An EVG reader woke up yesterday to find this note on the door of the building... located on Third Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue...
The letter writer is asking fellow residents not to smoke inside:
Second hand smoke is a risk to health, and the smell of cigarettes easily travels from one apartment to the next in this building.
At the very least, open your windows so LESS smoke enters neighboring units.
Thoughts (about the note)?
Previously on EV Grieve:
Reader mailbag: What do I do about my new neighbors who smoke pot all the time? (80 comments)
I'm in favor of the note -- someone smokes in my building sometimes and it smells terrible and sometimes even makes me cough and my eyes water. The building has so many cracks and crevices and is in general so rundown and so shoddy, smoke comes in through floors, walls, everywhere. For a month or two it was very bad and I spoke to my surrounding neighbors (nicely) but I never figured out where it was coming from. I was considering putting up a note like this one. Then the problem mostly abated and is now just occasional. Maybe the person moved out, maybe the people who smoke now are just visiting, who knows.
ReplyDeleteI think these old buildings demand an extra amount of courtesy -- everyone can smell (and hear) everything!
6:24 nails it. I also live in a creaky old building and was on my coop board when this issue came up among two residents. It's like noise -- what's unreasonable can be very subjective. I'm personally in favor of allowing buildings to ban smoking.
ReplyDeleteMy downstairs neighbors used to smoke pot in the bathroom and there were so many holes in our floor/their ceiling we always knew when they were lighting up. Then they had some repair work done that sealed some of the cracks, and I thought that was why we no longer smelled it.
ReplyDeleteTurns out they also got clean in the process, which surprised me. Good for them.
Is it legal to smoke in a residential building that doesn't have sprinklers?
ReplyDeleteBoth a health risk for your neighbors and a serious fire hazard. I sincerely hope people try to quit or at least take their smoking outside (and a distance from a building, as smoke still gets in through windows).
ReplyDeleteClearly the East Village has changed a LOT. "Getting clean" ?? from smoking pot. Seriously? People who have lived in this neighborhood all their lives and remember when, are laughing heartily right now at such posted notes and comments. Maybe this just isn't the right neighborhood for y'all.
ReplyDelete@6:24am: You nailed it!
ReplyDelete@9:02am: Yes, unfortunately it is legal. Sprinklers have nothing to do with it.
Exactly. These are the same folks who claim old NY was better and they get triggered by a cigarette or a joint. Pathetic and sad. You people prob shop at Walgreen's and Target yet somehow think other people are the problem. If you ever leave please don't move to CA or Colorado or Washington or Oregon. You snowflakes won't be able to deal with legal weed Do you folks support the NYPD arresting nonwhites for possession?
ReplyDeleteSure! Why Not? And while you are at it, please stop cooking bacon in your kitchen...I can smell it and it makes me nauseated. I am an animal lover and vegetarian. Stop eating and cooking animals. OH yeah, also, can you please start taking out your garbage more than once every three days? We can smell it in the hallways. Oh and that perfume you use that stinks up the halls every morning that causes my cat to have an allergic reaction making the vet bills pile up, please stop using it. Same for your cologne you male maniacs. By the way, those heels, take them off in the house so I don't have to listen to you clomping around. When you are having sex, please stop screaming OMG! Oh and one more thing...stop breathing....I can't concentrate on my favorite TV program, The Walking Dead.
ReplyDeletegetting clean LOL. some of these comments (not that one) are unhealthy.
ReplyDelete@9:31 i had the same reaction, though i've only been here for 12.
ReplyDeleteI think the note is fine for the simple fact that while it starts off douchey it ends with a compromise of opening the window. i think opening the window is a fair compromise for all smokers of the cigarettes or of the evil marihuanas. (Thats what the DEA call it now yea?)
I think there are other buildings and neighborhoods that have sealed rooms without leakage for people who either do not like the smell of stray smoke of any kind or really believe that it is dangerous to their health (something I find interesting, having been in proximity to buses and belching diesel trucks for years in the city...not to mention the toxic air after 9/11 that had to be more harmful than any of the above).
