I think the best thing she can do is get rid of the bedbugs and cancer-causing PCB's from schools.
Let's start with the bedbug story:
Bedbugs are popping up in the city's public schools at triple the rate they were last year, the latest Department of Education statistics show.
The blood-sucking nuisances were confirmed in schools an average of 340 times per month from September through January this school year -- compared to 104 times per month in the 2009-10 school year.
Even more disturbing is that the already high rate increased even more so in November, December and January -- when an average of 458 bedbug sightings were confirmed per month.
"In many buildings, bedbugs are not managed correctly, and therefore not eliminated. Why would it be surprising that reports are increasing in schools?" said Renee Corea, who was on a city advisory board last year on how to contain the critters.
"If the schools took a proactive role, they could help tremendously," she added. "As it is, with a purely reactive stance, they are not helping the situation."
Department officials emphasized that each incident was likely prompted by a single bedbug found on a child's clothing, rather than an outbreak of greater proportions.
"Schools are not hospitable environments for bedbugs," said a department spokeswoman.
There were 542 confirmed bedbug cases in schools in 2008-09, and 1,019 in 2009-10, according to city data.
If this year's number of incidents holds steady, the total could easily top 3,000 cases by the end of the school year.
The DOE spokesperson is WRONG that schools are not hospitaable places for bedbugs.
Bedbugs like to be places where there is plenty of food (i.e., people), where there is wood or fabric to hide in, and where there is enough traffic that they can move around on clothing or in bags when the food source isn't so hot.
Schools are a WONDERFUL place for bedbugs.
The only thing is, bedbugs at schools have to come out and feed during the day rather than at night because the food source is only available during daylight hours.
But bedbugs are a resilient lot and they adapt to that kind of thing.
The sharp increase in confirmed cases and the trajectory of that increase shows that the problem is growing worse, not better.
Unfortunately, neither Bloomberg nor Black seem to care much about it.
Now on to the PCB story:
NEW YORK — The federal Environmental Protection Agency has found elevated levels of toxic chemicals known as PCBs leaking from lighting fixtures at another New York City public school.
The EPA inspected Public School 68 in the Bronx on Jan. 29 and found PCB levels above the regulatory limit in nine of 11 rooms tested.
City Department of Education spokeswoman Marge Feinberg said the department took corrective action by replacing the lighting ballasts — devices that regulate electric current for fluorescent lights.
P.S. 68 is the fourth city school building the EPA has tested. The agency has found PCB levels above the limit at all of the schools.
PCBs were widely used in building materials until they were banned in the 1970s. They have been linked to cancer and other health problems.
The EPA has tested four schools, all four tested positive for elevated levels of cancer-causing toxins.
Hey, Bloomberg and Black, maybe you can stop spending so much money on online testing and online education and more money MAKING SCHOOLS SAFE FOR CHILDREN AND ADULTS.
This story is totally on the money. This is a huge problem and more folks need to speak up about it. Bloomberg may have appointed a Bed Bug Task Force but they don't have any say, most of their suggestions have gone in one ear and out the other. We need to fill Bloomberg's fancy mansion with Bed Bugs and block his doors with piles of snow....hahaha...maybe then we will get something done around here.
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