Ansonia Has 'Biblical-Type Explosion of Roaches'

1.

Um ... geckos?

2.

How very Creepshow.

3.

How very Creepshow.

4.

wasnt this where a sex club was once housed?
gross

5.

why can't people just go out and buy some Combat -- it works. Hell, it saved the UWS for the gentrifiers!

6.

#3, Yes Platos Retreat.

You can still see the entrance staircase and gothic little gate on side street. Used to be Roman Baths for the Ansonia Hotel guests.

7.

Oh, God, until just now I'd managed to repress that particular scene from Creepshow. Jeez, thanks a lot.

8.

These people are renting a 1-BR condo in a luxury building on the UWS for $2,400/mo. Sounds like a fair cockroach discount to me.

9.

We had a roach problem back in July. (It was way less serious than this sounds though.) The ONLY way to get rid of roaches is to plug up the holes they come through--it's logical enough! We got 5 tubes of caulking and my boyfriend spent an entire day filling in every possible entry point. We're only had 2 or 3 since, and they were in the kitchen, which we hadn't worked on as thoroughly...

10.

i don't feel well.

11.

ammonia worked well on floors if you can leave the room empty for a while in order to avoid the painfil odor that remains a little on the floor areas and a lot of bugs cant tolerate it as it burns their somewhat somewhat lungs and bodies.

12.

and now that i have shared that little bit of information, the masses will brive up the price/

13.

#8 is right. Every whole, crack, anything in the walls. boric acid also works well. they eat it, share with the fam and die. The problem with old buildings is there is alot of wood and plaster decaying which roaches love. All it takes is one bad Tenant and everyone suffers! I remember i had roaches so bad that I lived my dog's dish and 4 scattered. Cant leave any food or dirty dishes out. sux. Right now if um, the season for roaches too. they come inside for the food and warmth.

14.

Sorry, that's "lifted" not "lived" regarding the dog dish.

15.

Isn't the Annosia a co-op/condo? The Apthorp is the rental building where some people are paying next to nothing to live there. Maybe they both are, but I do remember seeing a for sale listing on Corcoran/Elliman awhile back.

16.

One word - Boric Acid. Sprinkle it everywhere, along walls, behind stove, everywhere, and they eat it, bring it back to their nest and die. Works as well as anything else and is non-toxic.

17.

I can't stand these people from [fill in square Midwestern state] who come to this city and destroy it by killing off all our historic cockroaches. NYC just won't be the same without those cockroaches. This town is becoming a characterless urban mall, just like the rest of the country. I miss the old NYC from [fill in decade of choice] when cockroaches roamed freely all over. RIP old NYC full of cockroaches.

18.

tru cockroaches were definately old skool new york. if you dont like cockroaches, then leave the city. btw the Ansonia is a condo.

19.

so does this mean all old, elegant pre-war buildings are trash now? and all the new condos are amazing?

20.

The new glass/steel condos will be roach heaven with the abundant hollow paper thin sheetrock walls, these hollow walls will become perfect hidden roach nests.

Remember, it just takes one bad tenant who does not wash dishes or take out garbage regularly.

21.

Bing made me LOL

22.

I'm surprised that no-one has yet taken this opportunity to indulge in their Brangelina-hating for the day.

23.

#3 and #5 i believ it was also the home of the Continental Baths, where Bette Midler made her start, before it was Plato's.

24.

I confess I'm the old woman who refuses the spraying. My bad

25.

That whole building has that cabbage cooking smell...sorta b/w old age home and dumpe odor

26.

angelina is the mother cockroach
clearly

27.

Warning - kind of gross roach fighting infor to follow.

Regarding Boric Acid. Yes, it can be effective and is non-toxic, but it is not something they eat and take back to the nests. That is a description of the poisons used today, which really are very safe to people and pets (expecially in low concentrations) but kill the roaches _slowly enough_ for them to bring the poisons back with them to the nest.

Boric acid is a dust that they walk through and it then gets between their joints where it becomes an irritant (like sand at the beach) that tears at the tissue and which will slowly kill them.

These problems usually stem from those people who DON'T sign up for the exterminator. Sometimes they themselves don't see the roaches (maybe they have a pet that keeps them hidden) but their harbor the nests.

Just some icky FYI.

28.

We regularly sign up for the bi-weekly building exterminator (coop). It doesn't seem to help and the roaches seem to be getting worse. If anyone has additional advice in addition to that above, it would be appreciated. We have a young child and don't want to fumigate or leave anything toxic lying about. Anyone tried ultrasonic devices? Of the various brands of traps and baits, which do you think work best? Thank you.

29.

