County in NY Seeks Smoking Ban in Private Homes

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olkofri

Lifer
Sep 9, 2017
8,160
14,955
The Arm of Orion
I live in an apartment complex. Smoking is prohibited. Not by city bylaw, mind you, but by the building's own rules. As much as I hate it that I cannot smoke a pipe or cigar in my apartment, not even in the balcony, I actually support the rule: if smoking were allowed the place would reek, and with pot being now legal it'd be a skunky building. What this bloke says about 'second hand' smoke permeating into other suites is true: I've experienced it myself: I've had to seal crannies in my place to keep the stink from cigarette smoking and funky cooking out. 12 years ago I had to move from my initial suite because the recently arrived neighbour next door started breaking the rules and smoking in there.

That being said, this guy is obviously a dangerous statist. He's extreme in calling upon the state to force and enforce what should be left to the buildings' owners themselves. It's a double play: the state gets to pwn both the tenants AND the landlords and run both their lives at the same time. A vengeful tenant could get his landlord sued by anonymously reporting a smoking bylaw violation. It's bad.
 

litup

Part of the Furniture Now
Oct 16, 2015
761
2,330
Sacramento, CA
These are quite the assertions:

Spencer, who is also a medical doctor, said secondhand smoke can permeate through cracks in walls, electrical lines, plumbing, and ventilation systems.

Statistics show more than 3,000 non-smokers in New York die each year from heart disease and lung cancer caused by secondhand smoke.
 
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litup

Part of the Furniture Now
Oct 16, 2015
761
2,330
Sacramento, CA
Ventilation systems makes sense but plumbing? I can't believe that if I smoke in an interior bathroom of a house or condo that the smoke is going to go down the sink, make it through the liquid in the p-trap, navigate it's way into the sewer, rise up into someone else's sink and give them cancer.
 

alaskanpiper

Enabler in Chief
May 23, 2019
9,421
43,711
Alaska
Ventilation systems makes sense but plumbing? I can't believe that if I smoke in an interior bathroom of a house or condo that the smoke is going to go down the sink, make it through the liquid in the p-trap, navigate it's way into the sewer, rise up into someone else's sink and give them cancer.

Haha, I had the same thought. P-traps make this all but impossible right? That being said, in apartment buildings, maybe some justification. But single family residences? Hell no. My land, my house, my decision.
 

olkofri

Lifer
Sep 9, 2017
8,160
14,955
The Arm of Orion
Ventilation systems makes sense but plumbing? I can't believe that if I smoke in an interior bathroom of a house or condo that the smoke is going to go down the sink, make it through the liquid in the p-trap, navigate it's way into the sewer, rise up into someone else's sink and give them cancer.
Trust me. It does happen. In both the suites I've lived in this building I've had to put tape around the kitchen's sink pipe hole because the stench of cigarette smoke was coming through there. I'm not in the least bit worried about cancer, but I do not want to be putting up with offensive stenches that are also so pervasive that they impregnate clothing and items as well.

I was also amazed that smells were coming through these places, but that's the way it is. Here're some of the holes I had to plug with gaffer tape:

20110304-_MG_6516.jpg

The problem with living in an apartment is that units are never self-contained. You're sharing the pipeworks, and the airworks, and God knows what else with everyone. Compromises have to be made.
 

olkofri

Lifer
Sep 9, 2017
8,160
14,955
The Arm of Orion
That’s probably what they mean by plumbing. They just don’t know how to describe it.

But telling someone they can’t smoke in their own home?! Ludicrous. Is the smoke going to penetrate the wall and blow in the wind through your neighbor’s drafts? Please.
It does waft. Doesn't penetrate the walls, of course. But it does waft. Again: personal experience supports me.

It's obvious I'm highly ambivalent about this issue, but I'm not trying to be devil's advocate or argue for the sake of argument. The truth is that smoking is a landlord's nightmare. On one side you've smokers complaining about regulations impinging into their rights and freedoms (understandable: it's their home, even if it's rented); on the other you have non-smokers complaining about lack of regulations or enforcement impinging into their right to 'clean' and/or odourless air (also understandable: it's their home, even if it's rented). No matter which side wins, the landlord always loses. Beyond the issues of conflict among tenants, there're also issues of property damage and property value and appeal. Let's face it: most smokers are cigarette smokers (in the US, only about 2% of all smokers are pipe smokers): cigarette smoke is pungent, pervasive, and the tars and residues of cigarette combustion stain the walls—landlords have to end up paying for all that damage: they don't want to. I don't blame them.

The first apartment I rented had as its previous tenants a smoking couple. No amount of washing, deodorising, carpet deep-cleaning was ever able to get the smell out. I eventually left after living there less than 2 months (smoke stench wasn't the only reason I moved, mind). Landlords have a hard time renting such units, specially in an age when vast amounts of the population have been frightened to death about all kinds of cancers from tobacco products, and when the rental market is at a historical low.
 
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condorlover1

Lifer
Dec 22, 2013
8,357
29,387
New York
It is truly crazy. Historical smoking may cause cancer. How about historical flatulence? Historical bong use? America has lost its compass. I mean we have naked broads showing up at Senator Seniles public rallies and flashing the two udders. Now thats what I call 'Feeling the Bern' and if I had been him I would have walked over to those girls and Motor Boated them both and offered them a Warrior Plug and seen my poll lead shoot up to an unbeatable level!
 

bullet08

Lifer
Nov 26, 2018
9,966
40,773
RTP, NC. USA
I can understand an apartment. But single family home? Ok, duplex or townhouses maybe with walls being shared. But a house standing in its own land this makes no sense at all.
 
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Reactions: brian64
Jan 28, 2018
13,742
151,589
67
Sarasota, FL
So these moron lawmakers sit on their thumbs while rioters pillage and burn other people's businesses and what do they spend their time doing? Passing a meaningless law that prohibits one from smoking in their own home. No part of me can comprehend that level of stupidity and I feel nothing more than complete disgust. Voters damn well better get out this election and send a message or we all deserve what we're going to get.
 
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