Pride Property Management featured in The Cooperator Magazine

Clearly, the name "Pride" isn't just for show when it comes to NY/NJ property management company, Pride Property Management, a client of M&M Pest Control/M&M Environmental. This fact was personified by the story included in this month's The Cooperator magazine, called A Day in the Life of a Manager.

The article begins by likening property managers to Superman, due to the never-ending list of various tasks required by the position.

With managers constantly being faced with issue upon issue and people coming at  them at all directions with emails, phone calls and complaints, it’s not an unfair analogy.

And we at M&M certainly don't disagree! Halfway through the article, we encounter a familiar name, Alex Kuffel of Pride, the President of this management company whom we've worked very closely with. Alex shares his day-in-the-life from a manager's perspective:

“We will go to the building at any given time to conduct an inspection, or meet  with a resident, or board member, or contractor for any number of reasons,” Kuffel says. “Additionally, the manager will usually meet with the Board of Directors for the  traditional evening monthly meeting that takes place. We prepare the meeting  agenda, and the monthly report, which will include a financial disclosure of  all paid and unpaid bills, including accounts receivables and a  shareholder/homeowner delinquency report for board review and vote, if  applicable, for legal intervention.”  

A softer side of Alex is revealed when he shares this anecdote, involving his green thumb:

Kuffel has started a tree beautification venture, which is something unusual and out of the ordinary for a manager. Thanks to his efforts, trees are in full bloom and the building has a much nicer appearance. “

 It began with the board’s desire to upgrade and beautify the building’s property, but they did not have a lot of money to spend. So, they decided to purchase and plant some much-needed trees from the local nursery,” he says. “Of course retaining the nursery for this would have cost a small fortune, so I took charge of the project, rolled up my sleeves, drove to the nursery early one weekend morning, purchased the desired trees, loaded them in the back of my pickup truck, drove them back to the building, unloaded them with the help of the superintendent, then dug all the holes and personally planted each tree in every designated spot.”

Talk about getting involved! We think it's great to see dedication like this from a property manager to his residents. And props to it being someone who we know, respect, and can totally vouch for. As a pest control company, we work with a number of property managers on a day to day basis and can fully understand the hefty tasks these individuals must balance. Every day is a challenge, so congratulations to Alex Kuffel and Pride Property Management for setting this wonderful example!

Heat Treating Bed Bugs: A Process Not to be Taken Lightly

The heat is on! But it better be on carefully.

Exterminating bed bugs with heat is a bit of a newer trend for this industry, one which we offer at M&M Pest Control/M&M Environmental. But don't let this get you all hot and bothered. Heat treatments must be performed extremely carefully, with specifications that must are required to fall strictly in line with building codes and city rules. The thermal heat treatment process must be performed by teams of specially trained individuals, where there are absolutely no amateurs allowed.

According to an article in today's Chicago Reader, one couple in Albany, NY unfortunately had to learn this lesson the hard way.  

In late April, Rodriguez had started waking up with itchy welts on the right side of her body. After identifying bedbugs as the cause, she called a pest control company out to her place for a quote. They told her it would cost around $1,200 and they'd need permission from her landlord, Greg Puchalski, to do the treatment. But Rodriguez claims that Puchalski refused—even though she said she'd pay for it. "He goes, 'No, Taina, I fix it, I fix it,'" she says. "'I'll do it my way.'" (Puchalski denies that the conversation took place.) 

Rodriguez and her husband fortunately were at the beach when the explosion took place in their home. Though Puchalski denies it, a variety of witnesses claimed that they had seen him using propane tanks to try and exterminate the bed bugs out of their apartment, basing this procedure on something he had apparently seen on TV. The drama gets worse.

Rodriguez says the fire destroyed 95 percent of their possessions, including her wheelchair and medications (she and her husband are both disabled: she has Marfan syndrome; he suffered a work-related injury that left his lower back fused). The Red Cross helped them replace their medications, and they were able to stay with Velarde's brother, who lived across the street, while they looked for a new place.

These actions had some serious and immediate consequences for Rodriguez and her husband. So unfortunate that they have to be the ones leading this example, but perhaps their story will help shed light on the utter importance of just how carefully heat treatments must be performed.

