Where do you think those cockroaches go when the city fumigates the plaza?

As my husband and I were driving through Downtown the other day we noticed the Plaza was fenced off (again) and there were workers and wow – pest control trucks – all over the place. I found this newsblurb about it –

City Manager Mark Sorenson said the city was addressing “public health issues and maintenance needs.” He listed the needs as spraying trees with insecticide, conducting pest control for cockroaches, cleaning and decontamination.

The last time they did this, is was about fleas, now cockroaches. That must be some infestation. Chico has a native cockroach – the “American” cockroach. These are natural animals that live mostly outside, I’ve never had one in my house, and rarely even see them in the yard. I’ve seen them a lot in Downtown Chico at night, scurrying along sidewalks. What they’re talking about in the above article are German brown cockroaches, a non-native pest that spreads with people and infests areas of human filth.

https://www.pestworld.org/news-hub/pest-articles/german-cockroaches-101/#:~:text=German%20cockroaches%20prefer%20warm%20and,cardboard%20boxes%20and%20secondhand%20appliances.

“Yes, humans transport German cockroaches through travel and transportation of infested items…” including clothing and shoes. German brown cockroaches also carry little hitchhikers – salmonella bacteria, a common cause of food-bourn illness, especially in the restaurant sector.

The first thing I had to ask was, when they fumigate an outdoor area, do the bugs run and spread out to restaurants all over Downtown?

No they don’t just die and lay there, they run. They’re tough, having been around for millions of years. “… treatments require more time to be effective. Plus, some products take time to kick in. You may see roaches for a week or two for slow-acting treatments until they eventually taper out… Yes, after spraying German cockroaches, they may move elsewhere.” Which begs the question – what about Bidwell Park?

Another thing I noticed was that as the camps and the plaza have been “cleared” the campers are right back in areas that have previously been “cleared”. Right back in Bidwell Park, the trash piles already growing. Will there be more fumigations? Are they using Measure H funds to pay for this?