ITEM PHOTO BY OWEN O’ROURKE
Catherine Lenahan, a resident in the Mary Agnes O’Shea McGee House on Green Street in Lynn, holds a sign protesting bed bugs.
BY THOMAS GRILLO
LYNN — About a dozen residents of the Mary Agnes O’Shea McGee House staged a protest in front of the 50-unit facility Tuesday that houses elderly and handicapped tenants. They held signs that read “We Need Help Getting Rid of Bed Bugs” and “Please Help Us Get Rid of Bedbugs.”
Paul Gaudet, director of management and operations at Lynn Housing Authority & Neighborhood Development, acknowledged there have been bedbug problems at the building on Green Street. He said management recently scheduled a meeting with residents to review procedures for the fumigation.
He blamed one of the tenants, whom he declined to name, for “creating a ruckus around the bedbug issue” because he was not in compliance with his lease.
“He was taking advantage of the situation,” Gaudet said. “That’s not to say that we aren’t dealing with treating bedbugs but there was nothing to indicate to us that there was such a concern that would lead to people holding signs out front of the building.”
Unfortunately, he said, treatment of bedbugs become a necessary part of high-rise buildings because of the comings and goings of people and the closeness in interaction.
“They are worse than cockroaches because they bite,” said Cheryl Murray, 65, as she choked back tears. “I’ve already had to throw away an infested rug and I just bought a new sectional and don’t have money to buy another one.”
Robert Noel, 67, who has lived in the development for nearly a decade, said the problem has persisted for the last eight months. Some tenants have been spending up to $100 out of their own pockets monthly to fight them, he said.
Harry Scribner, 59, a tenant since 2010, said the bedbug problem is getting worse and he has seen them crawling on neighbors. He said management recently told a woman whose room was overrun with bedbugs that it will take a week or two to get an exterminator.
“I couldn’t see that woman living like that so I went to the Dollar Store and Wal-Mart and spent $60 for a bug spray to get some kind of control for the bugs,” he said. “What was the alternative? Wait two weeks for relief?”
While the Lynn Housing Authority has sent exterminators, they often only do one, two or three apartments at a time, Scribner said.
“This place needs a massive extermination,” he said. “Instead they tell us to put our clothes in a plastic bin, tape them up and when you need to change clothes, take them out and tape them back up. Is this any way to live?”
While bed bugs are not known to transmit disease, they do cause itchy bites and no small amount of distress for people living in infested apartments.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
Thomas Grillo can be reached at tgrillo@itemlive.com.
