a public health crisis, residents said.

“Most landlords try to avoid expenses and do not use professionals and the correct process to extinguish the bugs,” Gonzalez said.

Information about how to prevent and deal with the bed bug problem was distributed at the meeting, but resident testimonials illustrated the severity of the growing epidemic.

David West, a student who lives in the Brighton area, said his landlord bullied him when he told him about his bed bug problem.

“We contacted the landlord about our bed bug problem and he dismissed it,” he said. “He continually threatened us. This is why we think it is important to stay vocal about this issue.”

While some landlords have taken successful steps to exterminate bed bugs in affected units, others either refused to treat the problem or used methods that later proved ineffective, residents said.

West said his landlord gave him a diluted concoction of gasoline and a generic pesticide and told him it would solve the problem.

City Councilor-At-Large Felix Arroyo said he was surprised at how widespread the bed bug problem has become.

“I am committed to ensuring that with other elected officers and our executive branch, this problem will be solved,” he said.

Arroyo said the bed bugs problem is an urgent crisis that needs to be addressed immediately.

“This is not a family problem. This is a city problem, and it must be eliminated, not placated,” he said.

Some residents said they did not even know they had been afflicted with a bed-bug infestation and were told by doctors that the symptoms, such as red bumpy skin and itching, were allergies.

“Until I found out that the problem was the 60 bed bugs infesting my mattress, I thought I had allergies and saw doctors who gave me allergy medicine and encouraged me to change my lifestyle, telling me I was allergic to perfumes or soap,” said Ilse Gonzaga, a banker and 23-year-old immigrant from Chile who lives in Brighton.

Tyrone Iris, an ISD representative, said the main reason for the bed bug infestation is that people are unaware of the problem.

“One of the obstacles of dealing with bed bugs is the lack of knowledge,” he said. “That is why we decided to launch a new campaign where 3,000 flyers were distributed and we knocked on doors and offered inspections.”

Iris also emphasized that students should not take home furniture left in the street during the “high turnover” period around Labor Day when students move in and out.

No landlords from Allston-Brighton spoke at the event.