So my wife Carla is working as the Art Director on a couple of short films at the moment. One of the locations is just down the road from me here in St. James Town in one of the other apartment buildings. Now, I'd
heard about the problems with some of the landlords around here -- taking advantage of immigrants by getting them to front a year's rent in advance, rampant disrepair, and rediculous cockroach problems. Luckily my building is run by a fairly by-the-book real-estate corporation, and overall the staff is pretty cool. Problems are generally rare, minor, and for the most part taken care of quickly. So I guess we kinda lucked out.
But other folks aren't quite so fortunate. I shot this in one of the apartments they're using for the film shoot -- I don't think I've seen so many roaches in one place since working in the shanty towns of Manila. Someone had come in earlier and sprayed the apartment, so most of them were lying around dead like these two little buggers. There must have been maybe 50 or 60 of them lying around in the kitchen on the counters and on the floor. There were still more dispersed around the living room, and quite a few live ones crawling around on the walls and ceiling.
Now granted, I'm aware that the battle against cockroaches is generally a losing one. But some landlords just don't even bother making an effort. And why should they, when the so-called "
Tenant Protection Act" lets you get away with it?
