Some residents say cockroaches continue to wiggle their way into an apartment building near ASU, despite help from the management.
Katie Curiel, a human communication senior, said she has lived at the La Cresenta apartments at 1025 E. Orange St. for two years and has always had problems with cockroaches.
La Cresenta management is not really addressing the situation and is not telling the community about the insects, Curiel said.
"They don't admit it's a big problem," she said.
Curiel said she sees 20 bugs a day. They appear every night in the kitchen sink and cabinets, she added.
One apartment in the building costs roughly $700 a month to rent.
She has had her two-bedroom apartment sprayed at least six times and fogged twice since she moved in.
Curiel said she has to leave the kitchen light on every night to keep the cockroaches from coming.
The fogging and regular spraying, for which the management pays, are helpful, but more needs to be done because roaches are still showing up, she said.
She said she has filed complaints with the Maricopa County Health Department, but they closed the case quickly.
Management is only required to pay for the spraying and fogging to help get rid of the cockroaches, said Mike Lemon, the regional office manager at the health department.
Rahul Bhardwaj, a first-year mechanical engineering graduate student, lives in La Cresenta and said the problem is ongoing and management cares little about it.
"[I] moved from another unit because the cockroaches were so bad," he said.
Krishnan Santhosh, an electrical engineering graduate student, said he had cockroaches when he first moved in, but the management had his apartment sprayed.
He said an insect problem generally happens with most of the apartments but that it has more to do with the residents and not the buildings.
"Graduate students and cockroaches have an affinity," he said.
Cynthia Conrad, a math and chemistry senior, said she also had cockroaches when she moved in, but insecticides took care of it.
The management did everything that she needed to get rid of the problem, she added.
"They're [the management] great," she said.
La Cresenta Manager Kimberly Stewart said the buildings were constructed in 1965 and are very susceptible to bugs.
Stewart said all the La Cresenta buildings are old and have cracks through which bugs can enter.
Residents need to ask the management to fill all the cracks in their apartments, she added.
"Bugs are gonna come up," she said.
If cockroaches are still showing up, then she has not heard about it, Stewart said.
"I can't do anything unless I'm told," she said. "I'm more than happy to do it [fogging] again."
Stewart said she is willing to work with Curiel if she is still having problems.
"I feel bad they're still having them [cockroaches]," she added.
But Curiel said she thinks more should be done to make sure the cockroaches stay away.
"Some further investigation needs to go into it," Curiel said.
State Press photographer Jeremiah Armenta contributed to this article. Reach the reporter at michael.famiglietti@asu.edu.