After examining the Rodriguez' story, the article shares snippets of bed bug history, including archaic descriptions of ye olde bed bug treatment methods, and brings us back to present day by taking a look at the NPMA's 2011 Bugs Without Borders Survey, which revealed that bed bug cases for the 1,000 pest control companies surveyed had jumped up a collective 11%. However, the outlook is grim for getting rid of them for good. Since they haven't been linked to causing disease, funding is tight. Also, the creation of a new chemical that would be able to guarantee success in bed bug combat could take up to ten years. Yikes.

So what is to be done?

Catering to a Chicago-based readership, the article discusses the high ranking Chicago received in private companies' Orkin and Terminix's separate (and potentially influenced) polls that ranking US-cities on a bed bugged-scale. Apparently, unlike New York, Chicago does not have specific laws in place between tenants and landlords who are dealing with bed bugs - something that will hopefully soon change. Perhaps New York can lead the example for these laws, helping other big cities follow to protect their residents of having to deal with unsightly extermination situations.

A number of additional anecdotes follow in the article, but none quite as impactful as that first story. If a thermal heat treatment is the direction that you are leaning towards for your bed bug treatment, we cannot stress enough at M&M Pest Control the importance of asking the right questions to make sure that you will be in the best and safest hands possible.

Bed Bug Detection and Monitoring Tips on The Lo-Down

It's winter - boo weather! Yay, quiet bed bugs. So this season does have one upside, I suppose. And yes, that is one and only one that we are allotting towards this cold and frigid season. Okay enough complaining about temperatures, especially considering that this winter has been hiding behind park benches and telephone booths. And enough talking about the weather, because, well, that's just plain awkward.

So.

Let's talk about how you can monitor your home for bed bugs! In today's The Lo-Down, we at M&M Pest Control/M&M Environmental suggest to readers the top three ways that they can monitor for bed bugs. Take a look at our post HERE.

Street Co-Naming Ceremony at University Settlement

The Lower East Side's University Settlement, a social services center, celebrated 125 years today. In honor of the celebration, friends and city officials, such as Council Member Margaret Chin and New York Senator Daniel Squadron gathered in a street co-naming ceremony for the block that University Settlement resides on, which is Eldridge St., in between Rivington and Delancey streets. Fun fact: Technical Director to M&M Pest Control/M&M Environmental Tim Wong was born and raised on Eldridge Street - keepin' it in the hood! The new second name for this block is now, "University Street."


Friends, neighbors, and employees gathered for this ribbon cutting ceremony, which took place outside of the official entrance to University Settlement. Afterwards, all of the attendees funneled inside University Settlement for an elaborate show of dragon-costume dancing and music to celebrate Chinese New Year. With dragons being constants in parades that celebrate Chinese New Year, regardless of the animal being honored, does that make 2012: The Year of the Dragon that much more special? Inquiring minds want to know.

Back at University Settlement, once the dancing died down,Council Member Chin and Senator Squadron took center stage to honor the official street sign. We ran into our friends from The Lo-Down, another Lower East Side blog, to share in the joy of this occasion.


"It's easy to be a state Senator for an area where you have Margaret Chin as the Council Member," Daniel Squadron remarked to the crowd. "I would have made it University Settlement Square, which wouldn't have made any sense," he confessed.

What a great way for the neighborhood to celebrate and what wonderful timing to be able to lump this celebration in with Chinese New Year festivities. Congratulations, University Settlement - enjoy the new name for your home!

This Gossip Smells Good! At least the Dogs Will Think So

Bed bug dogs made THE gossip colimn! Okay so maybe they're not technically on the actual Page Six, but bed bug detecting dogs were featured in today's New York Post. The short piece detailed the HPD's decision to fumigate nearly 5,000 boxes of files in November of 2011 after bed bugs were found in "isolated areas."

Interestingly enough, this extermination took place only two days after the HPD brought on two new members' two its' staff whose bark was probably worse than their bite. That's right, Mickey and Nemo, two adorable bed bug detecting dogs that were trained for six months at a NESDCA-approved training facility in the Midwest. Timing, I'll tell ya!


