An adult bed bug, Cimex lectularius, is in the process of ingesting a blood meal from the arm of a "voluntary" human host.
A Patten Towers resident plans to inform tourists that the alleged failure of the administration of Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke has led to a bedbug crisis in the city. He has threatened to post notices around the city in highly-trafficked areas warning of the city's bedbug problem.William Stevens is sick of bed bugs he says are infesting Patten Towers, the landmark 11-story downtown residence that's home to low-income disabled and elderly residents.
He's so fed up, he's threatening to start handing out flyers warning tourists they could be exposed to bed bugs when they ride the electric shuttle bus or visit businesses patronized by Patten Tower residents.
"While the buses and businesses may not be infested, the very low-income, poor and disabled people are, and many of them ... sit right next to you and your children," Stevens wrote in an email he sent Tuesday to the Chattanooga media. "Then you take them home with you, where the cost to get rid of them can reach into the thousands and be the cause of illness."
Patten Towers is owned by Greenville, S.C.-based PK Management, which manages more than 18,000 living units in 23 states, according to its website. Patten Towers manager Gail Griffin didn't respond to requests for comment Tuesday.
Stevens' email is addressed to Mayor Andy Berke, and Stevens wrote, "I am doing this because the Mayor's office ... says they can't do anything."
Berke spokeswoman Lacie Stone said that Stevens and two other of Patten Towers' roughly 250 residents contacted the mayor's office with bed bug concerns.
"We put all three in touch with a code enforcement inspector who immediately met with Gail Griffin to ensure Patten Towers has an appropriate treatment plan in place," Stone said via email. "Gail Griffin produced records that verify Patten Towers is exterminated every Tuesday for all pests, including bed bug exterminations.
"From what I understand, when a tenant reports bedbugs at Patten Towers, the apartment must be prepared for an intense extermination process, and it can take up to six weeks to fully rid the unit of bed bugs," Stone wrote.
Patten Towers resident Robert McConnell took offense at Stevens'' characterization of the apartments' residents as spreaders of pestilence.
"That is way over the top, and there is no truth to that whatsoever," he said. "[Stevens] shouldn't have done it."
"I live in Patten Towers, and my apartment doesn't have bed bugs," McConnell said. "Now I'm embarrassed to even stand outside."
Bed bug infestations have struck before in apartments for low-income residents in Chattanooga's Westside neighborhood.
In August, a 68-year-old Vietnam veteran said his was one of about 10 units infested at the Overlook Apartments. Chattanooga firefighters had to decontaminate their clothing in July 2012 after they found a man covered with bed bugs at J.C. Towers. And residents complained in 2011 of bed bugs at Dogwood Manor, which is managed by the Chattanooga Housing Authority.
"Unfortunately, bed bugs impact all cities," Stone said via email. "Research from last year shows that nearly half of all major American cities had a rise in bed bug treatments. The list of the 50 top cities with bed bugs for 2013 included our neighboring cities of Atlanta, Nashville, Knoxville and Charlotte."
Contact staff writer Tim Omarzu at tomarzu@timesfreepress.com or www.facebook.com/tim.omarzu or twitter.com/TimOmarzu or 423-757-6651.