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Banning Smoking In Condos: So Hot Right Now
By
John Del Signore
Published Jul 14, 2011
Modified Jul 14, 2011
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"Speed of Sound" tour
By
John Del Signore
Published Jul 14, 2011
Modified Jul 14, 2011
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Cigarette smokers have been cast out from our parks, beaches, boardwalks, bars, restaurants, and automobiles with children on board, and now that we've got them isolated in their apartments furtively lighting up beneath the bed with a towel stuffed under the door, it's time bring the hammer down once and for all. As we previously reported, a number of co-ops and condos are planning votes to ban smoking inside private residences, man. Today a reporter who's friends with another reporter at the Post uses her connections to complain in the media about these filthy tobacco inhalers.
“They’ve banned smoking in parks, but I can’t have a smoke-free bedroom. I feel like I’m living in a college dorm, and I just want to live like an adult," gripes a journalist identified only as "Jane." Despite repeated pleading with her condo board to call a vote on a building-wide smoking ban, Jane, uh, says they won't do her bidding, and her Upper East Side apartment "reeks of stale smoke that seeps through the shared wall." One architect who specializes in blocking smoke from apartments says this smoke seepage is common, especially in newer buildings, where cheaper construction often leads to “negative air pressure,” where smoke and other smells get sucked through the doors, duct work and outlets.
Some people who are subjected to their neighbors' cigarette smoke have had success plugging up every nook and cranny in their homes. One Chelsea resident tells the Post he was living with "a serious stench," which was only vanquished when workers came and "sealed up all of the outlets, media panels, light switches." The increasing intolerance for second hand smoke has created a small cottage industry for jobs like that, and attorneys. "Smoking in residential buildings is the hottest, newest issue now,” says real estate lawyer Adam Leitman. So smoke 'em while you got 'em, you guys. The fresh air fanatics are sniffing you out in your homes, and it's only a matter of time. But at least one NY Post commenter, Bob Olson, isn't going down without a fight:
I feel I should not have to answer to some busy body about my legal life style. If you do not like the smell of cigarette smoke I understand. What else do you not like me doing? Don't like my Corvette because you feel it is not green enough for you? How about my 70 inch HDTV? Does it use more power that you feel I should be allowed to use for a TV? What about my BBQ? Do you feel that the smoke from it should not be allowed? You feel my incandescent light bulbs use too much juice? How about my 7 gallon toilet? Oh Ya, I had to replace it with a 3 gallon model that I have to flush three times. Are you happy that my low flow shower head causes me to take showers that last twice as long? Do you feel that these and the hundred other ways you busy bodies intrude on my life are enough or is there is more you would like to impose on me? Here is an idea... You want me to live by how you feel about my actives. I only have one thing to say, make me! Come on over and tell me face to face what you plan on allowing me to do. Just a word to the wise. Make sure your health insurance is paid up before you come see me.
That's right, Bob—they'll have to tear those cigarettes from your cold, oxygen-deprived hands!
Tagged
cigarettes
second hand smoke
smokers rights
smoking
smoking ban
smoking in parks
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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