So what do we at M&M Pest Control/M&M Environmental think about this? For a city that has made international headlines for their bed bug problem to now have a housing department that was apparently affected by these pests as well? I mean what is this: fact imitating fiction? Reality imitating fantasy? Life imitating art? There's got to be some cliche way to describe it. Feel free to bark in our comments section with your thoughts. We think it's pretty terrible, regardless. Either way, we're happy to know that HPD (who did reach out to us for consulting purposes back when they began their journey towards bed bug dog acquisition) has proactively brought on these certified bed bug detecting dogs for scenarios of this sort.

CB3 Transportation Meeting ReCap

In an effort to get more involved in local politics, we attended a Community Board 3 transportation meeting last night. Granted, it was at the end of the block, so literal transportation to the actual meeting did not require much. Another motive for our attendance was to support our buddies from the LES BID who came with a mission: let there be light! On Essex St., that is. Tim Laughlin, Director of Policy, Planning, and Operations at the BID, presented a his case to install new lighting fixtures along Essex St. Fortunately, the case resulted in a victory for Laughlin and the glowing discussion was voted to go on to the next level.

In addition to Laughlin's light matters, the docket also included discussions about the re-naming of 13th St. between 3rd and 4th Ave. and a DDC presentation on what's to come with Forsyth St. plaza - exciting stuff! Major issues that people had with items discussed were the possibility of new light fixtures being a haven for pigeons and whether or not stairs at Forsyth plaza would be engaging enough for children to want to interact with them. That's right. Here's a rundown of the entire agenda:

Transportation & Public Safety / Environment Committee

Wednesday, January 11 at 6:30pm -- AAFE - 111 Division Street (at Pike St)

1. Request for Cornell Edwards street co naming, 13th Street between 3rd / 4th Aves
2. DDC presentation/update on Forsyth Street Plaza
3. LES BID lighting proposal for Essex Street
4. Request for support for Manhattan Boro President Stop and Frisk resolution to reform procedures
5. Request for Speed bump on Orchard St (Stanton/Rivington)

It was great to have a peek at one goes on behind closed doors at these types of meetings. We at M&M Pest Control/M&M Environmental were also overjoyed to run into our friends from local blog, The Lo-Down (whose re-cap on the night you can see here) as well as a neighborhood reporter from DNAinfo. Not too shabby for a Tuesday night!

BrickUnderground Shares the Best of Bedbugged! 2011 + HuffPo Column

Real Estate industry blog BrickUnderground published a round-up of the years best bites from Theresa Braine's BedBugged! column which has followed her through the many rungs of her bed bug journey, as she's dispensed helpful advice on all things bed bugs - from how to deal with flirtatious exterminators to ways to help de-stigmatize the pest.

"...one of the more interesting facets of the bed bug epidemic is the ways in which it’s making us, Consumerist America, confront the very materialism that supposedly fuels our economy and — dare I say it? — our well-being."

Deep! She discusses just how deep these pests have penetrated into our psyche.

"Could the bed bug epidemic be pushing us toward psychologist Erich Fromm’s predicted evolution away from materialism? I explored this question in “Dark Days for Materialsim, and a Cure for Shopaholics” on August 4."

And fortunately, wraps things up on a high note.

Here’s wishing everyone out there a merry, bed bug–free holiday and a New Year filled with peace and critter-less happiness.

And Theresa isn't the only BrickUnderground-er taking bites out of headlines this week. Blog editor-in-Chief, Teri Karush-Rogers, who has a column in The Huffington Post, penned an entry in HuffPo centered around bed bugs called, How to Find an Apartment Without Bedbugs. Geared towards both renters and buyers, the piece offers practical advice to anyone on the hunt, such as:

For Renters

• Request the required Bed Bug Disclosure form
• Go back to basics and ask the neighbors!
  

For Buyers

• Don't go in blind - ask specific questions about the buildings bed bug history and pay close attention to the answers.
• Do your research and know that co-op owners are required to disclose news about bed bug infestations in the building dating one year back, just like landlords are.
  

Karush-Rogers signs off with this advice,

"Finally, just because you move into an apartment (or building) without bedbugs does not, of course, guarantee it will always be without bedbugs. Early detection -- achieved by bedbug "proofing" your apartment -- is the best way to minimize the expense and psychological trauma of a bedbug infestation."

Thanks ladies for putting in your end of the year part on keeping us all bed bug-free!