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If you’ve walked down Main Street in Pleasanton over the last week, you might have noticed swarms of small flies rapidly spreading around downtown businesses and neighborhoods.
Flies tend to be a routine part of every summer as the extreme heat offers better reproductive conditions, but what many residents on Nextdoor have recently complained about is what seems to be an even higher number of these flies downtown compared to previous years.
Some have even said they’re seeing these high numbers of flies even though they have no trash around the house.
“There have been numerous comments and complaints from the community about flies in downtown and throughout the city,” Councilmember Julie Testa told the Weekly. “The city has been diligent in managing trash to mitigate that as a source.”
City Manager Gerry Beaudin said that the city is also working with Alameda County Vector Control Services District to understand if there are any additional contributing factors to the increase of flies this year and, if so, how it can be addressed.
As the city and county continue to look for any other direct reason for the increase in flies, Erika Castillo, regulatory and public affairs director at the Alameda County Mosquito Abatement District, told the Weekly that finding out the species of the fly will be critical in getting rid of them.
“There’s a lot of different types of flies and they all breed in different habitats,” Castillo said. “Once we know that, then you can kind of figure out the biology and the history of that species and that can narrow down what you’re targeting to try and control their breeding.”
She said the best thing residents could do while the county works on identifying the flies is work on eliminating any possible sources where flies could breed or gather, whether it’s trash or compost.
“Depending on what type of fly it is, you want to look and see where they’re breeding and try and get control of that,” Castillo said.
She said that once the type of fly has been determined, the city could work with either private pest control or vector control services to work on containing and treating the problem — but in the end it comes down to finding the breeding source and getting rid of that.
Residents and businesses can contact vector control directly for more information or to submit a request for service at https://acvcsd.org/request-service/ or call 510-567-6800.
“but in the end, it comes down to finding the breeding source and getting rid of that.”
Given that the reports seem to be the most pervasive from “downtown”, perhaps the search should begin there
I’ve noticed it too, even at home… Annoying ~
I was told by a senior resident who has lived her for over 50 years that the flies have been brought in by the couple of hundred horses being stabled at the Fairgounds. I feel bad for the horses having to deal with this and the financial impact this must be having on our downtown restaurants who offer outdoor dining. Not for me!
I know for a fact that the excrement from the 700 boarded horses from the horse races was left behind (at least the last pick up).
I know they were attempting clean up but it was slow and I notified the city.
I hope they are looking at the fairgrounds for a source and the county is involved.
It is going to be up to 100 degrees later this week.
I too am a senior resident who has lived here more than 50 years. I didn’t tell anybody about the fairgrounds, horses and flies, but I’m from the midwest, so I know that there are fllies around horses. But they’re not the same kind as these that seem to be downtown. Or at least not the ones I experienced downtown this evening. These are little guys, and those that plague horses and humongous, at least 3 times the size. Seems to me we used to call them Blue Bottles, because of their iridescent bluish coloration in the sun.
Since the fair has hosted horse races for close to 200 years, and this is the first of my 50-years residency hearing complaints about the flies, I have to guess the 2 events are coincidental at most, and likely not related. Besides, this is nearly September, and the fair closed at least 6 weeks ago.
It is typical for there to be sticky flies as summer weather wanes into fall, at least in Kansas. Outdoor dining downtown became a pleasant experience during Covid, so much so that the experience has continued to blossom. In past years, we’ve had spraying for mosquitoes as a regular occurrence. Been a long time since I’ve seen the helicopters flying low at night. Maybe the spraying has been stopped because of concerns about the spray and toxicity?
Whatever it is, when it gets chilly, they’ll go away. Maybe we’ve come to expect too much of our private little Utopia.
My god! We cannot tolerate flies in Pleasantville. This must be dealt with immediately. This is intolerable. The next thing you now all the Karen’s in town will have a hissy fit. Elect someone who can deal with this disaster.
It might help if the city trash receptacles were emptied more frequently and not left overflowing for days (just an observation). I used the MobileCitizen app to send in my requests for service.
Hi,
Resident of Pleasantville here. There are more flies in my experience. I noticed them at the Fairgrounds Course and asked what was going on. It seems for the last month or so the flies have been on a rampage. Take it or leave it as to the cause. 700 horses showing up is a good a reason as any given the creek is bone dry in downtown.
Isn’t that why flyswatters were created?
I have lived over by Foothill High School for over 53 years. 4 years ago I had a fly infestation that covered 2 sliding doors completely in my backyard, and my front porch area was also covered in them (there had to have been thousands of them). They just land and then eventually die. The second year this happened I called Vector Control which wasn’t any help. I called them again the third year it happened (it happened 2 times that year) and the head ecologist identified them as swamp flies and said they were going to look for the area they were coming from; nothing ever happened. This year they started coming in July, I called Vector Control again. They now have identified these flies as Minettia Flaveola flies and said that there isn’t much known about them, except, the larvae grow in wet rotting leaves (I don’t have any in my yard). Since Vector Control was here the last time, these flies have been coming every day; I’m at my wits end, it’s like a nightmare. If the city finds resolution for this issue, I would hope that they would help me with my fly issue!!!