Co-op Board Bans Smoking in Apartments by New Owners

Let's see now. Forbidding an otherwise legal activity of no proven danger or detriment to others... I hope that they have a good litigation reserve. I am surprised these morons didn't make it retroactive.

By applying it only prospectively, they probably make it litigation-proof: if you buy there now, you agree to this clause.

The board's president, Scott Wechsler, a real estate lawyer, said the co-op had faced problems with smoking for several years. "We've had shareholders complain that they smell smoke coming through the vents,"

As I've been saying all along, the more people we pack into this country, the more often will people be stepping on each other's toes.

Good fences may make good neighbors, but plenty of space between people makes even better neighbors.

Of course, after we pack the whole world's population into Texas (as Rush Lumbaugh says we can), expect non-smoking, non-barbecuing, non-fireplaces, non-crabgrass, non-music playin, non-clotheslines, non this and non that regulations and LAWS and Government to multiply.

Of course, such crowding would not be a problem--except for immigration.

Forbidding an otherwise legal activity of no proven danger or detriment to others...

Someone stinking up your home is not detrimental?

I am surprised these morons didn't make it retroactive.

You think that's not coming?

P.S: I wouldn't call them morons. I'm an ex-smoker--but unlike other ex-smokers, I adore tobacco, and I often debate whether it's better to enjoy life even if you die young. But this is not about smoking. It's about the loss of freedom that comes from crowding people together.

The problem is not about rules you consider stupid or about habits that others consider annoying--it is about people wanting to live differently while living on top of one another.

Can't be done.

It's a privately owned apartment co-op. Follow the rules to avoid penalties or evictions.
This is a privately owned forum. Follow the rules to avoid post removals or being banned.

Thanks roscoe, - for admitting you had my post flagging you, - #3 - , removed. --- How petty. -- Did it make you feel powerful? - In charge? - In control?
Cheap thrill.

Why not try to get this one jerked too?

Let's see now. Forbidding an otherwise legal activity of no proven danger or detriment to others...

You seem to be forgetting that smokers accidentally start a significant number of home fires annually (falling asleep with a lit cigarette, etc.)

Smoking in a condo/apartment raises the risk of burning your neighbors to death.

I'm not sure if that's good enough reason to ban it, but it *is* a consideration, and a proven danger.

NFPA Fact Sheet
Smoking material-related fires
Smoking materials (i.e., cigarettes, cigars, pipes, etc.) are the leading cause of fire deaths and the third leading cause of fire injuries in the United States. Roughly one of every four fire deaths in the 1998 was attributed to smoking materials.
Facts & figures*
In 1998, there were 140,800 fires associated with smoking materials, resulting in 903 deaths, 2,453 injuries and $412 million in property damage. Of the fire deaths, 865 occurred in residential properties.
The leading cause of residential fires associated with smoking materials was abandoned or carelessly disposed of smoking materials.
The most common material first ignited in residential smoking material-related fires was mattresses and bedding, followed by upholstered furniture.
(*From NFPA's The U.S. Smoking-Material Fire Problem, April 2001, by John R. Hall, Jr.)

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