Nolita Resident Offers Free Mattress; No Bed Bugs!

A well meaning and out of touch resident of Elizabeth Street left an extra mattress on the street earlier this week, free for the taking. "No bugs," the sign exclaimed. "Just don't need a second mattress."

Aww...how considerate. But no matter how many signs you put on this thing assuring people there are no bedbugs in it, there is a 99.9% chance it ended up in the back of a dump truck. Forget about bed bugs, no one but maybe a younger sibling would be able to look past the body fluids, sexual discharges, dead skin cells and whatever else you excreted all over this thing. Never mind that it was left it out on the streets of New York City.

Would you ever use a mattress left out on the street, a sign declaring it "bug free!" not withstanding?

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Police Remove Man Allegedly Infested With Bed Bugs On The 2 Train

It seems the bedbug epidemic that has been building in nyc over the last few years has reached an apex. My roommate Aaron Howell explained he was riding the 2 train last night and a destitute gentleman was covered with little crawling translucent bugs. Himself and others surmised they were bedbugs. At home later, asked if he was sure they were bedbugs, Aaron replied, "no doubt."

An MTA employee riding in the car first noticed the man and bugs, and notified police who then removed the bed bug hotel from the train at 96th St. As if to allay any fears about bedbugs in the train, the MTA employee is reported to have explained that the cars get cleaned every night. They should just dump that one in the ocean to be safe.

In a community forum on bedbugs last year, Edward Brownbear, an official at the Department of Housing, Preservation and Development, declared that bedbugs are known to be present in some subway stations, hiding in benches and other places while waiting for you to sit down so they can hitch a ride home. And City Room spoke with urban entomologist Michael Potter about bedbugs in subway stations, who said, "If you go way back 100 years ago, bedbugs were very common on trains, on buses, in taxicabs, in all modes of transport."

Below is Aaron's twitter accounting of the episode.

• Just saw a homeless man on the subway with bugs crawling all over him. I am freaked out I was close to him. http://twitter.com/aaronhowell/status/1369492814
  
• If I get bed bugs I am suing the MTA. http://twitter.com/aaronhowell/status/1369493895
  
• So the guy with the bugs got kicked off train by cops after an MTA employee tipped them off. He was my hero!!! Tiny little bugs ... Scary. http://twitter.com/aaronhowell/status/1370850963
  
• I came and re-enacted the shower scene from the crying game and wanted to burn my clothese. And then it got worse...To be cont. http://twitter.com/aaronhowell/status/1370805210
  
• I guess its illegal to ride train w/bugs since cops kicked the dude off. When guy rubbed hair one bug shot off him towards peeps across. http://twitter.com/aaronhowell/status/1370867432

Here is a picture of the clothes he was wearing that he promptly put in an airtight bag and disposed of. http://twitpic.com/2d83a

The City Council recently created legislation for a Bed Bug Advisory Board.

Fuck bedbugs.