Roosevelt Houses resident Emma Graham, 84, has been complaining about her bed bug problem to the New York City Housing Authority for a month, but until Friday, nobody paid much attention. Graham has been forced to sleep in a chair in the corner of her living room because the bugs have taken over her bed, their chosen location for their penis-knife sex adventures. Her daughter, Yvonne Prieste, told NY1, "I mean, my mom is getting eaten up every day, all day long, and it's heartbreaking to see your mom with red bumps all over her and then they turn black." We can add that comment to the list of bed bug quotes that make us afraid to go outside.
For the entire month, Brooklyn Borough Hall and the city housing authority said she would have to wait until the end of September to have her apartment exterminated. However, presumably due to bad press, exterminators showed up yesterday and began addressing the problem. They'll return in 10 days for another sweep, and in the meantime neighbors are helping Graham get rid of clothes and her mattress. But as other neighbors said, the bed bug problem is far from over. One resident said the pests have been in both that building and "the building up the block." NYCHA says they have a long backlog of bed bug complaints around their buildings, and they normally respond to complaints within a few days.