#27 - A couple of things. First of all, it isn't enough that you are signing up, all your neighbors (including above and below you) need to sign up. If everyone in the building were to sign up at once, the building would probably be rid of them for months if not years. Unfortunately there are many who will not cooperate.

But there are a few things you can do:
- caulk all the holes and cracks you can find in each room. Also pay attention to the points at which steam pipes come into your apartment. Fill big spaces with steel wool and then plaster them. Do a good job on this and you will fix much if not all of your problem.

I have heard from restaurant kitchen staff types that bay leaves mixed with water and spread at the entry points (holes, etc.) will deter them. bay leaves are a poison.

Keep the air conditioners on. Roaches like warmth so this can deter them. (not a favorite option but one nevertheless.)

30.

#27 - in addition to AvnerUWS's other suggestions - you could always get a couple geckos or a cat.

31.

used to have a house in the slope and about once a year i'd get a lot of roaches in the basement. found that putting out massive amounts of roach traps worked immediately and thoroughly. use several boxes worth if necessary. i usually needed 2-3 boxes.

32.

The spike up in roaches once you start exterminating is b/c they all feass on the dead ones and reproduce faster

33.

#14 - Ansonia is a condo. However, the NYT article indicates that the plaintiff is a tenant who rents at $2400/mo from a family friend.

34.

My advise to the lawyer plaintiff, use your head & get some ingenuity, if that's not oxymoronic. Makes friends w/ the perp. At the Ansonia, if the roach producing tenant is old, they are rent stabilized, and if gone the building could rent/sell her apt for much much more than what they're paying.
Had this problem years ago and solved it, but I'm not a lawyer, which may explain why. While living in a walk-up I started seeing roaches in my very clean apt. Couldn't figure out where they were coming from. One day a very elderly lady who I never seen before cried for help in the hallway, literally, "Help, help, I can't get up". I helped her upstairs to her apt, she wasn't hurt, and upon opening her door saw roaches crawling on every surface. The walls and floor were moving. I decided then and there I going to become her friend. She complained the landlord comes in to spray but to no affect. She was convinced he was spraying water so no cure could be had, she would have no choice but to move, and he could then rent her apt to a much higher paying, non-rent stabilized tenant. I agreed. I asked if I could help her w/ it, she said yes, please, and was very happy there might be hope. I bought several industrial strength bombs you can only get at a hardware store in Spanish Harlem. We made a day if it. I helped her outside to sit on the stoop, where she really enjoyed seeing people she hadn't in years- apparently she only came downstairs to get her mail and had everything else delivered. I set off three bombs, and waited a couple hours, then went in w/ the concentrated spray from same hardware store. Opened the windows, and the lady came back after the apt aired out. Problem solved. Never saw them again. I was happy. She was happy. She turned out to be a very interesting person, a reporter who knew Ben Hecht, met Marlene Dietrich, etc. Very smart, very cranky, very NY, but sadly, very old. Could do little for herself. NYC is very hard for old people.

35.

In new construction, good builders put Boric acid in the wall cavities. This shreds em for years.

36.

Actually, 34, I think NYC is very good for old people. Lots of public transport (especially surface buses) so no need to drive a car, banks and groceries and drug stores are within walking distance or deliver. Many restaurants deliver. Doctors within walking distance. You can easily get a taxi if you need to go further afield. There are also lots of social service organizations and charities (Meals on Wheels etc). I have seen elderly people who live in Florida and it's very tough because you *must* drive to get food, drugs, eat a restaurant meal, go to the doctor, meet friends, etc. This leads to a lot of dangerous (legally blind) drivers with slow reaction skills and inattentiveness. Alternatively, they lose independence because they must hire domenstic help in order to get basic things done. The only downside to NYC is the rather cold and humid winter. If I could afford it (a big if), I think I'd rather live as an elderly person in Manhattan than in many other places.

37.

all I can think is that Fairway is right next door. my guess is that if Ansonia has a roach problem...so does my grocery store. EWWWW!

38.

#34 brought a tear to my eye.

39.

Try to think of them more like pets.

40.

While roaches are a pain its sounds more like an oppurtunist situation to me. By suing the managing agent who merely works for the condo he is costing the condo money in legal fees which in turn will be passed on to the owners his "family friend" included

Seal the unit with caulking and steel wool since its your friends apt and your paying at least somwhat under market and as #34 sugests make friends with the old person this litigation is why old time building owners NEVER rented to attornys now protected under fair housing!! lol My apartment has ants so I get it its gross but there are ways of dealing with it without incuring huge expenses for the other homeowners in legal expences. So as a native NYer you get no sympathy from me your just workin the system I also bet the unit is owned by an LLC owned by same lawyer family friend my ass sounds like a tax shelter.