Bedbugs II Screening at Park Slope Pavilion?

This isn't the first time there's been a bedbug scare at the Park Slope Pavilion, and considering the resilience of your average bedbug, it probably won't be the last. Earlier today Brownstoner noticed this post The Bedbug Registry:

A few days ago I was leaving the Theatre with my girlfriend at around 11:55 pm when I saw a bunch of men with large crates and hoses in the lobby, I asked what was going on and he said that Bed Bugs had been found in all of the older theatres with the Purple seats. Then I was at the Windsor Cafe Yesterday when I overheard some people saying that even more Bed Begs were found on the first floor of the building.

The last time there were a bedbugs reported at the Pavilion, general manager Lauren Goffio told us, "That is inaccurate information, we do not have a bed bug problem," adding that she has asked the theater's exterminator to "double check." We've seen this movie before: Today Goffio tells City Room, "We don’t have bedbugs at the theater. That’s false information." Goffio did confirm that the theater sprayed its seats "every few months" for bedbugs, and that the last treatment was recent. "We’re going to keep up with this to make sure we don’t get them," she added.

But bedbug expert Dr. Michael T. Potter thinks preventive treatment is pointless: "The unfortunate reality is that we have less than ideal insecticides available today to prevent bedbug infestations, since most of the products have very poor dry residual activity (if a bedbug were to crawl out of someone’s purse in a theater or whatnot, if they crawled onto a treated seat, they probably would not succumb.)" Brownstoner's resident bedbug commenter "Rob" has this advice for those who aren't about to let a little bed bug infestation keep them from their local multiplex:

People bring bedbugs into their home because a bedbug has crawled into the folds of their clothes... will eventually bite them, but bedbugs are very slow and plan their meals with the utmost of care. so you might not even get bitten on your way from the theatre to your apartment, but when you put your clothes in your laundry basket, guess where that bedbug is? now the little critter is like damnit and has to make another long slow journey to feast on your blood.. it may take a few months but that's okay because they can live up to a year without eating. but they will eventually migrate to where you are, they will find you and they will bite you, and they will breed like Candy the stripper in a trailer park.
You can avoid all of that if you shake out your clothes after youve been to a known infested area.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By John Del Signore in News on July 19, 2010 5:40 PM

Comments [rss]

1stephanie

It's sad that the #1 reason not to see a movie at the Pavilion isn't the bedbugs. The screens are held up with tape, it's filthy and staffed with sullen indifferent teenagers who wouldn't fix the projection if a movie was showing upside-down.

MT

I've always wondered about the people who pose with bugs sucking their blood or stinging them. Who does that?!?!

Manitoba

This guy:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/22/nyregion/thecity/22bedb.html?_r=1

Several of the pictures usually trace back to an entomologist, typically from the Natural History or some Smithsonian-like research facility.

MT

LOL! I knew someone would have the answer to that question. You can throw anything out on Gothamist and someone will come through. You rock.

Jeff

When we go to the movies we expect a bed bug free environment. The theater should be treated with a bed bug spray that has some type of lasting effect. While providing limited protection, this combined with frequent inspection should help.

r1b2

The bugs are gonna win.

LeonSpinks

This makes my rectum itch.

jaycjay

Resident bed bug commenter "Rob" is missing one big difference between his hypothetical bed bug and "Candy the stripper." That bug is not in a bed bug trailer park. How can it breed?

Unless it's a female that is already carrying eggs, a single bed bug can not become an infestation.

Most of what he says there is wrong, in fact. Bed bugs are anything but slow, and will absolutely feed opportunistically. Sure, they may not leave their nest to look for food for a month or more, but his one was out of the nest. That's how it got to the theater, right?