Community Corner
Bloodsucking Bugs Irritating Concord Residents
While city law says landlords must keep homes free of vermin, the law is not enforced.
Concord residents met Tuesday night at the Monument Crisis Center to talk about their options: 1) Continue to be eaten alive by bloodsucking bugs? Or 2) Organize a cimicide.
Maria Carmona has lived at the Rosemont Apartments in the 1400 block of Monument Boulevard for about eight years.
“The complex is full of rats and bedbugs and fleas,” Carmona said in Spanish. While her apartment does not have bed bugs, her neighbor’s does. She is very concerned that the bed bugs will spread from their unit to hers, as bed bugs often do, unseen, but definitely felt. She says her neighbor has lived there for two years with the bugs.
“They have a family with kids who lay on the carpet,” Carmona said. “We told the manager, but he doesn’t pay attention to us,” she added.
The apartment complex manager could not be reached for comment. She said that one of the old managers did pour some powder from Home Depot on the carpet one time. The bed bug colony continued to thrive.
Concord’s building laws mandate that “all structures and exterior property shall be maintained free of rodent, insect or vermin infestation, which creates an unsafe or unsanitary environment on the subject or adjacent buildings or properties,” according to the city’s website.
While bed bugs feed upon the blood of other animals, they are not considered a vermin by the courts, according to Patrick Murray, Code Enforcement Corporal for the Concord Police Department.
“They don’t fit into the legal definition of vermin," Murray said, noting that the city does not have the resources to eliminate these bugs. He said that his office gets many calls about this. But ultimately the problem turns into a civil issue between the renter and the landlord.
Find out what's happening in Concordwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Guillermo Elenes, tenant rights advocate who organized Tuesday’s meeting, says that there are at least 17 active infestations in Concord.
“From Meadow Lane to Concord Avenue and Monument Blvd, we’re being run amok by these little blood suckers,” Elenes said. “The city of Concord hasn’t done anything to fix this,” he said.
At the meeting, parents talked about how their children are not able to sleep at night because they are being bitten.
Kids are not able to pay attention in school, because they are itchy, he said.
The origin of the infestation is unknown. He said that one of the reasons that the group is organizing now is to find permanent solutions to this problem. He said renters are scared that if they complain to their landlords they will be asked to move, have their rents raised, or get evicted. He said many people grow tired of dealing with management and relocate.
“We’ve run out of places to move,” he said.
The group will be meeting next week to talk about renters can do to take ownership of the issue and assert their rights. The location has not been determined.
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