ReplyDeleteBut then, this is the "be afraid" era, where every possible non-pristine element of society must be identified and protected against. I find it mostly amusing and a little bit frightening to be surrounded by so many who are so scared of so much.
I smoke everything all the time and always use fans and proper ventilation because I don't want odors lingering. Ta da. Am also on the top floor, which helps, and very responsible about fire safety/prevention!
ReplyDeleteI love her handwriting
ReplyDeleteI'm not a delicate flower and I've lived in the neighborhood for 20 years. But smoking is a habit that to many non-smokers, including me, is irritating. And it is a habit that affects other people in your vicinity in a way that most other habits don't. So, no grand pronouncements please about how I must shop at chain stores or how I am afraid of everything. Neither one is true. Smoke physically bothers me and that's that.
ReplyDeleteThese comments are just wonderful. They just prove my theory that EVERYONE is a douche.
ReplyDeleteI am all about manners and yeah, the jerk should open a window but these comments are crazy.
ReplyDeleteThe same people that are crying about Hillary and worried about their basic rights are always so quick to point out that something should be illegal because it bothers THEM.
What about all the bros and hoes that use the entire East Village as a place to smoke pot and get wasted. Shouldn't that be addressed before it becomes illegal to do what you want to do in the privacy of your own home.
Being liberal is great but now we want to pick and choose what should be "free" according how much it bothers YOU. Very Bloomberg of you!
i will say as a former pack a day smoker for 15 years, i can see it from both sides now. i'm amazed these days that just being in the next room from a lit cigarette will result in my clothes smelling like smoke when i get home. i had no idea when i smoked. so i understand the frustration. that said, i don't think you can tell people not to smoke cigarettes in their own apartments. hallway, backyard, sure. just hope the trend continues of people realizing cigarettes are fucking disgusting and more people continue to quit.
ReplyDeleteMy only problem with cigarettes is that they don't kill you fast enough.
ReplyDeleteI love the penmanship. Good luck getting someone to stop smoking in their own apartment if their lease does not forbid it. I agree with the sentiment of 6:24am. The best you can do is ask the neighbor to stop. Most people want to be considerate, but smoking is a powerful habit, and many longtime residents that smoke believe it is their right to smoke in their apartment, especially if they have done so for years.
ReplyDeleteYeah, it really sucks when my neighbor smokes cigs in her apartment. My nose gets all stuffed up and it irritates me a lot. I think she's stopped doing it so that's nice. But it's not about telling people what to do, that's an unreasonable thought about this. It's because it's affecting other peoples health - doing it in your own home is of course fine but if it's penetrating other peoples homes and affecting their health and well-being, that's that. There's nothing regional or anything about that.
ReplyDeletePeople laughing at 'getting clean', well, Peepaw and Meemaw, weed today is *a lot* stronger than it was at Woodstock.
ReplyDeletere: Getting clean - just because it wasn't mentioned doesn't mean that the pot smokers weren't doing other things as well that they decided to stop. Don't be so judgemental and snotty about what was a simple usage of the poster's own slang.
ReplyDeleteAs far as smoking, generally, it is disgusting and a health hazard/nuisance to those of us who don't do it. I hate that my clothes and linens smell because of my neighbor's nasty habits.
Next time you overly sensitive people encounter weed that's "too strong" please come by and toke up. We LOVE the smoke, the smell, and a post-pot puff and I HAVE EVERY RIGHT TO DO BOTH IN MY OVERPRICED RENT-STABILIZED DEN SO FUCK-OFF with all of your ridiculous demands and "needs". The people who live here now need to relax. You are all a bunch of entitled jerks. Yeah, I'm sick of my neighbor who's unit smells like a hamster cage, the asshats who can't manage to throw away their garbage, and the weekly curry smell, the chicks who can't remove their heels, the middle of the night OMGing, and I JUST DEAL because that's what living in a tenement apartment IS. It's a SHARED SPACE. Want to breathe free? MOVE TO A HOUSE.
ReplyDelete